Sorry to go on but this reminds me of Loki as a pup - he would bite and bite and bite - we couldn't even sit with him without being mauled. But he must play bite in order to learn bite inhibition and the ways above really do work - honest! If he doesn't experiment and get people screaming and refusing to play with him - he won't learn how soft his mouth should be. Let him mouth to a certain extent so that you can squeel when it hurts.

Last night my H was play wrestling with Loki and Loki grabbed hold of his sweatshirt and pulled, so H took it off. So Loki grabbed hold of the t-shirt and pulled at this, so H took this off. Faced with only flesh to maul Loki sat back and wouldn't use his mouth at all. When he was 8 weeks old I never thought this would happen.

We were told by our dog trainer it was good to have a puppy that bites and nips because you can teach them skin and teeth should never meet, a pup that dos'nt bite cannot be taught this and later on in life may just in excitement take a chunk out of someone as they have not been taught any different, recently we bred a litter, one of the pups was in my oppinion the pup from hell, at every opportunity she would try to nip at me and everyone else that came into contact with her, after doing a comformation assessment on all the litter, it turned out she was my best option for showing I was gutted as I loved another particular pup in this litter, but as I bred to keep one that I could show, she ended up the one I had to keep, she is now adorable, still frisky but not one bit nasty, we trained her teeth and skin never meet from day one and it worked (which to be honest I did'nt think it would), she is 5 months old now and does not nip or bite, this pup of your cousins should be trained, gently NOW, not with harsh punishment, but with possibly the technique I used, if she nipped at me I would pull my hand to me and scream quite loudly as though I had been seriously hurt, and say NO I would then get a treat, and allow her to sniff the treat in my hand, and if she tried to grab I would pull away with hurt expression again and say no be gentle this I continued with until she was gentle then she was given a treat, I did this every day, and still do it to enforce the command.

Mo

There is nothing inherently vicious in a puppy biting. As others have said, it was taken from its dam and siblings far too early and has not had the opportunity to learn the bite inhibition which they would have taught it. It is therefore now up to your cousin, and anyone else with whom the pup comes into contact, to teach it restraint.

I cannot really add anything further to the excellent advice you have received here, particularly from Minihaha, Lucky Star, and Mo. You might like to have a look at this article which explains bite inhibition and how to teach it: http://www.gsdcqld.org.au/bite%20inhibition.htm

If you Google "bite inhibition" you will find a lot of information which may be of help.

Best wishes
SB

oh borris and bessie my staffords when pups and borris has just learnt not to bite anymore, they would nip and sometimes make us bleed!! it takes time

what breed is the dog and also 4weeks old, dear lord thats so young

Especially watch out for people who let her or encourage her to bite. Caught a so called friend in garden with Khera hanging off his arm. After this incident she seemed to think it was ok to snatch at arms.

Yes Vix and this often happens when you have strange children at the house who are not 'dog trained'

I shouldn't laugh but I have this picture in my mind of this little husky pup dangling and hanging on by his teeth.

I think it sounds like this pup is fear biting. I hope I'm wrong but if you are agressive (Even Slightly) with a pup it will try to Be agressive first. Hence the term 'fear biting'. It starts with a game and can turn quite serious if not handled properly.
Anne W.

As has been mentioned previously, being removed from its Dam at such an incredibly early age will have had an awful effect on the social skills of this pup. She will have no idea of what is or isn't acceptable behaviour.It is the Dam of the pup who teaches it manners, along with its litter mates.
Then, it becomes the breeders job to socialise the pups with humans in the last 2 or 3 weeks before it leaves home. My pups have always taken it in turn to come out of the whelping room and have some one on one with myself, the children, OH and the other dogs. We also get friends to come round and play (not hard!!) with them so that they leave having met a wide variety of people all of whom will have expressed their displeasure at being bitten!!
Having missed out on all this, your cousins pup is probably quite confused about what is correct behaviour and will need very careful,gentle training in order for her to become a good canine member of society!!
She should be enrolled in a GOOD recommended puppy class with a sensible and thoughtful trainer.The entire situation should be explained to the trainer and hopefully, your cousin will get the necessary help.
Good Luck.