What is normal biting for a 16 week old puppy? We have a WCS and in the last week or so the chewing and biting feels relentless. She's 100% teething - I've noticed a couple of new teeth poking through the gum as well as noticed she's missing one of her little front teeth. So I get it, she's in pain and it's all uncomfortable but is the following normal? Am I doing all the right things to make sure she doesn't bite as an adult?
Currently she bites and chews on everything and everyone. I don't think anything is safe from her! She constantly bites the kids' ankles/trousers legs every time she's with them. It almost feels like it's the only way she really interacts with them at the moment which is very challenging. She very, very rarely hurts them but sometimes if feels as though they can't walk across the room without being bitten. The school run has become a nightmare as she just pulls on the lead to catch them to bite their trousers. No amount of redirection, stopping, leash work seems to be helping with this yet.
Whenever I play with her she bites my sleeves, occasionally she'll bite my hands. Mostly I think that's accidental and she's actually going for my clothes. Thank goodness it's winter and I'm wearing a jumper 99% of the time. She constantly bites DH's hands. For lack of a better way to put it, he tolerates it more so I think that's partly why she knows not to really bite mine but will have a good chomp of his. Plus he doesn't wear jumpers as much as me! I'd say for the large part the biting isn't hard or painful but it can be, especially if her teeth seem to be hurting her. Mostly it's not hard or painful but sometimes it can be. She's also fully chewing everything she can reach - shelves, chairs, couch, wood, cardboard...
Since day one I have firmly told her no and redirected with a toy. She has plenty of chew toys, albeit some of them are already needing replaced because she's decimated them. I feel like the toy distraction is becoming a bit ineffective as sometimes she will just pounce on me over and over, biting my sleeves, no matter how many times I give her the toy. If she does continues to bite then I remove myself from the situation or put her in her crate to calm down. I don't know how much that is working as often a few minutes after we are back together she'll be right back to biting. It really feels relentless. I've also given her carrot on occasion when she's chewing furniture and it's clear her gums are sore.
I'm just looking for reassurance that I'm doing the right things and this is in the realms of normal for a 16 week old pup. It's my biggest fear that we will have failed to stop the biting and have her bite someone as an adult dog. Is it normal? Any suggestions of how to go from here or do we keep persevering? How much longer will this keep going?!
TLDR: 16 week old puppy is biting us constantly despite redirection with toys/ removing us or her from the situation. Is this normal?