Bitey little bugger

[CharlieBoff]

Dear god please help!

we’ve recently got the most beautiful collie cross, and the first two weeks were actual bliss. She was so good, so sweet, brilliant at sleeping etc etc.

however, over the past week and a half she has turned into a psychotic bite monster literally WHENEVER WE MOVE AROUND THE HOUSE. I have been given so much contradictory advice on what to do about it, I feel like my head is spinning, and literally none of it is working. I’ve been enforcing naps so she’s not overtired, made a billion chew toys as well as buying another million and showing them in her gob, tried ignoring her (which is really fucking difficult when she has a grip on your ankle), praising her to high heaven with treats when she doesn’t try and eat us, all to no avail.

its got to the stage now where my children don’t want to be anywhere near her cos they know she’ll just attack them the second she moves. I honestly feel at the end of my rope, and just want to cry.

any suggestions I haven’t tried? Please?!

Nearly 12 weeks. I’m trying to enforce them as best I can, because it is easy to notice how she gets worse when she’s getting tired. She normally has about 17-18 hrs a day, should I aim for more?

kids yell at best of time made the dog bark taught them that when
you yell at the dog will yell back/bark it all stopped and when doing a wrong stuff iwould say oh no sad voice she after 5-6 times she stopped
after that she would hang her head.if said oh no ani

Is she by any chance a tofty?

Watch this video, it's brilliant

I discovered with our last Labrador that her kryptonite was Vicks vapour rub. Purely by chance, I had left some on my hands after applying it to my nose, I was bunged up. She pulled the yucky face after trying to mouth my hand.
We use to spread a thin layer on the kitchen cabinets and anything we didn’t want perforated.
So when we got our latest lab I was well prepared. Obviously could use it on everything but if I was fed up of being a chew toy I’d just rub it on my fingers.
In fact she learned rapidly to recognise the pot and would stop biting before I’d even got the lid off.
She still mouths now but very gently and usually to try and lead me to the kitchen to open the back door.
Just to add there was no risk of her ingesting the vapour rub, the smell was enough to stop her even attempting to mouth.
I have to admit to giving a pup a nip when they get over excited. It’s how their mother does it and it also works. Not very pleasant though.

I can only sympathise- we have a 12 week lab and the land shark is relentless. So many toys but he still mouths and nips all the time. He gets even worse when tired so we pop him in his crate but even once he's had a sleep - he's biting everything and anything. My DS2 makes it even worse as he gets hurts sometimes so he runs away which makes pup think it's a big game. Learning and patience I guess.
He's our second lab and I honestly had forgotten how bloody awful the puppy days are!
The getting up at 5 every morning is also something I'd long forgotten with pups!

@CharlieBoff

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See what your trainer/behavourist suggests. I know that as soon as my pup starts to turn into a land shark it’s time for nap again… she is about nine weeks and can literally only cope with twenty mins of play then she needs a nap.. I pop her into her crate and cover it with a towel and she goes straight to sleep for a Power Nap. She is sleeping at least 20hours a day ( but she is tiny compared to a collie)

My collie cross was a bitey aggressive little fucker at that age. She’s now eight months and is wonderful. The weeks of tears are (sort of) forgotten now..

😂😂😂

She needs lots of things to chew.

You kicked a dog? Am I reading this right? My dad was a farmer for 62 years and only died last year, he trained all our collies who were sheepdogs and never once would he have advised to kick a dog. What a disgusting post.

Our last puppy was terrifyingly bitey. She’d not just grab at your hands or feet, she’d jump and grab your upper arms and then hang on as gravity took over and she was a big puppy! I have some major scars from her attacks.
We learned to always have at least two long toys in our hands at all times. One to cram in their mouth when they come at you and one which could be used to fend off attacks if they dropped the first one. Also use stairgates so you can step away when it gets too rough.
They do grow out of it but it feels like forever and once the adult teeth come in you are dealing with larger, blunter teeth, not the little needles, which are much less painful.

Have a look at Facebook group Dog Training Advice and Support
They have a puppy group that gives individual support (there is a small charge) but it might just keep you going until you see your trainer. And lots of the admin are very familiar with collies.

I think a lot of people are giving well-intentioned but ultimately not very useful advice.

When non-herding breeds bite ankles it's just puppy behaviour and generally something they just grow out of given time, although of course it is annoying and painful. But with collies you're having to work against their genetics and it's not as simple as wearing wellies and saying "no."

OP, I would really try and get help from a collie specialist sooner - online if necessary. A herding puppy in the house is one thing but once she's out on walks she will want to herd bikes, cars, other people and other dogs and it can potentially be really dangerous.

This is what I’m thinking of trying, but I really don’t want her crate to become a punishment area, as she’s so good going in there?

Try not to think of it as punishment. My little land shark just doesn’t know when to rest and gets more bitey the more tired he is.

We’re teaching him “interrupt” words, so a firm “no” if he’s jumping and bitey and a tug toy to play with. If he’s chewing something he shouldn’t it’s “ah ah ah” and we replace that with something he can chew. If he doesn’t settle after being told no and keeps biting despite a toy being offered we’ll pop him in his crate for 10 minutes. Always with calm voice using “settle” so he knows it’s time to stop. While I say 10 minutes, he’s usually asleep by the time I go to let him out, if not he comes out and we start again,

It’s not a punishment, his behaviour is telling me he needs a break and his puppy self doesn’t know how to stop.

Absolutely this. My collie cross really was awful. She was also herding me (the person she has most contact with). I went back to the breeder who told me that I had to be very very fi with her and if necessary use a horse whip to tap her when she did it (she’s super fast so there’s no way a human can catch her if she doesn’t want to be caught). I didn’t actually do this because it felt very wrong but as a result we had some really difficult weeks and I truly felt like giving her back.
she’s now wonderful. It took time.
she still herds the chickens and she’ll never give up on that.

I’m sorry, but “Bitey aggressive little fucker” has me 😂😂

that is literally how I described madam to my dad on the phone the other day 😂