Hi All, This morning I woke up in an absolutely fine mood, got myself ready for the day, and went to get Rosie up. Within 5 minutes of getting her, she got bitey with me, and literally switched me from a happy mood to just plain miserable. I have posted about Rosie's biting when she was a bit younger, about the level and intensity of her puppy biting. Thankfully I can say, she no longer constantly bites during her waking hours (my original complaint). BUT, I am still dealing with her mouthing/biting me in different ways - say for example, when I go to put on her collar or her harness. She will try to bite my hands or wrap her mouth around my wrist. (I do put treats down but sometimes she gets them eaten up before I finish getting harness on). Or when she gets a bit excited in play she will jump up and nip/bite my arms. She also does this sometimes when we are out on a walk. She will jump up and bite/nip me. Its quite painful. I cannot wear short sleeves. I did this on the weekend and ended up bleeding twice in one day. Not sure what I'm going to do as it is starting to warm up where I live and sweaters and coats will not be needed soon. I do get up and leave the room for about 30 seconds when she bites me. If she's by her crate sometimes I put her in there. I also have a small water bottle that I carry with me on walks when she gets really out of control. Maybe my expectations are too high, but I thought I would be past all the biting and mouthing issues at 6 months. It has been 4 solid months of being bitten by her every single day and I just need to be told this will all stop. It is wearing me out! I feel like such a baby but its surprising what a toll it can take on you! PLEASE tell me she will stop!
I really struggled with my dog's biting. I got him aged 6 months and had the last nasty episode when he was 18months old so I'm not sure I am in a good place to offer advice... we certainly didn't get on top of it very quickly. Leaving the room was the most effective thing when indoors. Outdoors was more difficult, a lot of the advice given here used to enrage him further (in particular standing on the lead as the lead was his biggest trigger). Once in crazy mode it was impossible to get him to listen but I did learn to spot when it was coming so could ask him to do something else (eg find a stick) and distract him. Keeping a diary was helpful - as he improved it did become possible to identify triggers, in the beginning he was just so wound up all the time it was hard to unpick what was happening. Getting exercise levels right was important with frequent short walks to avoid overstimulation and getting overtired. There wasn't a eureka training moment for us, the episodes went from daily to weekly then monthly. He's nearly 2 and hasn't bitten me for 6 months now. I've no doubt that he could still bite though, so I've muzzled trained him which has proved very useful when it was needed at the vets. I hope I'm not depressing you making you think you've got another year of this! My dog was particularly bad and had the stress of being rehomed to deal with. Your dog is still very young and I'm sure will start to improve soon.
Then you need to provide treats which will take longer to be eaten. Smearing some soft cheese or peanut butter on the floor to be licked, will preoccupy her longer than anything solid... It's all pretty normal behaviour and there are lots of posts on the forum with good advice for bitey dogs, which I hope you can read and find useful.
Hi my girl was very bitey too, we couldn't play with her on the floor or try to cuddle her as she would bite us! She's 14 months now and is so much better, she still tries to bite when I put her harness on or if she's doing something she shouldn't and I try to grab her or stop her, like digging holes or stealing but much better from about 10 months, so hang on in there not much longer hopefully
If you have not tried it yet, then I would consider using Grannick's Bitter Apple spray. It is a taste deterrent spray, and I know of other dog owner's that have sprayed their hands/ankles with the spray to deter puppy biting.
Thanks for all the suggestions. I will definitely try them. I am probably being a big wuss about Rosie's biting. I know it will likely end. I'm missing my old girl Daisy who was such a gentle soul. It has been almost a year to the day I had to put her to sleep (tomorrow). Rosie is slowly starting to show more of a sweet side to her but has a long way to go yet, and I just feel like I'm not as bonded with her as I was Daisy. The biting makes it that much harder. We will get there.
I think you need to let go of Daisy and understand (on an emotional level, not a cognitive one) that Rosie is not Daisy. She deserves to be seen and bonded with as an individual and not measured up against Daisy, ever. This is why I won't (as a breeder!) place a very similar dog in a home which has recently lost a dog. Eg: I had an enquiry from someone who had lost a young female yellow Lab suddenly and who wanted (guess what?) a young female yellow Lab 'to keep a bit of Fluffy with me'. I liked the home in other ways, but explained that I would not be willing to place the same colour and gender of dog, in that household. I would place a black bitch or a yellow dog, but not the same gender and sex. Another example: With our previous litter, we had a couple that had owned a male springer and a female black Lab which had been of a similar age - and they had both passed away around the same time. We liked them as a home and put them on our list. At interview, they asked at what age it would be appropriate to add a second dog to the household and we advised no earlier than when this dog was 18-24 months old. They appeared to accept that. Fast forward - they met us, seemed charming and collected their puppy from us. I then heard via another dog trainer in their area, that they were having a 1-2-1 with a dog trainer and their TWO puppies. I contacted them about this and it seemed they had basically been lying to us - they already had picked up a springer pup which was a few weeks older than our pup. Clearly they were trying to replicate this situation of 'male springer and female black lab' and somehow re-have the two dogs they had lost. (End of the story is that I went ape-shit about having been lied to, and insisted we have our puppy back so she could be raised in a household where she would be the only puppy and receive the attention she deserved - and we got her out of there the next day and into an excellent home 2 weeks later.) Which is all a long way of saying: Every dog is an individual and needs to be engaged with and connected to, as an individual and with what they bring to the table. They should never be compared to other dogs or previous dogs - except occasionally and in passing. And dogs which have died should be thoroughly mourned and grieving should be given the time it needs, before a new dog is added to the household.
@Jo Laurens you crack me up - I need to channel some of your forthright attitude when I'm bumping in to other dog walkers! I imagine you did these particular owners a massive favour - I can't even begin to imagine how exhausting a working springer and working labrador would have been.
Hi @DizzyDaisy we also had a VERY bitey pup so I know how frustrating this is. Sounds like you've done/are doing all the right things. We got some terrible advice from our breeder that we should grab her by the scruff of the neck and growl in her face. Turns out our growl sounded more like a cross between Blackbeard the pirate and a Cornish Farmer, so it actually just made us fall about laughing and made Luna look very confused. Looking back on it, I'm cross we even tried it, but thankfully our inability to be fearsome will have saved us from scaring her. We couldn't really interact with Luna (petting or playing) at all until she was about 8 months old without getting nipped. A lot of it was over-arousal and actually not being that comfortable with being petted. We've learned her body language and even now if she comes and sits on our feet calmly we know that she will probably only tolerate 30 seconds of petting before she's had enough and starts licking her lips or moving her head away. My stepdaughter was an absolute super star and consistently stood up and left the room every time - often all it took was for her to walk in the room and she'd get leapt on, and nipped. Now, Luna is so gentle with her, but at the age of 10 my stepdaughter had to accept that Luna wasn't the cuddly Andrex puppy that she'd dreamt of. Luna has just turned one and still mouths arms if she's over excited, so everyone (including guests) know to fold their arms and stand up. She gets too snappy when she plays tug, so we have to play it calmly. She still doesn't like being stroked a lot, but does love contact with us, so she'll weave between our legs and has learned to carry a towel in her mouth so that she has something to mouth. She greets us every time we come downstairs now with a towel in her mouth and her rear end wiggling away. It's incredibly cute, but practical too. Keep at it - it will work itself out. Be consistent and be kind, and don't beat yourself up if it puts you in a bad mood. You're only human and puppy teeth are sharp!
Hi I know how hard that is, we lost our sweet girl just over a year ago and I still miss her greatly, she was such a special girl. We thought long and hard about getting another dog, we missed Saffy so much. We missed the companionship, love, just having a dog with you all the time but knew we could never replace her. It's difficult to know if you've grieved properly, when is a new time to get your new pup? We went ahead and chose a sightly different pup, a full breed and a different colour so's not to have comparisons. We needent have worried, our new pup, like yours was completely different and I confess, a bit of a shock as she was bitey, chewed everything and I mean everything, was very challenging and it took a while to bond with her. Thinking of you tomorrow and I hope Rosie's biting stops soon
The best tip really is to preoccupy the mouth with a toy, BEFORE you pet the puppy. That way the sharp teeth can't bite you. Animate the toy in the dog's mouth if you need to and if they start to direct attention to you instead... If they approach you without a toy, reach down and grab one nearby and get that in the gob first. Never pet a pup without a toy in the mouth. Over time, they will bring you toys...
I know how you feel. I can't help making comparisons with my previous dog, who didn't bite at all and was extremely eager to please and easy going. I'm learning so much from this dog though, and it's so rewarding seeing the improvement in his behaviour.
I know how hard the biting can be but I must be honest I have never had one that continues to be overly mouthy past 4 or 5 months. I am sure it is very exhausting. You have gotten lots of great suggestions so my approach may or may not help but I never used a toy or food to get them to stop. I just stop what I am doing and remove either my hand, or my whole self from the situation. Sometimes this meant taking 15 mins to get a leash/harness on when they were young but I felt the time was worth it. While I move, my hand or my body I calmly say NO BITE. I would stand still and quiet for a few mins and then try again, if the biting started again, I would stop again. I feel like I said those two words for about two months straight with all my puppies but it always seemed to work. Hang in there!!
