I am Pallavi from India. I bought a lab puppy when he was 34days old. He is first dog in my family. His name is JACK.We never kept a pet before I took great care of him and he always used to find me to sit on my lap. today he became 50 days old. He bites me alot, at the beginning he used to bite slowly so that's why I started giving my hand to him. Later on he started bitting my leg so because of that I started scolding and beating him little bit. From that day as if I became his enemy only. Whenever he wants he run towards me to bite. My other main concern is also that whenever someone come to our home he jumps on them to bite them not to lick them. Why he is becoming so much aggressive. If we try to teach him something he barks in return and bites us. I need your help because these all are my first time experience and I really need guidance. Thank you
Hi Pal and welcome to the forum Your puppy was much too young to leave his mum and siblings. He is little more than a baby. Puppies shouldn't leave their mum until 8 weeks old or 56 days. He is not aggressive, just playing. Puppies start to learn bite inhibition from their mum and siblings from a young age. Please do not scold or beat your puppy. It is not his fault, and this is not a good the way to train your puppy to learn nice behaviours. have a look here for lots of advice http://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-puppies/
Thank you so much dear. One of my friend has lab of 3yr old they told me that we can beat a little without strong force on his ass or mouth to train him not to bite everyone. So that's why I used to do it. Awww but I am feeling too bad that why did I do it. When does puppy start to know about the emotions like when someone cries or sad or happy? How to train him that when someone comes to home then instead of biting he should u know smell them or lick them as some of the older dog does it.
Your puppy was much too young to leave his mum, but now you've got Jack you need to do the best you can for him. He is not being aggressive, he is being playful in the way he would with his brothers and sisters. Please be gentle with him and do not hit him, he's just a baby. Be prepared for it to take another 6 weeks before biting stops. Try to always carry a toy in your pocket (like a small soft toy) so that when your puppy bites you can give him the toy instead. If you can get them, rice bones (a bone shape but made of compacted rice) are a good chew for young puppies. Try holding one end of it while your puppy chews the other. Wear long sleeves and trousers to protect your arms and legs. Be patient, building a relationship with any puppy takes time and energy. Do read the links Beanwood has given as there's lots of good advice there.
See if you can buy the book The Happy Puppy by Pippa Mattinson, you can buy it on Amazon. You will find it is a very helpful book and will answer so many questions and guide you through the difficult times. Puppies bite because they think you are a playmate and that is how they play with their siblings. It isn't agression. The first six months of puppy owning can be very difficult at times, but with guidance you will end up with a lovely companion.
Thank you so much joy. I am thankful to all of you guys for teaching me how to train my puppy. Love you guys. Thank you
Ohh okay I will buy for sure. Thank you Stacia. But sometimes I feel it's good to take advice from the experienced persons like you guys who will guife me in a more effective way. Thank you all of you.
I didn't mean just read the book and not come on here for advice as well I wish the book had been around when my dogs were pups.
Welcome Pal and your puppy! (What is his name?) When I got my puppy I was surprised how much he bit. Then I found this forum and everyone helped me! When he is biting he wants to play. He doesn't understand that he is hurting you. So, when he bites you need to let him know that you are not interested in playing that game. You don't need to hit him at all, you just need to ignore him.... he wants to play, so you need to show him that if he bites you will refuse to play. It is quite difficult to ignore a puppy that is biting you but that is what you have to do!!! If he bites, IMMEDIATELY turn away from him, fold your arms, don't even look at him. Ignore him as is he is not there. Don't pay any attention to him until he stops biting. Then you can reward him by paying attention to him again. If he bites again, do exactly the same - ignore him, turn away. My puppy Pongo learned this very quickly - just a couple of days. Your little boy will take longer because he was so young when he left him mother (his mother would have taught him some of this already). But he will get there! Good luck, let us know how you get on!
U know one more thing is that as I used to beat him till today whenever he used to bite hard in ferocious way. I have never beaten him when he bites slowly but when he suddenly jumps and bites hard that time I had beaten him softly so his reaction is that he barks more hard and tried to attack me like enemy. Sometimes I go and Pat him that time also he suddenly starts bitting me hard. And barks at me And growl at me. So I am worried about this that am I became his enemy in his mind? Does he hates me? He doesn't love me as he used to do at the beginning. How can I make him love me?
Dear as u said fold arms and ignore him my mom does the same thing but he doesn't stop and bit whatever he gets like elbow or arm,stomach. He doesn't stop at this if we ignore him and leave the place he follows and does the same. He doesn't bite softly he bites very hard that my mom got blood many times. I am worried really.
If I was teaching you a task and I beat you every time that you made a mistake would you find that helpful to your learning? Would it make you like me? Would you like me to teach you other tasks afterwards? Fortunately dogs are very forgiving and live very much 'in the moment'. So, if you want to teach your dog how to behave well (and be a better person) stop beating him. If he had been left with his mother and siblings until he was older then they would have taught him a lot of bite inhibition for you. What they would do is to interact with him if he is showing self-control but turn away from him and ignore him if he bites too hard. This is what you need to do too. Be calm and consistent and you will soon find that biting gets less and less. Good luck.
Okay I can understand it. I too don't feel good when I beat him. I have cried many times after beating him because he is my life. But I was afraid that if I wont beat him when he bites hard then he will never learn not to bite hard. But I got ideas from the people in this forum and I will definitely follow it. Now I am worried and I think that he had already got an image about me as a bad person and enemy. But I will learn and improve myself thank you
Hi there, it's great that you're willing to change the way you're interacting with your puppy. That's so important. We all sympathise about the biting from new puppies - it really is a tough time and it hurts! But, it's completely normal and we have to just choose a consistent approach to get through it. That means, as soon as the puppy starts to bite, stop interacting with it. Stand up, turn away, don't even make eye contact. Nothing. If necessary, step out of the room. As soon as the puppy is calm again, start playing again. Use a toy to put in his mouth if you want - he can learn that it's OK to bite that, but not you. All puppies bite to some extent, but yours will undoubtedly be worse because he was taken from his mum and litter mates too soon. I understand this is common practice in India, but that needs to change. I've linked to an article below you can read, which may help you out for next time, and for information you can use to spread the word to other people. Good luck with your puppy and let us know how you get on. http://www.thelabradorsite.com/our-policy-on-under-age-puppies/
It is so hard! We all sympathise, and we all understand - please dont worry, because it WILL get better. And your pup doesn't hate you, he just doesn't understand that you dont want to play the bite game. He is probably pretty confused. If you hit him when he bites, then he thinks that that is the game you want to play.... a game of Bite And Hit. This is a bad idea when he grows up into a big dog! So you must not teach him that game. We had an old bit of towel that Pongo loved. After his walks when he was wet or muddy, we would roll him around with it and rub his tummy to clean him. We let him bite it instead of our hands! It was the best game, he would love to wrestle and squirm and he learned that it was ok to bite the towel but not to bite us. I am sure your pup does not think you are a bad person, I am sure that he just tries to learn how to play with you... he will love you very much. Good luck, it is hard but you will win!
