Pup that nips her dad, and full on bites me

Hi there

I am hoping someone can shed some light on our puppys behavior. Generally, she has a lovely lovely temprement, however after the 3.5 weeks of owning her, she has suddenly found her feet so to speak and starting to become abit too confident!!

She is currently 11 weeks old and is abit of a nipper.. she is very playful and uses her mouth alot which is fine and i know this is not unusual. We have encouraged her to chew her toys and made it apparent that it hurts if she nips our skin so that she realises that she needs to be careful, however her nips have sometimes started to become bites, and some of these bites have gone from superficial to full on breaking my skin.

Last night we took her to my mums house after feeding her, giving her water, letting her go to the toilet and then putting her in her travel case thing for the short car journey. She actually enjoys being in the car, so i know this has not played a part in what happened. After a couple of hours of being at my mums, we were packing up to go home, and she was running round the kitchen like a mad thing. I tried to pick her up to carry her outside (shes not allowed on the ground atm) and she bit me, pretty hard and so i shouted loud (in pain) and said "no". she stopped for a few seconds looked at me and then bit again but this time harder and she growled as she did it... she broke my skin with her teeth whlst doing so. My partner came back in as heard a commotion and told her stop and she did. It seems she doesnt listen to me OR she actually realised she hurt me when i cried and therefore stopped.

Id like to know, is biting normal? I know nipping is but it scared me last night that not only has she started biting but she is growling in quite a menacing way whilst doing so. She hasnt done this to my partner as yet, although i spend more time with her so whether or not she feels more comfortable with me and is pushing her/my boundaries. The other day i walked past her and she full on jumped on my foot and sunk her teeth into me - before this she was happily chewing one of her toys.

Does this sound like normal behaviour for a puppy, or is this behaviour something i should be worried about? Im starting to worry about picking her up now, and worrying that if im on my own with her that she would bite me again and cause more damage.

Its really upsetting me, as ive had dogs when i was little and dont ever recall them being like this. Shes generally a very friendly dog, very loving, but every so often she snaps and its pretty scary even though shes only small.

From past experience I remember 3 months is about that time when they start testing their boundaries and figuring out where they stand in the pack.
I think it's definitely behaviour to be nipped in the butt, she needs to understand it is absolutely never acceptable to bite skin. Does her dad tell her off if she nips him?
I think you are definitely on the right track by redirecting her to toys. Just make sure she is never able to control you with her nipping and biting. I would make sure to pick her up lots and treat her for being calm, just so there's no associations with biting and being put down etc.
Good luck, I can imagine it's not something you were expecting! Do keep me posted on how things develop with her!

Hiya - thanks for your reply! Definately wasnt something i was expecing, and it bloody hurts haha! My partner does tell her off also if she does something naughty, but to be honest she never goes as far as biting him in order for him to have to do so in the first place. My partner, obviously being male, has a much deeper voice than me so whether or not thats enough for her to feel that he has more authority over her than i do. I think he is definately the master - in her eyes anyway lol! We are constantly picking her up etc and usually she loves it she jumps up to be picked up sometimes, but for some reason last night it wasnt the case. My mum recons it was because she was sorting out some food on the worktop at the time and the pup was being greedy and concentrating on her belly... she does love her grub but i dont think thats a reason?!

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. This is normal puppy behaviour, growling is NEVER menacing, growling is a warning that the puppy is uncomfortable, some times in play dogs growl, but it is a totally different growl to the defensive growling.

Why is your puppy not allowed on the ground at your mother's ? how does she toilet if she is not allowed on the ground ?

If you do not want your puppy to mouth you, do not shout or tell her off, this turns it into a game. o what the adult dog does, ignore it & if it becomes too much, get up & YOU leave the room ignoring the puppy. Return after 30 seconds or so & if the mouthing starts up repeat leaving her again & again, until she learns that mouthing is not rewarding & stops the behaviour.

I never react at all to any mouthing by any puppy that comes here or I meet elsewhere. They learn very quickly as long as everyone sings from the same hymn sheet & does exactly the same thing.

Adult dogs allow under 6 month old puppies huge amount of licence, they rarely growl at puppies nor do the "tell them off" in an aggressive way.

You need to reward wanted behaviour & ignore unacceptable behaviour, not punish unacceptable behaviour

She may have been overstimulated when you picked her up at your mother's place, which in turn she redirected her excitement to your hand. I don't think it was a menacing action, just a very excited puppy, though we were not there to actually see it this is all speculation by what you are sharing. The growling is also a normal vocalization. When my dogs play here you would think they were tearing each other apart, but they are simply playing and some dogs are louder than others. That is why I tend to not pick up an over excited puppy or play with an over excited adult dog until they have brought their excitement down a notch or 2 to prevent accidental redirection.

Her chasing your feet as you walk by is the same thing, puppies tend to chase things that move. I can well remember how sharp puppy teeth are and they are still learning bite inhibition, so I may suggest wearing shoes or indoor shoes while in the to save your feet until she learns it is unacceptable. Also, have a loose leash on her that you can use to redirect in times where she is misbehaving and gently coax her away. I like to use time outs instead of the ignore tactic. Ignoring is a is a good tactic for some things, but can be quite painful at the same time when doing it for biting. Just my experience, everyone finds different ways to teach things.

Im not sure, she has growled before, during play, in her sleep etc and this is something i know is normal. This growl was different though, it prob was a warning of some sort, but what im trying to get at was i dont understand as to why she would do that. she was in a placed she knew, around people she knew. She was obviously having a bit of a tantrum.

In regards to playing, i do ignore her when she nips etc and i do encourage her to redirect the bahaviour to toys etc. This was not during play and im more concered as to what i do if need to take her home or remove her from a room and she starts behaving in this way.

Just to point out, she is allowed on the ground at my mums house/garden - i did state i was packing up to go home, I.E therefore i was about to carry her to the car rather than walking up the street on the pavement.

id also like to point out, there was no punishing involved for unacceptable behaviours.. as stated before, i acknowledge good behaviour and ignore bad.

Thanks for your reply - i think your right, you cant always ignore bad behaviour, i kno a dog doesnt understand wat your saying but they do know different tones of voices etc. This is why I have been saying no in a stern voice and then putting her down, ignoring her if shes been really bad, I.e proper biting, and if shes just nipping abit too much ive said 'owwww' in a stern voice and given her a toy instead. I know the nipping is how they learn their bite in inhibition. Maybe i was wrong to assume i could pick her up at anytime - and analyse her bahiour before doing so, and maybe i need to be a more thick skinned, in more ways than one!!

I doubt it was a warning at all, puooies growl, watch a litter playing together (on youtube) they also bite HARD!!!

Puppies can throw a strop , (just like young children) when they don`t get their own way , which is probably the growl you heard... its telling you, get off me, I am having fun and I don`t want to go home.


None of this means your puppy is going to be aggressive because it growls and bites.... Joedee has given you some good advice, its worth listening to .

No reward for biting, (saying och or drawing attention) just ignore it and walk away, you pup will get the message that biting is no fun, because you are not reacting.

In saying that , some pups are worse than others, my boy gave a very good impression of the Tasmanian Devil, and mostly my hubby got the worse of it, yes it hurts and yes he would draw blood, he would wait in ambush and pounce..... he still forgets himself at times now, (at 18 mths) but on the whole he has grown out of it.

Just keep ignoring, walk away, give pup something else to chew on, remember removing yourself is quicker than trying to remove a whirl wind of a biting pup, it all adds to the game. stay calm, and consistent.

I think it can be a shock to some people how vocal and bitey puppies can be, they can sound like the beast from hell at times, but its all normal learning behaviour for a pup.

IMO it is totally unacceptable for any dog ... Pup or adult ... To bite. A bite is where the skin has been broken, this is not puppy play, this is assertiveness at best or aggression at worst. I cannot believe what I have read from experienced dog owners. With the ever-growing anti dog culture at the moment it is essential that even puppies can be relied upon not to break skin and/or draw blood.

The fact that puppy teeth are razor sharp needs to be taken into account. The pup may not intend to break skin, but would be pretty hard to control with little razors in its mouth.