Just joined up today as my 17 week old who has always been really calm and gentle even when mouthing us has suddenly this last 2 weeks turned into a tazmanian devil with his teeth- he drew blood on me today for the first time ever. I've tried walking away, ignoring him, the leave it command (which he is usually really good at!) But the minute I stopped looking at him or sat back down he pounced on me again! He has lots of toys which Ive always directed him on to but he is now just dropping them and attacking me again. Can I also add that he has suddenly started peeing in the house again- Ive taken him back to basics again taking him outside immediatly after waking, drinking and eating and every 30 minutes in between, giving him lots of praise and a treat when he does it outside and nothing for inside. My husband is at the end of his tether with the weeing and thinks we should rub his nose in it but I don't like the idea of punishing him as he is a baby. Could it be his teeth? In all other aspects he is perfect- training is going brilliantly. Thanks in advance for any advice!
Rubbing his nose in it will only teach your puppy that you are horrible and irrational. He's still a baby and shouldn't be expected to be house trained yet. I don't say this to sound mean, but at this stage (to be honest, at every stage), every time he goes inside, it is your fault, not his. Most pups aren't completely free of accidents until they're six months or more. If he's still going inside, then you need to keep more of an eye on him, and use a crate when you can't and think he might need to go. A toilet pen area in the garden also helps to focus the mind, so he's less likely to get distracted by sniffing around. Similarly, the biting is purely normal puppy play. Again, use a pen or crate when he's really frantic and can't think. Then, spend lots of time with him throughout the day specifically teaching him what's acceptable and what's not, by playing with him and removing your attention immediately for ten seconds when he bites too hard. It's not fair to try to train this when he's over-tired or over-excited, so be proactive about lessons when he's calmer. It really works. So often, people only react to the nuttiness, without being proactive about handling lessons the rest of the time. Good luck, and do keep in touch to let us know how you get on.
We weren't fully potty trained at our house until 6 months! and had lots of set backs along the way- 17 weeks is still quite young. He likely wasn't actually potty trained at this age, you were just managing him really well. Rubbing his nose in it will not help! You just have to keep doing exactly what you are doing by going back to basics and it will click eventually and his bladder will mature. Others will come along to help with the biting - we used short time outs behind a baby gate when it was really bad/to calm her down, but otherwise withdrawing attention and re-directing worked well for us. I'm pretty sure most people that have had a lab puppy have had blood drawn at some point! It's not uncommon and it sounds like he is just a normal lab puppy.
There is such a lot of useful information on the main site about raising puppies. I have raised five pups using it, my own dog and four guide dog pups. It is excellent. Please read it - get your husband to read it - and take careful notice of all the advice. If something doesn't work, go back and read again. Remember it takes weeks and months - nothing works instantly. Here is the link - http://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-puppies/ Our latest pup, Mollie, is 17 weeks old and still has the odd accident - and she can bite like a crocodile when we are least expecting it!! ...
Hi Dawn, I can see you've had some really great replies ,I just wanted to stop by to welcome you to the Forum. It's a lot of time and effort that goes in to get a housetrained well behaved dog....you have got a way to go yet before you will have reliable.....if you can get your Husband on board with that too it might make things easier.Its pretty horrific when your lovely cute puppy appears to be 'attacking' you ,and drawing blood is the worst but please have a read of some of the posts on the Puppy Board if you haven't already.There are so many desperate,upset posts from owners going through the same issues.Many of them are ahead of you and very kindly come back and say how they have survived and come out the other side .....maybe missing the odd household item but usually with all their limbs Chin up ,you will get past this too x Best Wishes Angela x
It could be his teeth. Some of them seem to lose their minds when teething starts. I guess they are like us and some have lower pain thresh holds than others do. Are you seeing blood on things he chews? Does his breath stink? Neither always is noticeable though, wasn't with Oban. Except the two times he played with his GR puppy friend and the puppy turned red from Oban's blood. I used those white rope bone things. Soaked them in water, squeezed out excess, froze, offered for chewing and the cold soothes sore gums. It was a bit scary to see how red they got, with Jet, previous puppy. I rotated two. For biting I managed to find games that kept them away from me, mostly using a toy that they could latch onto first. Good luck. It will end but I know it can hurt for the duration.
Ice cubes can also help puppies with teething as it soothes their gums. Also, when they get tired they tend to be more frantic.
Bailey was always at his crocopup worst when over tired. I used to pop him in his crate and usually within seconds he was snoring away. Doesn't help when that cute pup has drawn blood - my hands and arms at one point were covered in plasters and I looked like I was a self harming, but gradually with patience and repetition the plasters started getting less and now I am mainly covered in scratches from playing with Bailey! As others have said toilet training can not be reliable until about 6 months - just do as you are doing, go back to basics. Hopefully your husband will help with this - if you discipline your pup for accidents in the house then he may go and hide to do it. Keep going and one day soon you will realise that all his adult teeth are in and the biting hasn't happened for a while - although even now Bailey at 11 months if he gets over excited will try and bring his mouth into play - but a quick "no teeth" command is his warning, then if it continues I leave the room/area for a minute for him to remember his manners.
