9 week old pup

[mythreeandi]

Last week we picked up our much loved and wanted pup.

He's a staff, having had the breed before, we knew that was going to be the best fit for our family.

He is absolutely beautiful and doing well with toilet training. We currently have a play pen with his bed etc in, but thinking about crate training?

The only thing that's really getting me down is the constant biting and nipping. Which I totally know is to be expected with a pup and he doesn't mean to hurt - but bloody hell his teeth are so sharp.

Any ideas on how to discourage this? He's got lots of toys - chewy, soft etc.

I posted an almost identical question a few weeks ago and it does get better.

All puppies bite, it’s how they explore their world, and they have tremendously sharp teeth. My hands were shredded and she especially loved nipping my feet. I wore wellies indoors and the same couple of pairs of jeans and long sleeved tops.

As much as possible I redirected her biting to toys, but there were numerous times this simply didn’t work. If she got very frenzied, she had 5 minutes’ time-out in her crate. I know the experts frown at this but it did calm her down.

She’s now 5 months and still has a wee bitey session after breakfast but is a bit gentler and tends to mouth rather than clamp down hard. I think it’s something you just have to ride out to a large extent, knowing that it’ll only be for a relatively short time. But it bloody hurts and it’s definitely the hardest part of having a puppy!

@Cactusali
Thank you for your reply. It's nice to know there's light at the end of the tunnel!
I want to nip it in the bud (pun not intentional ) asap as I have 3 children, the youngest being 2 so it's hard to explain that puppy isn't trying to hurt him and hard work having a feral toddler with an equally feral puppy!

Are you crate training?

I would remember the following:

1. At 9 weeks old he has spent 8 weeks of his life with his littermates who he is rough with. Puppies do a lot of rough play with each other and if you spend enough time with a litter you will often see one 'correct' the other. You will also see the bitch 'correcting' the pups if they get rough with each other. He's playing with you the same way he would play with his littermates.
2. Over-stimulated puppies will bite more. I mean this gently, but if you have three kids - one of which is very young - I can well imagine there is a lot of puppy play time going on which will make this worse.
3. This will probably get worse before it gets better. He's not yet teething probably - and that is when they chew and bite the most.

So. This means:

1. Divert and reward. If he bites you, say 'ow' or whatever word you wish and quickly swap out for a soft toy.
2. Do not overstimulate him. Puppies that age need about 17-20 hours sleep a day. So, most of the day your pup should be asleep - if he is biting more, he's likely overstimulated and overly tired. Place him in his bed and make him get used to sleeping when he does get like this. Tell your children not to overstimulate him and make sure he has time just himself in his play-pen and can sleep when he is overly tired.
3. Train him. By 9 weeks old he can easily learn sit/down/wait etc. Training a puppy early will really help with biting. Training exhausts a puppy like nothing else will. A good 5-10 minute training session 5-6 times a day will do more good in terms of tiring him than an hours play time will - remember play time excites them and overstimulates which will lead to mouthing (its natural).
4. In a few weeks, when he moves onto 'proper teething' get some flannels and shove them in the freezer and bring them out for him to chew on. That will ease some of his discomfort.

@LandSharksAnonymous

This is all amazing advice! Thank you so much!

Yes, she was using a crate from the off. It seemed to suit her well and she slept in it without any fuss from her first night (and in the kitchen on her own, which I know is another thing frowned on). She’s graduated to having her bed in the kitchen and having the run of it.
The biting was only directed at me. My husband was left unmolested. Probably because I was (and am) doing all the training while he looked on with benignly. Thankfully no children involved. My unprofessional opinion is that you should separate a puppy from a child as soon as they bite them and a crate (or a stair gate between rooms) is a quick way to do it. It’s also quickly reversible when they’ve had a few minutes to calm down. As I said, I know it’s thought inappropriate to use the crate as a punishment but it does allow a bit of a re-set. She’s now a lovely, well-adjusted girl. Well apart from pulling on her lead and wanting to effusively greet every living thing she meets….