Puppy biting too hard (split frome old thread)

Hi my name is Sarah and I have just joined this site. I have a 8 week old male Springer and Im worried about the nipping/biting as well. I have two children who he seems to go for mostly and the children who visit which makes me nervous. I have not had a puppy before and find myself looking at sites and reading books etc. None seem to give you step by step ideas, if i shout to shock he still nips/bites trouser legs and toes!. Ive tried tugging lead to side when he gets really excited. The smell spray stuff doesnt seem to work and im waiting for a crate any day now. please help me to and if you received help I also will read the responses. Good luck with your new pup by the way my pup is Neo.

I found shouting/going ouch made things worse, a really stern no and move away and ignore worked better. Tuscan never really nipped it was more a mouth, or full on munch sometimes. Distraction worked well when I wanted to do handling exercises with him. I used a nyla bone if he got really ott and would say no not fingers this.

Hi Sarah and welcome to Dogsey
Biting is normal behaviour in puppies, if a puppy doesn't bite there is something wrong with it . Puppies bite for a number of reasons, to explore the world around them/during play/when teething/ when practising to be an adult dog who may need to defend himself and obtain food.

I am in the process of teaching my puppy not to bite hard, if she does I say 'ouch' in a loud voice and give her a hard stare and she usually licks me better then I say good dog ( praising the required behaviour) . If a puppy continues to bite too hard you can stop the play instantly/turn your back/fold your arms/no word no eye contact (which signals to the puppy calm down game over) and stand complete still until the puppy is quiet. When it is quiet praise it and continue with the game. You need to adopt this stance every time the puppy bites hard and jumps up and so does every one else in the family. Don't expect instant success it may take a little time.

The other thing you can do is to teach 'bite inhibition',this is encouraging the puppy to bite ever more gently until no pressure is exerted at all so that as the puppy grows up and develops powerful jaws, should he bite for any reason ( if he is in pain/at the vets being treated /gets accidentally hurt) he will have learnt never to sink his teeth into human skin. Bite inhibition, learning to developer a 'soft mouth' is one of the most important lessons you can teach your dog.


Teaching a puppy bite inhibition takes time and patience and won't be achieved in just a few days also everyone in the household needs to adopt the same approach.

Link to teaching bite inhibition ..click here

with all three of my dogs... i growled really loud everytime they went to bite... i use the growl ( a grrrrrgh sound) instead of saying no... they stop instantly. Mine have never mouthed anybody.

I fully agree with Mini's advice and this is essentially how I trained my puppy to have the lovely soft mouth he has now as an adult. Remember - they have to bite to learn how to inhibit it and learn how to do it softly. That way, when another dog winds them up or a child treads on their paw they retain a soft mouth.

Also have a read through this - it is along the same lines as Mini's advice:

http://www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/berner1/bitestop.htm

I did the shouting NO to mine then ignoring him i also used the rattle bottle with mine (stones inside a plastic bottle and shake it close to him when he did something wrong) i'm not really sure which done the trick in the end, it may have been a combo the 2 but he doesn't do it anymore! good luck, you'll get there it just takes a bit of time and patients

with my pups I did the ouch (very loudly and sounded hurt) and took my hand away and ignored the pup for a few seconds, later as they got just a little older, I offered them a treat, if their teeth touched my skin I said OUCH took my hand and the treat away til the pup calmed and then did it again offering the treat, I continued to do this til the pup realised that if its teeth touched my skin it would NOT get a treat, once it tried to take the treat gently I then gave it to it with plenty of praise.

Mo

Thank you for your advice, his behaviour biting/nipping is only when he gets too excited and as this is my first pup I am learning as well. He calms down if I put him in the kitchen for a little while. What can I do when he wont let go of a sock on my kid or trouser leg, he just seems to hold on for life even when I do the short sharp shout. Deep down I know he's only over excited but getting him to let go is hard work and the kids automatically get a little scared. The children are aged 7 and 10 by the way and they are trying to understand the pups actions.

Thank you for all the advice, Neo is currently on my lap and a friend of mine has commented on his attachment to me already. I will try your advice, I have printed everything sent to me and I will keep it with all my advice stuff, this is a great help, thanks once again. S.

Unless he's ultra sensitive he may just get used to a shout so I'd suggest:

Distracting him - holding some tasty food right next to his nose and just drawing him away and giving him the food.

Don't worry that rewarding him for biting - if he releases and follows the titbit, it's actually teaching him that releasing is a good thing to do :smt001

You can keep a food pot ready for this - and use tasty food he may not normally get.

Another tactis is to avoid pulling or tugging on what he has in his mouth, and instead use a raggie toy to wiggle right next to him and tempt him away, then have a small game with him.

If you can find the window just before he is likely to nip, try distracting him with a wiggly raggie just before he does it, and it will help him slowly get out of his nippy habit (or is one of the things that will help anyway).

Be aware he may be like this for about 20 or so weeks but remember too it is totally normal - it may get worse around 12-16 weeks but if so don't panic

A good puppy socialising class may help to allay some of your fears and it will be good for him too, but a bad one is worse than none. Try www.puppyschool.co.uk or www.apdt.co.uk and I'd suggest popping along to look first.

There is some info here on choosing a good class...

http://www.apdt.co.uk/training_class.htm

Hth

Wys
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