Pup help again!

[Floramac]

Our 12 week old German Shepherd is slowly settling. Her toilet training is going well and she has slept through the night till 6 a few times. Training is going well and we can now take her out and shd loves meeting other dogs and people. Still have problems with constant biting and clinging on all my clothes ( thick jeans and jumpers at all times). She is worse with me, I am finding it difficult to stay calm at all times! Hubby does much better. Can anyone recommend beds/ bedding as she loves to destroy the one she has now!

Have you tried vet bed? It's great stuff and almost indestructible!

As for the biting, can you distract her with a toy or turning away.

No approved by MN but sometimes a firm sharp No works wonders!

Vet bed reviews say lots of fluff comes off which I know she would swallow! Tried everything, constant distraction, turn away, leave the room !

Biting will stop, some take longer. Have you tried the yelp? Note this did not work with my Lab it made him worse. I would ignore him for ten mins and make myself busy. A loud “no” before I ignored him may have worked or he may have just realised I need to stop! 🙈

Does she need a bed yet? I would allocate her a ‘place’ or area and give her a proper orthopaedic bed (so much better for their joints) when she has quit chewing. Or a cheap plastic bed and a blanket (and accept she will chew it).

A biting puppy is an overtired puppy.

I have a gsd and she was a little nipper. I gave a firm no and gave her one of her toys she could chew. When she was chewing her own toy I then rewarded with a treat. If she bites you again just redirect her to her own toy. This took time and lots of repetition but it worked! Do not swing your arms around or shout because this will then be turned into a game for her. It is how pups explore and sometimes my pup still mouths but it's more gentle play rather than a sharp nip now and I always use the 'enough' command. So if she gets to rough when playing I tell her enough and she will stop. It will pass op just set boundaries and keep repeating.

When is she destroying her bed? When she’s left alone in it? We use vet bed when pups are young. But they’re only in bed when they are tired and sleepy.

As ever I am reminded of my favourite (if not very witty) quote: "all puppies are arseholes, you will have weeks of this".

At 12 weeks old, whatever you have tried has not had a chance to work yet. There is no quick and easy route to stopping biting. It's about constant repetition that slowly builds to the right behaviour.

Redirect to a toy, each and every time. When she engages with the toy, she gets your attention, when she doesn't and bites you instead, she gets a boring redirect. Every time.

I'd also recommend a vet bed and not leaving her alone and awake long enough to destroy it. Most vet beds just give off fluff when new. If you want to cut down on the chances, wash it on a hot wash a couple of times before use.

Thanks. I am doing redirect and when I feel it getting out of hand I leave the room for brief time and again if it continues. At times we know it is overtiredness but she is sleeping more now.

I hate to say it, but the biting will probably get worse before it gets better 😩

It's all about consistency - pick a method and stick to it, and everyone in the house needs to use the same methods too to avoid her getting confused.