We have recently gotten a new puppy, he’s now 12 weeks. We absolutely adore him. With that being said, it has been years since I’ve had a puppy and I don’t remember dealing with any of these issues...... I get the biting and nipping are all normal puppy behavior, but sometimes he will just look right at you and bark as loud as he can and lunge towards you. Biting has been at times more than ‘mouthing’ and almost seems as if he really wants to hurt you. When you tell him ‘no’ or ‘get down’ he really doesn’t like it and barks at you more. We have tried time out, or simply walking away but it hasn’t been effective. Do I have a crazy dog or am I just in the midst of an alpha puppy temper tantrum?
We’ve just got our first ever pup, he’s just over 9 weeks, so I’m very new to all this but I think it’s important on here to keep giving feedback so I’ll add my bit for now, I’m sure I’ve got it all to come but for now we’ve found that consistent ‘no’s’ with a gentle hold of his mouth, together with a few soft ‘gentle’ commands and a tummy tickle or whatever works seems to calm him down to just a lick. He’s now biting much less than when we got him which is just a week ago. We also just after a little nibble play a little ‘check up’ game, this was initially to help with future vet checkups but he loves it. We check his teeth, ears, paws etc and he stays really calm, no biting or anything, so maybe you’ll find something like that which works for your pup
Thank you for your great ideas! I will try the holding, though sometimes a little leary of putting my fingers close to his mouth lol. I know he’s probably over stimulated or maybe just wants attention but we do have a 9 year old that loves to play with him and she gets scared with the aggressive barks and sharp teeth. I will definitely keep trying and try out the ‘check up’ method!!
Hi Mandy, welcome to the forum And congratulation on your new puppy. I think you are right to be wary of holding your puppy's mouth closed and I would advice new puppy parents not to do this. Focus on what you want your puppy to do instead. You'll find lots of information in our Biting Puppies thread. This is a great idea and will definitely help your puppy cope happily with future vet visits
Thank you so much!! I will definitely post updates, hoping this is just a phase and he’s not actually possessed.... he’s just the most handsome boy so it’s hard to get mad at that face, even when you’re dripping blood from your arms lol
I must admit I’m not sure on the holding the mout thing, we are doing more of just a gentle close, but agree it won’t be the right thing for all puppies, we will be wary of any adverse effects but for now he seems to respond well to it, especially if followed up by a calming game. You can tell how he tries to be really gentle afterwards
Tempting as it may be to hold a pup's mouth closed, I think it will aggravate the pup more and possibly frighten it and may make it nip even more. Pups aren't aggressive at this age, they're playing and exploring with their mouths - most pups go through this crocopup stage of nipping and biting and it can last a number of weeks. One of the things I used to do was carry chew toys so whenever my pup was in bitey mode she would get a chew toy to replace my hands! We would also put her behind the baby gate in the kitchen for a few mins for time-out when it all got a bit much. Some dogs like to chew on a cardboard box or chase a plastic bottle around filled with a few stones or dried pasta (supervise when playing). But the fact is it's a stage you just have to get through, it's very hard whilst going through it but it won't last forever.
I took onboard what Pippa said about closing their mouths, it seemed to work but he’s still very young and I wouldn’t want to try it much older, and agree it may well end up having the wrong effect. It was probably more the calming behaviour afterwards which stopped him. So now when he is led on his back, we start to stroke his tummy etc, this is when he starts to mouth a bit, we simply keep stopping until he stops, then encourage with a ‘gentle’ and a ‘good boy’ and he gets lots of calm stroking, neck rubbing etc, then we can stroke around his head and he keeps his mouth closed, and then we do the ‘check up’ game, he loves it all. This is a good time to practice because he is alert but not too excited, so we can get to a nice calm plays which he likes.
