hi, this is my second lab I’m raising from puppy(other dogs were German Shepherds) but unlike my previous lab, I believe this puppy is the Spawn of Satan. Seriously, every tip I read regarding how to get your puppy from biting you backfires. He seems to get if anything even more Bitey. He rather enjoys me yelling in pain(my arms are covered in puppy bites) as he breaks skin and causes my hands and arms to bleed. He gets a evil look in his eyes and begins to bite even harder and more rapid. Also unlike my previous lab, this one is super smart. He’s a master at escaping anything like his kennel and playpen as if I had left the door open to them, he’s that quick. Currently he’s working on unscrewing the screw that holds his gate in place in the kitchen(where we keep him during the day) i’ve Got to constantly watch him. He’s actually using his paws and mouth trying to get that screw off the wall. We’re all in astonishment of how clever this dog is. He’s also very good at retrieving anything I throw to him , he brings it all back to me right away. On the plus side is this 10 week old puppy is very good at letting me know when he needs to go potty. He barks at the gate, I open the door and tell him to grab his lease which he does, then carrying his lease in his mouth he trots through the living room and stops at the sliders til I open the door for him to go outside. He then immediately goes potty outside then comes in. Getting back to the biting problem, it’s not like he doesn’t have tons of toys to play with or any activity balls that disperses treats (actually, he figured out all he needs to do it work on unscrewing the ball and gets all the treats that way instead of actually working on getting the treats the way it was intended to)and frozen carrots, this boy is very spoiled. It’s just he prefers to bite us instead. It’s getting to the point where i’m The only one in my family to offer herself as the sacrificial lamb to him. Everyone else just stays on the other side of the gate from him because he bites too much.
Awww it sounds like you have what will be an an amazing dog (sorry that’s no consolation). He sounds so clever! Our boy isn’t so bad at the moment (11 weeks) with biting but he definitely has his moments, usually an hour before bed. We are trying different toys, the best is a piece of antler with cheese or treats pressed into the sides, or a frozen plastic bottle. He loves chewing wood which I’m a bit cautious of but may try a special pet piece of hardwood (greene and wild I think they’re called but not sure about puppy safe). These keep him occupied for a while. We are also trying to reward calm behaviour when he starts to slow down. We drop him a treat or two when he’s led down being calm. Just the last few days I’ve started to stroke his tummy and gently say ‘calm’. I stop if he tries to bite, and if he doesn’t I gently stroke around his mouth and drop treats if he remains good. Now when I say calm he rolls straight on his back ha ha! Also a quick training session with high value treats seems to distract him long enough to calm down a bit. Buddy is crate trained which I think helps a bit, not sure entirely what your situation is/how you use the kennel, but I’ve heard many positives about crates ie routine and enough sleep etc. I know there is worse to come for us, but I hope some of these things might work for you! I’m sure there will be plenty of advice and suggestions, and I’m sure you’ll find something that works! And when you do it sounds like you’ll have a fantastic dog! Best of luck.
Are you taking your puppy out daily on a socialisation outing to a new place? And are you doing daily training with him using his meals at home? He sounds a bit bored and under-stimulated and puppies can often be trouble when this is the case. A tired puppy is a good puppy, and that doesn't mean physically tired - it means mentally tired through new experiences daily and through seeing the world. It also means learning to bond with you and to train with you. Desperate attempts to play (mouth) with you, are often puppies who feel deprived of contact or interaction, trying to interact in the only way they know how - the way they would with another dog. He should not be able to escape from his crate or pen, no matter what he does or tries in it - these items are made to be secure, come whatever. So that is definitely something to look into in terms of equipment. With the biting, puppies experience the world through their mouths. So they will put their mouths on anything you offer them. And puppy teeth are very sharp. For this reason, it is important not to approach them with bare skin or empty hands - approach always holding a toy and make sure that the first thing you to, is preoccupy the mouth with a toy. When the mouth has a toy in it, it does not have you in it... If you have a very bitey or mouthy puppy, give them lots of appropriate things to exercise that urge on - stuffed Kongs and Nylabones or similar chew toys are going to be better than treat dispensers for that reason. Avoiding the puppy because he is bitey, is only going to make him more desperate for contact and interaction - and so more mouthy when you finally do engage with him, and it all becomes a vicious circle....
Thanks, he’s amazing alright but we’re starting to think we should have named him Damian instead, lol. Yours sounds so lovely and well behaved compared to mine. When I try the calming methods by stroking his belly he stays calm for 30 seconds before flipping himself over and restarts his biting instead. Every toy I give him he’ll chew for a minute then abandons in favor of his attacking me.as for treats, this guy is rather unusual for a Lab, he’s not food motivated much. When I feed him he leaves a lot of his food behind in favor to playing. So I don’t know if treats will distract him for long. He has a kennel but I leave it open for him to go in and out of. He does like to go inside and play for a bit but as he is a master of escape artist, keeping him in all night doesn’t work, he chews through the zipper portion and gets out so I just keep it in the gated kitchen for him wonder in and out of it. I bought a play pen but that too is useless for keeping him inside of. Funny, my last puppy was so different from him. We would always say he’s pretty but stupid, lol. That dog would cry to get out of a room with the door partially open. He wasn’t bright enough to realize he could easily just push the door open. Oh well, we’ll tonight he’s a wee bit better, I was able to distract him with his toys for the past hour, hopefully it’s a sign he’a Getting better but I won’t hold my breath with this guy, lol
Aha, you are using a fabric crate... These are not recommended if you are just starting out crating or if you have a puppy. Pretty much any dog can get out of a fabric crate if they want to. (And lots of them do want to!). Instead, invest in a metal crate - you'll find dogs can't escape those! A secure crate is pretty much essential with a puppy, for a variety of reasons from toilet training, to puppy play biting, to stopping your house getting destroyed right through adolescence. So you're not just giving him the toy to have by himself, or 'distract' him with - you're playing with him, using the toy. It's that interaction he is craving - although going about it the wrong way. Alternatively, you can preoccupy his mouth with the toy using one hand, whilst you stroke him with the other. If you don't preoccupy the mouth when you approach him, it will just end up on you.... I think you need to fix that. If a dog isn't food motivated, you are going to have a hard time training him. If you feed him and he leaves food, then you should immediately remove that food - don't leave it out for him to return to when he wants. Food which is available all the time, is valued less - because the dog can get it any time. It is not a scarce resource. Instead, have 2-3 meal times a day (dependent on age), put food out, give him a chance to eat it and remove anything that is left as soon as he walks away. Even better: Train using his meals. There is SO MUCH to train a new puppy to do, it is completely overwhelming and IMO you need to use their meals to do that with or they will end up the size of a house. Sit, Down, Stay, heel, Leave and Drop, Watch Me, Crate-Up, recall..... the list is endless. You can't train much of this if your dog doesn't value food. Puppies often come from breeders who just leave loads of food out so the pups can help themselves to it. If new homes also leave food out, the puppy just grows up learning that food isn't that valuable - it is always around. When you then want him to come back to you for a food reinforcer, to drop a valued item for a food reinforcer - to do pretty much anything - you are going to have a hard time. So it's pretty urgent that you teach the pup to have a different attitude towards food, if you want best results in training. Try not to get too down about the biting - some puppies are just worse than others. It gets very depressing feeling you can't freely interact with the pup without getting bitten to bits and have scratch marks all over your hands and arms constantly. But it will get better when he gets his adult teeth around 16 weeks....
Thanks everyone, sorry about not getting back, work has been crazy plus puppy leaves no time at all for the internet. Yeah, it’s normal for his age but I was worried after watching other people’s videos and seeing how well behaved they all were that I thought something might be wrong with mine. I do remember my last one as bittie but he wasn’t as bittie as this one. I think a lot of the problem is that when my parents watch him for me while we’re working, they let him sleep most of the day til I get home and then I get the blunt of all his excess energy. Have another question though, aparently my puppy likes the bitter apple spray, anyone know of an alternative? He destroyed by dining room chairs already and now working on the table. He’s got tons of toys(more than 40 at least, lots of them are teething toys too)but he prefers the wood and leather chairs better
PREVENTION. Why does he have access to the dining room chairs and table? Why is he not being supervised closely enough, that someone can immediately interrupt and redirect him onto a toy? If he likes wood, are any of his toys wood??
It sounds to me as if the puppy is getting too much "free time" and that the issue is a "two part" one. First, I'd replace the fabric crate with a metal crate and begin crate training from scratch with him. There is literally no fabric that the piranha puppy that is also known as a Labrador cannot destroy (and escape from) if that is the goal it has set for itself. IF you cannot supervise him and mentally engage him, he should be in that crate with a frozen stuffed Kong and/or a nylabone. It's been my experience that gating them in a room by themselves instead of crating them is going to lead to trouble. Second, I'd address the way that he is being scheduled and "trained" during his time with you parents while you work. There should be a metal crate at their house as well AND a schedule that they follow each day that you can also follow at home on the weekends. Since they have him for more days each week than you may have him, that schedule should work for them first (if this is the case). I have had Labradors since 1967, most raised from puppies but several rescued as adults. Not one of them disliked a schedule where they knew what was coming next for them. Our newest puppy, 16 weeks old tomorrow is a perfect example of this; yesterday, he got one extra crate period due to our needing to be dealing with something out of the ordinary. His morning begins at 7 a.m.; he is crated for his breakfast and then is crated for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. He is crated for his dinner and then again while the family eats their dinner and is in bed by 8:30 or 9:00 p.m. each night (he has an outing at 4 a.m. since that is when my husband and son wake up). After he'd had his dinner in his crate last evening at 5:30 and had been outside for potty and some training/free play he went straight for the foot of the stairs waiting for the gate to be removed so he could go on up to bed - two hours earlier than he would go to bed. You see, he understands that he is crated four times (for various lengths of time) each day. He HAD been crated one extra time yesterday and so reached the fourth crating at his dinner rather than ours...HE tried to stick to the schedule we had provided him. IF he didn't like that schedule, rather than go to the foot of the stairs willingly, he would have avoided those stairs that led to his nighttime stretch of crating like the plague. Now, what about the times that he is out of the crate? Every minute of that is spent "training" him how we expect him to behave whilst "free". He is in my office with me for the majority of that time. We do training on all the "tricks" (sit, down, stand, paw, rollover, wait) etc.; we engage in a bit of play where I have a huge tug toy that keeps his teeth away from me; AND he is praised for playing quietly on his own after an "all done". He is taken out to relieve himself every hour and a bit of outside training is done "stick around, recall" etc.; he is being shown how to properly enter and exit doors (leashed to avoid automatic zoomies as soon as he re-enters the house and so on). We also do several minute several times a day of sitting in the living room with the rest of the pack in their "spots" so that he learns that he cannot be harassing and attacking the other dogs every time they are in the same room. The upshot of this long tome is that every minute of his time outside the crate is monitored; if he goes for a table leg, he is given a Nylabone/Deer Antler. If he goes for a the soft surface of a lazy boy recliner or the edge of an area rug, he is given a soft toy to chew on. If he is demanding play time, there is a tug toy or a rolled ball always available to redirect his puppy teeth away from me. And whilst out of his crate, there is a trailing, light lead attached to his collar to allow for redirection and correction when needed. In conclusion, those four crating sessions are as much for my sanity as they are for his safety and training. Having to be constantly mentally aware of a young puppy is exhausting, but thankfully, the need gradually diminishes and before you know it, you have a well-behaved family member who knows what his schedule is and how he is to behave in every circumstance.
Awwww Chaunseysmum, feel for you with your bitey pup...we are due to collect our puppy in just under 4 weeks and this post has been really informative and great reading and reassuring too that what we have got prepared for our puppy's arrival is on track with what all you experienced puppy owners have written, ie metal crate, toys, kongs etc..soo good to have it all down in black and white...am sure when our pup arrives I'll be posting lots and getting some amazing advice! Hope you can sort things out for and with your pup.
Jo Lauren’s- Oh, it’s ok, I plan on replacing that table anyway and I should have said it’s my kitchens dining table that he’s destroying. I tried the bitter apple spray btw and it doesn’t work, he likes it. And nope, none of his toys are wood, should I buy him some? We do monitor him, but sometimes we’re not quick enough and despite all efforts to redirect him to something else he immediately returns to chewing on the wood. It’s a constant battle with him. I really would rather discourage him chewing on wood because my kitchen cabinets and my parents cabinets are all wood, he’s starting on that now. Someone told my mother I should try Vick’s on the cabinets anyone hear of using that? Is it safe? I do work on training him , i’ve Got him trained on sitting and come. He doesn’t do so well on stay still but we’re working on that. I finally got him to go up and down the stairs which i’m Thrilled about because my apartment is on the second floor and he’s getting to heavy for me to carry. We also go for short walks , we stop frequently to talk to the neighbors. Those we see with dogs unfortunately turn around and walk the other way because i’m guessing theirs weren’t socialized properly, although a few have greeted us but they keep their dogs at a distance. Also friends stop by with their dogs for socializing but alas, their dogs aren’t too pleased with my biting puppy and pretty much run from him. My parents refuse to use the crate when he’s at their house, they say they’ve never used one on any of their dogs before so they won’t now sadly. It’s just that despite not being a new puppy owner(i’ve raised 2 German shepherds and one other Lab from puppyhood) I was so unprepared for a puppy that likes to bite this much. Of course all my other dogs bit me but not this much in excess. They all stopped when I yelled out in pain, unlike this one who seems to enjoy it and then bites me even harder. I’ve tried all methods I could find to divert him to something else but he just ignores it. That said, I love this dog to pieces and he’s my baby, I just can’t wait til he has all his vaccinations done so I can bring him to the park and let him play with other dogs who will play fight with him. In the meantime I’m buying heavy duty gardening gloves to protect my hands, lol. Thanks very much for all your help and advice, very much appreciated JuliePenquin- good luck with your new puppy, believe me the weeks will speed by! Aisling labs- wow, you sound like a great trainer, I wish I could do what you do. I will try to use your schedule thanks
No, you will not solve this problem by applying any substance which tastes bad. You just won't. There are way too many wooden surfaces available to him, it's impossible to cover every surface in the stuff, and the vast majority of dogs don't care about anything you apply anyway. I've had people apply chilli oil and the dog eats the stuff. So just stop thinking about using anything which tastes bad, it won't work and it's a dead end. I can't stress enough how just ONE LITTLE CASUAL CHEW on something by a puppy I had, would result in immediate action from me, of distracting him onto something else. If he then went back to it showing persistence, I would be holding the house line so he can't reach it and I would also make efforts to barricade off that spot using furniture. There is just NO WAY it would be possible for a puppy to do serious damage to anything, because I am literally staring at the puppy every second the puppy is out of the crate and able to do something like this. That is why I said: Prevention and Supervision. People really underestimate how closely you have to watch the pup. I mean, it's almost impossible to do anything else until the pup falls asleep and you can pop him in the crate and finally focus on something else.... You might like to get them to continually buy you new furniture then. They might think differently!! Really, it might be time to have a sit down with them, to ask them what is behind their dislike of crates, to explain what is happening because one isn't being used and the expense incurred and to ask them if they would please work with you on this one, regardless of their preferences - since he is your dog, after all. Of course One of the most important ways to prevent puppies chewing things they are not supposed to, is to identify what they are chewing and then to provide them with toys made from the same material. There are many toys made for puppies that are wood - Pet Stages make a wooden chew called DogWood or Durable Sticks: http://a.co/d/jka4UCs You can also find various brands made from parts of trees: http://a.co/d/ei7ru28 I'd be a bit worried about hip dysplasia, allowing a 10wk puppy to go up and down 2 flights of stairs regularly.... There are loads of posts now on puppy-biting, with some excellent advice in them - including a pinned post at the top of the page from Pippa on ways of dealing with puppy biting. You can be pretty sure that dogs at the dog park may do similarly - OR they will play roughly back and your dog will only learn to get more and more into rough play. From your description here, he does sound like he has the potential to develop into a canine thug or bully, 'demanding' play from other dogs regardless of whether they want it or not and having poor social skills. You might want to read this article I wrote on that one: http://totallydogtraining.com/over-friendly-dog/ And also: https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/blog/Dog-Parks-Are-Dangerous-21816-1.html
Meg was totally like this until her teeth fell out, a nightmare. My clothes were shredded. I used to leave her with cardboard boxes to chomp on...the house was a mess for a while but it gave us all a break, she soon grew out of it and as an adult dog never chews anything
Jo Lauren’s- -Thank you very much for your wonderful advice!!!! I’m ordering those wood sticks from Amazon and will block off any chance my puppy can get to those cabinets by buying some extra long baby gates. I’ve enrolled in an online puppy program and will be working on crate training and other commands with a personnel trainer for him. As for him being a bully, i did rather fear him being one but I did get a gleam of hope today it might not be true because we did encounter 2 huskies(very nice ones) who when my puppy saw them he immediately fell on his back and did the whole submissive routine to them, of course they were just trying to be friendly to him but my boy got scared and after he got up ran away with his tail between his legs and behaved. One of them was a 6 month old and only wanted to greet him so I have hopes he’ll know his place . They were owned by a neighbor down the street so I knew it was safe for him to meet them. Oh, as for Dog parks, the one i’m Planning on going to is very safe, any dog showing any kind of aggression are told right away not to come back. I took my last dog there and never for a second did I ever fear for my dogs safety. We have other dog parks nearby that no way would I ever take my dog to those. Those ones are not monitored and many dogs have gotten hurt(even one puppy was killed) from them. I had read Pippa’s post regarding biting puppies but everything I tried didn’t work on him but I’ll keep trying, he’s just erm...”Special” lol. Edp - thank you!!! I feel better knowing I’m not alone with my little terror, lol. I have lots of boxes from my move, I’ll give that a try Ok I have one other problem- my puppy since he’s 8 weeks(might have been earlier but I didn’t have him then , he was with the breeder) likes to hump...a lot. I read advice online and asked my Vet about this and all day just make him stop by pushing him away and say Stop and No. well that doesn’t work for long. He’ll stop for a bit but later on he starts right up again. He even humps his poor large teddy bear. I know it doesn’t mean anything at this age but I certainly don’t want this to be a habit for him.
Really don't worry at all about humping. Humans get WAY TOO WORKED UP by dogs humping, and it's really just an expression of their own human embarrassment and nothing to do with the dog and canine behaviour. You can be sure that his humping has nothing to do with sex whatsoever - he is not old enough and doesn't even have those hormones yet. Dogs tend to hump when they get over-excited - it's like the excitement has to come out somehow and besides puppy zoomies, it also comes out in humping. It's totally normal and over-reacting to it can actually make it worse because the pup learns that he instantly gets your attention when he humps something. So he just does it more. Right, so the first thing is to stop asking your vet for behavioural advice. Vets are trained in physiology and biology and medicine and not in behaviour or training. They will not give you any better behavioural advice than Joe Bloggs you stop and ask in the street (unless they have additional qualifications in behaviour). Saying Stop or No, is going to do absolutely nothing at best and will also dint your relationship with him a little. The best thing is just to remove the chosen humping object and get a few bits of kibble out your pocket and do some sits and downs and watch mes for a few minutes. When you finish, he will totally have forgotten his humping attempts.... And by the way, this is NOT a sign you should neuter your dog and neutering does NOT prevent humping - in fact in some studies, humping gets worse after neutering... Yes, these are ideal dogs for him and the type of dog he is: Pick dogs which are larger than him, because it's rare for dogs to bully dogs which are bigger than him. Avoid contact with little dogs, who he is likely to attempt to squish... And larger dogs can also then teach him play skills and polite interactions etc...
