We've had our beautiful girl for 6 weeks now. Beautiful, smart, and a real love. BUT, she bites so much and so hard, today I just broke down and cried. I've read so many articles that say to stand still or walk away, but either of those would leave me even more injured. I'm not joking, when I say she draws blood and rips my skin open. My hands, arms, and legs are a scabby and bruised mess! Started puppy classes, and instructor said just hold her by the collar for a few seconds and say uh uh. This also results in her twisting toward my arm and sinking her teeth into me. Suggestions, please! I'm so worn down and disappointed that these 6 weeks have been so draining. She's my 8th dog (over my lifetime), and I've NEVER experienced this!
Hi @Harley Sue Sorry to hear about your problem. Buy a tug toy. Carry it around with you. When she attempts to mouth you redirect her mouth onto the tug toy. Play tug with her moving the toy sideways. Keep your hands at either end of the toy, playing with her. If she attempts to mouth you the games instantly stops. Teach the dog the mine and your game so that she will release her grip on the tug toy.
@Harley Sue forget to say and then ran out of 5 minutes for edits. Make sure you speak in a quiet and calm voice. No yelling or high-pitched voice. Let us know how you get on.
I have tried this. She pulls the toy once, then either drops it and bites my leg, or pushes the toy into my leg and bites me. My legs are a bloody mess, too. She's lightning fast, and goes from playing or walking or just sitting quietly, to lunging full speed and sinking her teeth into me. Don't want to rush my life away, or hers, but anxious for the teething age to pass. As I said, 8 puppies prior, and never biting like this. I love her, though! She's a beauty, and can be sweet.
Hi @Harley Sue, you keep hold of the tug toy. You animate it by swinging it side to side while she has hold of it. When you let het go the toy is dead and she loses interest. Think of the game police officers play with the dog, who has just scented some drugs. They don't let go of the tug. You use the straps at the ends to hold the dog away from you. I suggest while you attempt to get the behaviour under control to wear jeans. Or some robust material. Wear gloves if necessary. If she goes for you, then all interaction stops. Don't say anything. Just take her to another room for some time out. Leave her there for her to calm down. When you re-start the interaction, forget about the previous event. She will have absolutely no idea of associating what you say with what she did 10 minutes ago. I suspect she thinks it is a game when you squeal in pain. The idea of the time out is to teach her that such behaviour ends the game. I'm not recommending the store. I know nothing about it. I'm providing you with a link so you can see what I have in mind as a preferred tug toy.. https://www.schutzhund-training-sto...0.html?zenid=9803af05b1492f605ac9092dd2d194ff Are you able to detect whether there is a trigger for her sudden change of behaviour? Film your dog and watch the video or have a friend observe you two. It's hard to see what is going on when we are a participant. If you wish upload the file so we can see what is going on, and more importantly, some ways forward. I have had 6 labs. My choc, the penultimate one, was a terror for the first year. She has been the only terror I have ever has,so far. I thought I had made a serious error in getting her. She would bite me from behind She turned out to be the most loving and affectionate dog I have ever had. Sadly she died two weeks ago, just two months short of her thirteenth birthday. I miss her every day. The year of terror is now a distant memory. You'll get through this.
I'm so sorry for your loss! It's devastating, I know! Thank you for your input. The tug just doesn't seem to work with her. She drops it and I'm still swinging it, but goes for me instead. OR, she gets wild very quickly with the tug. I will give her a bit more time to mature, and try again. Definitely going to wear thicker clothing! Also going to see if I can hire the puppy class instructor for one on one evaluation. Thank you so much!
Hey @Harley Sue - about a month/6 weeks ago I was in your position (you can probably find my posts on the boards)! I followed @Michael A Brooks advice and played with a tug toy with Yalom when he was in a playful mood. I also stepped over the baby gate when it got too much. It still felt like nothing helped though - I had bruises and scratches all over my arms and legs and it really hurt! It did get better though. Now (he's 20 weeks) I am very rarely bitten, and it never leaves a mark. Perseverance and patience is all that helps. You will get through it. One day you'll notice you've no fresh scratches on your arm!
Thank you! I'm so happy to hear this won't last forever! I knew that, but it feels like forever when your bleeding from almost every encounter. Lol!
Definitely keep a toy handy and get her used to tug of war. The other thing I noticed that helps with my pup (12 weeks) is long sleeves and pants. Also not moving the hands/ankles quickly in front of her face when she's excited doesn't get her interested so much in biting. Usually if I tire mine out she's less apt to bite hands. There's playful and then there's volcano-level playful. Usually the lunatic phase is worst in the morning since she hasn't let off any steam yet. The other thing I noticed is that I do most of the training and she tends to bite me a lot less and a lot less hard unless we're in hardcore play mode and I don't move my hand in time or don't anticipate her movement well enough. But she's still just a pup so I can kind of overpower her and pet her in such a way that her mouth can't get to me but she's still having a good old time. Also, she seems to know with me that she if she want my attention she needs to be relatively calm and looking at me quietly. Biting will cause me to get up, leave, and ignore for a while. Unfortunately some others in my home aren't so consistent with that, so she'll even play-bite them in their sleep!
Many thanks @Beanwood. I very much appreciate your condolences. The Rainbow Bridge is some comfort. When my first Lab died, well over 40 years ago, there was no such story to offer solace. I expect now that all of my dogs, including Amber, the Lab in my avatar, are waiting for me. That will be some sight. regards Michael
I'm really sorry to hear that too, Michael. They leave such a big hole. We lost our Weim in June, at 12yo, and I am still recovering from that. @Harley Sue, some puppies are more bitey than others. When they lose their puppy teeth, it will hurt a lot less - even if they are biting just the same. So tell yourself that, worst case scenario, it is only a matter of time. But there is a lot more you can do besides. Firstly, if the pup goes for you and your skin, you need to detach the pup from that and then hold him in such a way that it's not possible to immediately go back for more. With practice you will get better at this last part. With a tiny pup, you can easily hold under their ribcage and it's really not possible for them to reach you. With a bigger pup, you can hold them in your arms against your body so again, it's not possible for them to turn their head and bite you. You are trying to do this just long enough to get hold of something appealing which they CAN bite - not as punishment. If your pup isn't interested in tug, make sure you have explored the full range of fabrics which tugs are made from. Most gundog puppies don't like hard rubber tug toys, it will need to be something softer. Many like rope tugs, but these can be too hard still... Some like very soft fleecey floppy tug toys - like the unstuffed ranges of toys. But you need to experiment and find something he wants to play with, and then teach him how playing with a toy, with you, is far more reinforcing than biting you yourself. This way, you will end up with a pup bringing you a tug to play with - instead of just biting your arms.
If my math is correct you picked your pup at 7 weeks if you’ve had her for 6 and she’s 13 now. If this is the case you might have a slightly more difficult time training bite inhibition than most. That last week of development with mom is where she and her siblings learn what’s acceptable or not. So having taken her away early she would have lost out on these valuable lessons from mom and her brothers and sisters and now it’s up to you to teach her whats acceptable. Persistence is key. Whenever our pups mouth was open and coming for us we stuck a rope toy in it for protection. He quickly learned not to chew on us. We never scolded him just redirected him to the rope. To this day he still has has a plush stuffed froggy completely intact. He has a very soft mouth now. Good luck.
Hi @Johnny Walker I think your dog's behaviour not to bite down hard is a result of luck and training by the mother and litter. I was told by a well-known breeder of security dogs in Australia that if the dog does not have bite inhibtion by the 8th week, then you will have to give the cue not to bite hard for the rest of the dog's life. For what it is worth, my 9 year old Lab has to be told "gentle" each and every time she gets a treat.
I think there is a lot of hocus pocus stuff written about bite inhibition which was started by Ian Dunbar. I have had clients contact me in an absolute state, terrified that because their 14 week old puppy is still play-biting them too hard, the pup hasn't learnt 'bite inhibition' and is therefore going to be somehow dangerous when grown up... It generates complete hysteria(!), to the point that I kind of dislike all this mouth inhibition stuff.... In reality, most dogs are bitey as puppies - some worse than others - and if this can be redirected onto toys and people never approach the pup without a toy to first occupy the mouth, then it won't get reinforced and grow stronger. Any dog which is mouthy after puppy teeth have gone, isn't going to hurt like little puppy needle teeth hurt, and it then becomes an annoying behaviour rather than a painful one. In some dogs, it can be combined with over-excited and inappropriate play - but again, this is that the dog has been encouraged to wrestle with their mouth on people as an object - rather than to direct that onto a tug toy.
In the US, 7 weeks is still considered the proper time to pick up a Lab pup. Both Tilly and Cooper came to us at 48 or 49 days. Both were bitey as pups but both have great bite inhibition as adult dogs. We mostly wore long sleeved shirts and kept toys handy when they were small. We also did the "OUCH" thing when they bit too hard. Some say it is a bad idea, but it seemed to have worked for us.
I was just working with a puppy last night that was biting like crazy. Her mom's arms were a mess with bloody scratches. When playing with her and she/he starts getting too mouthy and biting too hard say, "ouch" loud and don't move your hand..then stop playing for a moment. If she does it again, do it all over again. I was doing this last night and the 2nd time he wouldn't stop so after I say "ouch" he didn't stop so I blew in his face and he stopped, looked at me then walked away. When he came back he played much easier. When he started to bite too hard I did the same thing and it worked. Consistency is the key. Continue doing what seems to work and it will. Good luck!
