[WynterCote]

Our 6 month old female GSD is still biting us all the time! I'm worried that this behavior will be harder to break the older she gets. We ALWAYS redirect to a toy but she still feels compelled to bite us when she's excited, hungry, has to go out, or wants to play, or for no reason I can tell. Yelling NO! does not help. She barks back and gets excited which leads to more biting. She likes bitter apple taste, so that was useless. Other than that she's doing great with training. Seldom accidents, loose on leash walking, knows basic commands and some tricks, obeys her limits in the house (no couches, etc..). She gets lots of attention and plenty of exercise every day. Any further advice before we break down and get the shock collar? Should I even expect biting to stop at 6 months? Thanks for any advice.

 

[JKlatsky]

Give her something else to bite. It's not enough to say No or discourage the biting. Consider that the GSD is a herding breed and very mouthy by nature. Rather than fight instinct, shape it. I know you always redirect to the toy...but what do you do with it once you give it to her? Toys are not fun unless they move. Your hands probably move ALOT. Teach your dog to tug and carry the toy and bring it back to you will keep her mouth off your hands.

 

[kiya]

Lakota is 5-1/2 months, she has learned bite inhabition from the other dogs, but occassionaly when she's playing, she will mouth me and realize who she has her little jaw clapped down on & then I can feel her loosen her grip almost with out me making a sound. I know she's still teething. She doesn't bite to get my attention. Actually she doesnt bark to ask to go out, I still have to watch for signs. One exercise I learned, teaching "leave it" was to hold a treat in your fist, of course pup will be sniffing, biting & clawing at your fist, when pup stops bitting, sniffing & clawing your fist, release the treat from your hand. That teaches them not to bite your hand. Maybe that would help a little.

 

[jakeandrenee]

WynterCote,
I am going through the same exact thing, Jake is a little younger and really is a great pup...but sometimes WOW! He biting my arms instead of toy, my toes etc....
I have been giving him a lot more things to chew on...stuffing a kong with ground beef and freezing it, tons of bones and bully sticks....it seems to help if his jaws are tired...he bites and realizes it's my skin and releases.
If you find the magic bullet please share....LOL I was hoping Jake would be past this by 6 months.....OH NO!

 

[LaRen616]

Tire that puppy out! Give her lots of toys to chew when she tries to bite you put a toy in her mouth. When she bites you make a loud "ah ah" noise and stop playing with her, show her your back, if she continues to get out of hand then she should be put into a time out for 15-20 minutes wether you put her outside, in another room or is some sort of crate.

 

[Cluemanti]

How old was she when you got her? I second the re-direct theory. I used to freeze a wet wash cloth, shape it so its a rope/cylinder shape and give it to her to chew on. She loved it!

 

[jakeandrenee]

I have done that also...but use chicken broth....I got that idea from this forum. He stays with it longer then just water...I also use muffin tins to make ice and put a drop of broth in it and a few pieces of kibble. Really helps the teething. And I agree, exercise helps so much....he's a different puppy when he is tired.

 

[WynterCote]

We honestly re-direct to a toy every time. We say "get your toy, ball, rope.." and she does and then we play. Those times are fine and fun.

But many during the day she bites and won't take a toy, just drops it and goes right for my hands/arms. If I say no she barks and jumps. I CANNOT turn my back at this point because I have many bruises on the backs of my legs and butt from trying this technique! We have to use the "reset" room (laundry room) for 10 or 15 minutes. But when she comes out, we get 5 minutes of a good dog and then its back to biting! Exercise is a great thing because a 1 mile walk around the neighborhood and we get about an hour of a pooped out pup. But if she's not lethargic from exercise, she's biting! There's no in-between normal dog time.

kiya - Thanks for the "leave-it" game advice -- we have not tried that yet and definitely will.

Cluemanit - We got our pup when she was 8 weeks old.

 

[JKlatsky]

Probably not what you want to hear...but sounds like a normal active GSD female! That's how our girl was...And at 2.5 years old now she's much better...but that's more because she's learned to calm down. Now she only gets mouthy when she gets REALLY excited and there's no toy to hand.

She's asking you to play. And it's her way of getting attention. With Anka...if I didn't want to play/focus on her, she had to be in her crate. She is only recently old enough to earn free time in the house. If she started to jump and bite me and I couldn't get her interested in a quiet activity like chewing on her bones- She'd go in her crate. She didn't know how to settle, there was too much going on in her body and her mind...She had to be doing SOMETHING.

Sometimes the best cure is maturity and time.

 

[Stosh]

I agree- sounds like normal female behavior for that age. Uschi was relentless, she always had to be doing something. I had the same bruises, nips on the back of my legs from her trying to herd me, bite marks on my forearms, etc. Once she quit teething and hit 8 mos old it really subsided. Stosh, a male, is just now 6 mos old and he does a little playful nipping when he's excited, being petted, wants to go out, anything other than what he's doing at the time. When they try to bite my niece she grabs on to a tooth and holds it and they HATE that and leave her alone. The trainer put his thumb against the roof of their mouth and that seems to work for him.

 

[WynterCote]

Actually, JKlatsky - that IS something I wanted to hear. I can deal with it if it's normal and will pass. Like I said, we have ways to cope with it (exercise). I was getting worried that she may still be biter when she's and adult if we don't curb it for good now.

 

[Relayer]

The redirect thing is a very good way to go. When Max lays down with us, he would relentlessly bite. Now I just hold a bully stick firmly in my hand and he munches on that the entire time. LOL... I have to switch hands every now and then because he'll fatigue me. What a mouth they have!!

 

[chocolat]

2 other ideas to try

one is to cry like a puppy each time she hurts you..if you do it convincingly enough it will stop

the other is simply to rap her on the nose. There is only so many times you should tolerate this nonsense. sorry not into the kinder and gentler nation if a dog is leaving bruises on my body he deserved a wonk on the nose. I dont treat my dogs(bruising and hurting them) that way and I expect them to not treat me that way.
I often teach them to see and will give them attention that way. rubbing their ears usually.

 

[Veronica1]

I feel your pain. I don't know if the girls at work believe all my battle wounds are from my pup, though things have greatly improved just this past week all of a sudden.

Can you give your pup some play time with an adult dog who might teach her not to bite? I bring Panzer to play with my sister's adult lab weekly. Not only does he get completely worn out, but the lab teaches my pup when he's reached his limit of nips.

 

[Stosh]

You're so right Chocolat- nothing works like a pop on the end of the nose or gentle rap under the chin to snap the jaws shut...the surprise stops the biting. I was so frustrated with Uschi that I was ready to strangle her but a few pops- and time- did the trick

 

[broski2815]

Hi would love to know what you did to get past this biting? Im going through the same thing now.Loki is 6 months now and i have tried all you have.

 

[sourdough44]

Hi would love to know what you did to get past this biting? Im going through the same thing now.Loki is 6 months now and i have tried all you have.

Puppy nibbling and play biting is on the normal side. As they get older with any strong biting I'd ramp up the 'corrections'.

Let's say you had a 3 year old toddler who slugged you in the stomach, what would you do? Should you take a ball away? Or do a little more? It's about as simple as that.

 

[Jenny720]

Time and maturity is the best cure or only cure!!!!lots of "no biting" then redirecting to a ball or toy. Training exercises. Pop of the leash. Sometimes they need time out in their crate when extra rambunctious. Anything to get them out of that mind frame. Make sure pup gets plenty of exercise. As long as you are able to get them to switch gears and stop the behavior, you are doing well. These corrections /redirections have been our away of life since pup was about 10 weeks old ( 8 months old). Slow Gradual improvements along the way. Honestly at times we all loose patience. Just continue onwards and stay the course!!!!!!!

 

[MairW]

Still Biting

Our female will be 7 months old and we can't stop the biting. And her adult teeth hurt. Our previous GS was 10 months old when we rescued her, but it didn't seem to take this long to stop the biting. She really is a sweet pup otherwise.

 

[Tannysmum]

My 5 1\2 month bitch Tanya , has been having fun off lead with other dogs, recall is an issue , A few days ago whilst playing with 6 other pups and older dogs , she went with them over to a staffie which was on a lead and ended up being bitten and it took ten mins to get it off her face .... i'm now too scared to take her to the fields or off her lead as she still has the issue of ignoring recall and i cant practice at home much ... any help ?? please