Puppy biting help. Owner(me) is educated (semi)

Firesate · 10-24-2011, 06:06 PM

Hi guys,

I am new to this forum, sort of, I have been browsing and reading up on everything but I only just registered my free account a while back.

My name is Bill (William) my puppy is Kaiser - 10 weeks old soon.

Firstly I'd like to refer to the title about me being "educated". I am referring to the fact that I have read up LOADS of information before I got my puppy and I am constantly reading up any training and relationship tips/advice so I can better understand and enjoy our puppy.

The Background
I am from New Zealand, I have recently got my first puppy - Kaiser, Pure bred GSD he is 10 weeks old on Wednesday and I have had him for 2 weeks, which is not a long time I know but I am desperate for any help. Also when I refer to him as mine I mean that he is OUR family dog, me my parents and my older sister.

For the first week he was a calm sweet quiet boy, I guess he was getting used to the house new surroundings and everything but for this last week he's gotten very very boisterous and biting everything except his toys.

I have read every Leerburg article by Ed Frawley I could find for training and I have 3 of his videos - Your puppy 8 weeks to 8 months, Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet and Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs.
I have also looked up and watched the so called "Dog Whisperer" Ceaser Milan and I have his book Ceaser's Way. (Although I dont really like/think its suitable for Kaiser as he is just a puppy and he still has training to go through.)

I have read the bite inhibition sticky that is posted up on these forums. I have tried all of it. The IPE, the ow, the redirection to toys, the walk away, the ignoring and as a very last resort the crate punishment (rather than the crate as my time out from him/his safe haven.)

He is to get his 2nd vaccination shot on the 28th of Oct and so he will miss the first class of his puppy obedience class, hence he will not be going to it for 2 weeks from now...

The Problem
Today morning when my sister (who has always been shy/nervous of dogs) took Kaiser out on the lawn to give him a bit of exercise he was obviously playing but he wouldn't stop biting her (despite using the techniques stated above), finally it ended when he bit her and drew blood. Quite a bit of blood. She is 24 and I am sorry to say, she actually cried because of it.

I am at my wits end and I have no clue how to stop/train this to not be a problem.

The whole family has gotten attached to Kaiser and we love him, just not the biting. I strongly understand that he needs to bite as he is only a puppy, but drawing blood is far too much and it seems there is a miscommunication between us and our pup so ANY help/info at all will be GREATLY appreciated.

Emoore · 10-24-2011, 06:15 PM

My puppy drew blood on me a couple of times. It's not that unusual and it's not an alarming sign that your dog is aggressive or anything like that. I still have scars from him actually.

The only think that worked for us and our landshark was for everybody to carry a stuffed toy and literally just keep shoving it in his mouth. If he spit it out and headed for my arms, shove the toy in his mouth again. It helps *a lot* to make other things more interesting to bite than you are. Your sister, for example, could have a stuffed toy on a string and drag it along on the ground, moving it around. Thus, it would become more interesting to bite than she is. Same thing with your other family members. Take a toy and move it around quickly, making unpredictable movements, so the toy is more fun to bite and chase.

Looking back (my pup is 10 months now) the landshark phase doesn't seem so bad or so long, but when it was happening I remember it seemed like it would never end and he was honestly trying to kill us. Good luck! It does end, I promise! It's a good thing they're so cute during that stage, otherwise we would get rid of them.

RocketDog · 10-24-2011, 06:23 PM

Everything that Emoore said ^

My pup is almost 19 weeks, and he's MUCH MUCH better, but the last couple days, he's gone through a bit of an increase. I think it's cuz he's really starting to wuv us, LOL, and we're his best friends, so he wants to really PLAY with us. Trust me, I have had blood dripping off my hands. I have holes in my pant legs and coat sleeves, and it's really kinda painful, too.

They WILL grow out of it. Nothing much works with Rocket either, except holding him back out of reach and finally getting a chance to walk away. I know some say no, some say yes, but I get frozen soup bones from a local source and keep them frozen and that gives him some really excellent chewing time. I watch him the whole time, he's only gets them an hour a day, and he's never broken a piece off or anything, but it sure helps me, for sure.

**MaggieRoseLee** · 10-24-2011, 07:07 PM

You really need to read and read and read ---> Puppy BITING!!! Teaching Bite Inhibition

Up the exercise for your puppy so he's not bouncing off the walls (teeth first).

Get tons of tug toys EVERYWHERE. Don't move without a long tug toy readily available.

Michael Ellis: Tugging with puppies - YouTube

Michael Ellis Talks on Playing Tug with Young Puppies - YouTube

Holmeshx2 · 10-24-2011, 07:46 PM

everything from above. The landshark phase seems to last forever and nothing works and you think YOUR puppy is the one thats different because nothing works Jinx would spit the toy out and would bob and weave around it to bite us. She would spring board into the air and bite my chest leaving bloody chunks of flesh missing. At work I got pulled aside because they thought I was suicidal I had so many slices on my arms.

Honestly NOTHING WORKS!!! I know it sounds wrong but all you can do at this age is lay a good foundation and wait it out. Keep shoving toys in the mouth that works the best. Puppy comes you have toy attached to your hip and shove it in puppy's mouth. Don't forget to play with it and praise puppy its boring just to have the dead toy there after awhile the puppy will grow up some and will have the foundation set of bite toys not humans and one day will just click generally around 4-5ish months and one day they will just wake up and not bite you but its not going to happen now so for the time being get used to it and suck it up and wait it out.. plus lay the ground work of shoving the toy in the mouth. Don't focus on the dominance/aggression junk your pup is too young to worry about it.

As for your sister if she is already unsure of dogs and nervous definitely don't leave her alone with a crazy landshark GSD puppy it will not build their relationship good AT ALL!! Make sure you guys do all the work with the pup and when he gets a bit older and more settled then let her do it on her own for now be there to mediate and show her how to do things and help keep the puppy in line. One thing is a flirt pole it will wear him out big time and keep his mouth off of you completely look it up and your sister can then play with puppy and exercise him without her getting bit.

JulieBays · 10-24-2011, 09:36 PM

LOL. What everyone else said is the truth. Sasha is almost 6 months old. I have a lot of scars from her landshark phase. It was awful. I really thought I had Cujo and a demon dog! Her very sharp puppy teeth drew more blood than I thought I had. I never really talked about it on this forum because, well, there are many threads on it. If you just look at all of the threads, that should tell you something. AND, I tried everything. I would suggest ignoring the Leerburg and Whisperer stuff right now. Yuck, I think they are useless at the landshark stage. The only advice I have is to exercise, exercise, exercise... At one point, I finally resorted to arm guards and gloves and would go all out crazy with her. Seriously! I would run around the yard and attack her, she would attack me. It was a lot a fun and I lost 15 pounds.

Sasha is now almost 6 months old. She is such an amazing dog! I think you'll find that most people on this forum will say that the landshark phase ended around 5 to 6 months old. I agree. Patience is the key. All of my scars are healing and she is my big baby. She's sleeping peacefully next to me right now. I know that's hard to believe but it happens.

JulieBays · 10-24-2011, 09:57 PM

BTW, I am now waiting on the butthead teenage phase.. At least I won't look like I'm cutting my arms though.

alaman · 10-24-2011, 10:07 PM

It's simple. If the puppy respects his owner's authority, the owner will not get bitten.

Ever see a puppy attack or bite his mother? If not, why do you think that is? The puppy respects the mother's authority.

Ever see a puppy run over and bite an adult male dog? Why not? The puppy respects the male dog's authority.

Get your puppy to respect your authority and you will not get bitten by the puppy.

onyx'girl · 10-24-2011, 10:08 PM

Welcome to the wonderful world of GSD's Bill!!
Tug was my pups outlet! He wasn't the landshark I always read about, he loved to tug, loved to fetch/chase a ball and wouldn't destroy anything that wasn't for the dogs. Plush toys were gutted, but not ingested, so they were given with supervision. Rope toys were shredded and sometimes ingested, so supervision with those. Karlo loved to shred his fabric type toys.
I made sure to have chew toys, and keep his mouth busy. Did the same for Onyx, and only was bitten when the targeting was off.
Laying the dogs meal in a track(or toss it in the yard for them to hunt) also helps work their mind, they need as much mental stimulation as physical.
Enjoy puppyhood, it goes by waaaay too fast!

**MaggieRoseLee** · 10-24-2011, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alaman

Ever see a puppy attack or bite his mother? If not, why do you think that is? The puppy respects the mother's authority.

Ever see a puppy run over and bite an adult male dog? Why not? The puppy respects the male dog's authority.

Actually............... YES.

Cause it's play behavior FOR THE DOGS. And all puppies will try to play with anything that moves near them. PLAY.

If they bite too hard, then mom/dad dog will deal with the situation. So will their littermates. THEY also can all help teach the 'bite inhibition' to the puppies.

This is a WAY pulled back and calm bit of play between my 2 girls. And, frankly, the bigger older dog still has horrible bite inhibition so the pup is being very careful (and loving when the big dog has a toy!).

Bretta (5 yrs old) playing with Glory (12 wks old) German Shepherds - YouTube

10-24-2011, 06:06 PM	#1 (permalink)
Firesate New Member Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: New Zealand Posts: 4	Puppy biting help. Owner(me) is educated (semi) Hi guys, I am new to this forum, sort of, I have been browsing and reading up on everything but I only just registered my free account a while back. My name is Bill (William) my puppy is Kaiser - 10 weeks old soon. Firstly I'd like to refer to the title about me being "educated". I am referring to the fact that I have read up LOADS of information before I got my puppy and I am constantly reading up any training and relationship tips/advice so I can better understand and enjoy our puppy. The Background I am from New Zealand, I have recently got my first puppy - Kaiser, Pure bred GSD he is 10 weeks old on Wednesday and I have had him for 2 weeks, which is not a long time I know but I am desperate for any help. Also when I refer to him as mine I mean that he is OUR family dog, me my parents and my older sister. For the first week he was a calm sweet quiet boy, I guess he was getting used to the house new surroundings and everything but for this last week he's gotten very very boisterous and biting everything except his toys. I have read every Leerburg article by Ed Frawley I could find for training and I have 3 of his videos - Your puppy 8 weeks to 8 months, Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet and Dealing with Dominant & Aggressive Dogs. I have also looked up and watched the so called "Dog Whisperer" Ceaser Milan and I have his book Ceaser's Way. (Although I dont really like/think its suitable for Kaiser as he is just a puppy and he still has training to go through.) I have read the bite inhibition sticky that is posted up on these forums. I have tried all of it. The IPE, the ow, the redirection to toys, the walk away, the ignoring and as a very last resort the crate punishment (rather than the crate as my time out from him/his safe haven.) He is to get his 2nd vaccination shot on the 28th of Oct and so he will miss the first class of his puppy obedience class, hence he will not be going to it for 2 weeks from now... The Problem Today morning when my sister (who has always been shy/nervous of dogs) took Kaiser out on the lawn to give him a bit of exercise he was obviously playing but he wouldn't stop biting her (despite using the techniques stated above), finally it ended when he bit her and drew blood. Quite a bit of blood. She is 24 and I am sorry to say, she actually cried because of it. I am at my wits end and I have no clue how to stop/train this to not be a problem. The whole family has gotten attached to Kaiser and we love him, just not the biting. I strongly understand that he needs to bite as he is only a puppy, but drawing blood is far too much and it seems there is a miscommunication between us and our pup so ANY help/info at all will be GREATLY appreciated.

10-24-2011, 06:15 PM	#2 (permalink)
Emoore Crowned Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: North DFW, TX Posts: 9,215	My puppy drew blood on me a couple of times. It's not that unusual and it's not an alarming sign that your dog is aggressive or anything like that. I still have scars from him actually. The only think that worked for us and our landshark was for everybody to carry a stuffed toy and literally just keep shoving it in his mouth. If he spit it out and headed for my arms, shove the toy in his mouth again. It helps a lot to make other things more interesting to bite than you are. Your sister, for example, could have a stuffed toy on a string and drag it along on the ground, moving it around. Thus, it would become more interesting to bite than she is. Same thing with your other family members. Take a toy and move it around quickly, making unpredictable movements, so the toy is more fun to bite and chase. Looking back (my pup is 10 months now) the landshark phase doesn't seem so bad or so long, but when it was happening I remember it seemed like it would never end and he was honestly trying to kill us. Good luck! It does end, I promise! It's a good thing they're so cute during that stage, otherwise we would get rid of them. __________________ Rocky vom Backyard- 10 years young Kopper vom Felssclucht Bach - 17 months At the Bridge: Cash van der Animal Shelter 2006-2010

10-24-2011, 07:46 PM	#5 (permalink)
Holmeshx2 Elite Member Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Ft. Bragg, NC Posts: 1,646	everything from above. The landshark phase seems to last forever and nothing works and you think YOUR puppy is the one thats different because nothing works Jinx would spit the toy out and would bob and weave around it to bite us. She would spring board into the air and bite my chest leaving bloody chunks of flesh missing. At work I got pulled aside because they thought I was suicidal I had so many slices on my arms. Honestly NOTHING WORKS!!! I know it sounds wrong but all you can do at this age is lay a good foundation and wait it out. Keep shoving toys in the mouth that works the best. Puppy comes you have toy attached to your hip and shove it in puppy's mouth. Don't forget to play with it and praise puppy its boring just to have the dead toy there after awhile the puppy will grow up some and will have the foundation set of bite toys not humans and one day will just click generally around 4-5ish months and one day they will just wake up and not bite you but its not going to happen now so for the time being get used to it and suck it up and wait it out.. plus lay the ground work of shoving the toy in the mouth. Don't focus on the dominance/aggression junk your pup is too young to worry about it. As for your sister if she is already unsure of dogs and nervous definitely don't leave her alone with a crazy landshark GSD puppy it will not build their relationship good AT ALL!! Make sure you guys do all the work with the pup and when he gets a bit older and more settled then let her do it on her own for now be there to mediate and show her how to do things and help keep the puppy in line. One thing is a flirt pole it will wear him out big time and keep his mouth off of you completely look it up and your sister can then play with puppy and exercise him without her getting bit. __________________ Jinx vom Wildhaus

10-24-2011, 09:36 PM	#6 (permalink)
JulieBays Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 391	LOL. What everyone else said is the truth. Sasha is almost 6 months old. I have a lot of scars from her landshark phase. It was awful. I really thought I had Cujo and a demon dog! Her very sharp puppy teeth drew more blood than I thought I had. I never really talked about it on this forum because, well, there are many threads on it. If you just look at all of the threads, that should tell you something. AND, I tried everything. I would suggest ignoring the Leerburg and Whisperer stuff right now. Yuck, I think they are useless at the landshark stage. The only advice I have is to exercise, exercise, exercise... At one point, I finally resorted to arm guards and gloves and would go all out crazy with her. Seriously! I would run around the yard and attack her, she would attack me. It was a lot a fun and I lost 15 pounds. Sasha is now almost 6 months old. She is such an amazing dog! I think you'll find that most people on this forum will say that the landshark phase ended around 5 to 6 months old. I agree. Patience is the key. All of my scars are healing and she is my big baby. She's sleeping peacefully next to me right now. I know that's hard to believe but it happens. __________________ Sasha GSD 5/14/2011

10-24-2011, 09:57 PM	#7 (permalink)
JulieBays Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 391	BTW, I am now waiting on the butthead teenage phase.. At least I won't look like I'm cutting my arms though. __________________ Sasha GSD 5/14/2011

10-24-2011, 06:23 PM	#3 (permalink)
RocketDog Elite Member Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Eastern Washington Posts: 1,270	Everything that Emoore said ^ My pup is almost 19 weeks, and he's MUCH MUCH better, but the last couple days, he's gone through a bit of an increase. I think it's cuz he's really starting to wuv us, LOL, and we're his best friends, so he wants to really PLAY with us. Trust me, I have had blood dripping off my hands. I have holes in my pant legs and coat sleeves, and it's really kinda painful, too. They WILL grow out of it. Nothing much works with Rocket either, except holding him back out of reach and finally getting a chance to walk away. I know some say no, some say yes, but I get frozen soup bones from a local source and keep them frozen and that gives him some really excellent chewing time. I watch him the whole time, he's only gets them an hour a day, and he's never broken a piece off or anything, but it sure helps me, for sure.

10-24-2011, 10:07 PM	#8 (permalink)
alaman Senior Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 399	It's simple. If the puppy respects his owner's authority, the owner will not get bitten. Ever see a puppy attack or bite his mother? If not, why do you think that is? The puppy respects the mother's authority. Ever see a puppy run over and bite an adult male dog? Why not? The puppy respects the male dog's authority. Get your puppy to respect your authority and you will not get bitten by the puppy. __________________ Pack leader for Heide, Chazz, Izabella, and Ivan. At the Bridge: Chico and Atja

10-24-2011, 10:08 PM	#9 (permalink)
onyx'girl Crowned Member Join Date: May 2007 Location: SW, MI Posts: 17,611	Welcome to the wonderful world of GSD's Bill!! Tug was my pups outlet! He wasn't the landshark I always read about, he loved to tug, loved to fetch/chase a ball and wouldn't destroy anything that wasn't for the dogs. Plush toys were gutted, but not ingested, so they were given with supervision. Rope toys were shredded and sometimes ingested, so supervision with those. Karlo loved to shred his fabric type toys. I made sure to have chew toys, and keep his mouth busy. Did the same for Onyx, and only was bitten when the targeting was off. Laying the dogs meal in a track(or toss it in the yard for them to hunt) also helps work their mind, they need as much mental stimulation as physical. Enjoy puppyhood, it goes by waaaay too fast!

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