My little Holly is almost 17 weeks old. She is doing great, getting better with house training and general training. Her biting is reduced and is more nibbling and mouthing (not that it doesn't hurt sometimes). And she loves to get attention. She will press her body against me and demand I pet her. The challenge is she still loves to have things (me) in her mouth and in the morning I get what I call a glorious 30 seconds of getting to pet her before she starts trying to nibble. I know this is a puppy thing but I am wondering how long other people's pups took to grow out of this and just enjoy being pet. Not the end of the world by any means. Just curious. I appreciate all of the advice and thoughts on here! Glad to have found such a nice forum to talk about our beloved labs.
My late boy wasn't a mouther , but the one before him was about six months or so old before it decreased ( sorry ! ) . They do all differ , and as she is better than she was , I`d take it as a positive sign that she wont be too long before she stops ( live in hope ! )
Oooh, it's hard to say for sure. They are all different, as Kate says. I have three. Willow came to me at 8 weeks and was what I'd call a mild-to-normal croc. I had the scars to prove I had a puppy to be sure, but I never felt it was OTT. Shadow is her litter mate and came to me at 14 weeks, so then I had two of the little dears growing up together! As luck would have it though, Willow had stopped biting by 14 weeks and Shadow never bit. Sorry about that My latest, Luna (Squidge) was FAR worse than the other two, both in the voracity of her "attacks" and the length of time they continued. Off the top of my head (isn't it funny how we block this out in time?), she continued to bite to some degree or other until about six months, maybe longer. But certainly it gradually reduces to the point where it is only once in a while and then, eventually, you realise all your scars have healed over and no fresh ones have appeared. Squidge now has an incredibly soft mouth and both she and Shadow adore their cuddles. Willow isn't a cuddler, but every now and again she'll join us on the sofa and those are special times indeed
Alfie is nearly 16weeks and the biting has decreased a lot , he was croco pup expert level ! He still bites when he gets too excited but overall it’s really calmed down ,hes a knee sitter , loves life and everything in it . Raven was a mouthy pup and a chewer too and Bailey , now deceased ,never mouthed...they’re all so different .
Tatze - 4 years old, but she still gets licky and excited sometimes. Keir - 12 weeks, he’s the most gentle pup I’ve ever met. .
Ripple - nearly 3, still gets over excited and bites occasionally (in snow, at agility etc). Bet you didn't want to hear that .
I don't mind the occasional nibble or bite. I just enjoy being able to pet my god without being chomped on. Like when she is sleepy and lets me just gently stroke her soft fuzzy ears while she dozes. It will happen and always does. Just wondered how long it took various people's pups to let them do that. My last lab I don't remember mouthing at all. Holly was a crocomonster at 9 weeks, but at 16 weeks she is much more gentle. But my hand/arm/pants etc. seem to be in her mouth much more than I want.
For Xena the magic age was between 17-18 weeks. I'll never forget the day she jumped up next to us on the sofa and didn't bite, I could've cried tears of joy.
Ella is calming down at near 14 weeks old beth my brothers chocy lab will still come up to you and mouth your arm at 5 years old(no pressure )lol
Nibbler is 9 months and probably stopped about a month ago - hadn’t really noticed until I read this. He will now come and tug at me sleeves ( or mouth my arm if in a t shirt) but this is to say I want out - he’ll tug me towards the door and motion with his head. He was a Nibbler from the moment we met him at six weeks - hence the name. Still likes to have something in his mouth all the time but usually not us now.
My Ella was a terrible crocopup and I'm sure it went beyond six months as I distinctly remember the difference between the baby and adult teeth. However, she is was (and is) a really cuddly girl so we always managed to get the beautiful snuggly pup alongside the rabid beast
Rory was cuddly even if he was still bitey too he loved a cuddle from when he was tiny. Doug loved strokes and cuddles but only when he wanted them. Moo didn't like it until she was about 12 years old
Holly is a cuddler (I call her "cuddles" when she gets that way) and always has been. Half the time she wants to cuddle and chew on me at the same time. In the morning when I first get up, I get what I call a "glorious 30 seconds" of petting time where she just enjoys the love before she tries to put part of me hand or arm in her mouth. This weekend though, so sat pinned against me on the coach for a good half an hour while she chewed on one of her toys. It was very sweet. I had the occasional redirect back to her toy, but for the most part she was not biting at me. I loved it. She is 17 weeks old and in full teething mode, so keeping new and interesting things for her to chew around has been a challenge.
Maxx is 15 weeks tomorrow and is still biting quite a lot but we have noticed a slight decrease (or perhaps wishful thinking). It's so great when I sit on the floor he immediately crawls onto my lap and I would dearly love to pat and cuddle him....but he just bites and chews my hands/arms/clothes. So instead I feed toys to him to chew or if he ignores them and continues to bite me I get up and walk away. My husband tries to reason with him (silly man) and as a result his hands and arms look like they have been through a shredder! One thing, I notice that if I rub his chest he doesn't bite straight away and seems to enjoy it; but as soon as I try to pat him on the head or ears or down his back he immediately nips. I'm so looking forward to the time when this all stops. The other thing I'm looking forward to is when we can let him roam around the house without one of us following and within lunging distance. Right now as soon as we give him free reign and not behind baby gates he (1) runs straight to where we hang the tea-towels to see if he can reach one then (2) jumps up and puts his front paws on the kitchen bench or couch to see if there is something to steal then (3) runs to the shoe cupboard to extract a favourite boot. After that its the indoor plants to chew on then our nice leather couch. Is this normal behaviour for his age? Approximately when can we expect him to stop doing this?
I found it easier to just remove the stuff. Mine is 22 months and a total counter surfer so we just keep them clear. He's still a tea towel and shoe thief also, so they're put away out of little teeth. He's never destroyed any of the shoes or tea towels though.. he just runs around with them hoping to be chased
Exactly what Jen says. You need to learn to tidy everything away out of reach. He may then grow out of it. Two of mine have and at three years of age they never steal anything. The other is 15 months and loves a shoe - or even better a bra! - to have a good chew on. She's getting less persistent and no longer takes tea-towels but will take a teaspoon if she can get her teeth on it. Luckily, I hear her and ask her for a give (which I've put a huge amount of value into) so she comes trotting to me to deliver it to my hand. She's a monster, but a good girl too
We are trying so hard to get Maxx to 'give' and/or 'drop' but so far all absolutely no joy. As soon as he sees/smells that we have a treat he just drops whatever is in his mouth, sits down and waits expectantly. So we don't have the opportunity to actually get him to drop it THEN get the treat. But I will take heart at your success Snowbunny and keep on trying. Thankyou!
