Puppy BITING!!! Teaching Bite Inhibition

[Castlemaid]

Re: Slapping puppy on the nose for biting -

Everything Debbie said, plus the issue that children and various strangers will think it is okay to reach out to your pup to pet it on the head - slapping a puppy on the head or nose for puppy biting can make the pup act out aggressively when he sees a hand coming towards him. Not good when pup is now an adult, and not afraid to protect him or herself.

Great article Jean, thanks!

[ZephyrSong]

I have to say I got some useful information from these posts. My puppy Jäger was biting the heck out of everyone and I was getting worried about him biting my kids too hard. So I started yelling out when he bit me hard and now he kinda just gnaws on you instead of chomping down.

[sspellmon15]

Noah is 13 weeks an has the same problem with bitting on my hands if my hands are hanging to my side he snaps at them. I started popping him on the nose but he still does it and now he snaps back at me which is a sign of aggression to me therefore I'm trying to figure out the next technique to use.




Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by sspellmon15

I started popping him on the nose but he still does it and now he snaps back at me which is a sign of aggression to me therefore I'm trying to figure out the next technique to use.

That's not a sign of aggression, he's snapping at you because you're popping him on the nose! If you read through the links on this thread there are much better ways to deal with the biting, which is completely normal for a young puppy.

[PorkandBeans]

My puppy is getting really bad with the biting. She turns on this other "mode" where she starts really snarling and biting hard. She still romps around and wags her tail so I know she's trying to play with me but she's breaking skin and opening old wounds.

I have to laugh at some of the posts on here saying to just get up and walk away. When I do that I get my feet bitten and socks ripped. When I try putting a toy in the way to get her to latch on to that she simply goes right around it and tries to find the nearest area of exposed skin.

When she gets bad I take her to her crate to settle down and she behaves a bit better. But I'm getting a little concerned. We've only had her for a week and we've already tried just about everything. We have a lot of friends and family who want to come see her but I don't want anyone to get injured like we have.

[Castlemaid]

It won't stop for a while. Puppies' brains are hardwired to play this way, and what we are trying to do is to re-program their brain to play in a way that is more appropriate for us. So it takes weeks of consistency, and some pups are just 'harder' wired than others. Best thing to do is to manage the little one and supervise.
Crazy, really intense behaviour like what you describe can be from two things: pup needs more outlets for their energy - so take the pup out and let them chase a rag, or chase a ball, or chase you around for a while to burn the extra energy off, or conversely, pup is overtired and is acting up, just like an overtired toddler not being able to settle - so putting them in the crate for a nap is exactly what they need.

If you only had the pup for a week, no need to be concerned. Wait a few months, and if things don't get better, that's when it is time to be concerned. Until then, if you have little kids around, only have short periods of supervised play between the pup and the children, and make sure the puppy had a chance to burn off extra energy before being introduced to the kids.

[spidermilk]

Originally Posted by PorkandBeans

I have to laugh at some of the posts on here saying to just get up and walk away. When I do that I get my feet bitten and socks ripped. When I try putting a toy in the way to get her to latch on to that she simply goes right around it and tries to find the nearest area of exposed skin.

Some puppies are worse than other but the 'get up and walk away' method DOES work. I would tether my dog to the couch or another heavy object while we played. That way, when he started biting me I *could* get up and walk away. I also started wearing shoes all the time (esp. rubber boots), thick old jeans, and would even wear leather gloves and long sleeves when I was so tired of the bites opening up the same old wounds!

I had a co-worker get a GSD pup at about the same time so we would just show each other our battle wounds and laugh it off.. eventually it will end and you will have a sweet little angel who wouldn't dream of hurting you!!

[NDrugerGSD]

At what age do they typically stop being land sharks ?


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App

[breyer08]

Mine started getting noticeably better around 5 months.

[NDrugerGSD]

Think I can last two more months. He got me on the inside of the nose today. Man did it hurt. 😢


Sent from my iPhone using Petguide.com Free App