Biting Puppies: Help For New Puppy Parents

What if my pup bites me as if to tell me something? I feel a little bit crazy as I say this, but my puppy Cooper is mot much of a barker. So the way he apparently sees most appropriate for communicating with me is by biting. Let me give a few examples:

1. It is time for breakfast and he is excited for it. So he gives me one short bite at my leg as if to say “hurry up, I’m hungry”. I’ve been teaching him to sit instead, but sometimes he won’t and keep on biting at me.

2. When he needs to go outside to relief himself, he used to go stand at the door and look at me as if to say “c’mon”. That was great. But now, he gets specially bitey and bites at my arms and legs and clothes and if I don’t get him out, he will really hurt me or it would be too late as he would pee inside the house. Never poo. I don’t know an alternative behavior for this one.

3. During walks, he’s gotten into the habit of launching at my feet qnd biting my shoes and ankles at one point. Is he saying he is tired? That he is thirsty? I have no idea. And same as before, He wont listen when he’s doing it and it’s just me trying to keep him as far away from me as my arms allow me to.

At first his biting was a shock for me, but I learned to deal with it. I have tried bite inhibition so that his bites were softer, but now that his hind teeth are coming out, his biting with much more strength. And there is no much info. about what I said above. Some people have told me he’s trying to dominate me but I don’t want to believe that’s true.

 

It sounds as though your puppy is biting when excited (feed times, time to go out, when playing out). You trying to keep the pup at arms length is probably a great game for the puppy.
Are you doing any trianing when you are out on your walks? Small sit, stays, recalls, hunting for treats etc etc, will tired him mentally without encouraging excitment.

 

My puppy is 15 weeks old and very bitey and barks a lot too. Sometimes he launches himself at me and i have to grab a cushion to protect myself otherwise he would sink his teeth into my stomach or thigh. Yesterday when he was latched on to the cushion i needed to get him into his crate and he wouldn't move if i pulled him towards the door, just stood his ground as turned it into a tug of war with lots of growling. In the end i was so worried that he would let go of the cushion and grab at me again I got the scruff of his neck and with his teeth still on the cushion i managed to get him into his crate. Unfortunately he did whimper whilst i was doing this but i didn't dare let go. I now feel bad that i hurt him but it was a case of him or me. What should i do next time to get him in his crate? I can't pick him up properly as he is heavy now. A houseline won't really work as he would just get tangled in furniture and/or would end up as another tug of war. Help!

 

Wow, thats so awesome.

 

Hello, there are some fabulous behaviourists on here who am sure will chime in. I am just an owner. Firstly, don’t get yourself in that situation in the first place. Keep your pup busy with distractions, things to chew. Frozen carrots, frozen Kong, cardboard boxes... anything to keep those teeth busy. At 15 weeks it’s a very bitey phase. Secondly, don’t pick your pup up. There is no need, train your pup to want to go to the crate...throw in a Kong, kibble or treat. Then walk away. It will pass soon and read the rest of this thread .

 

Hi everyone. I am so grateful to have read the posts about biting puppies — I now feel a tiny bit less alone in this. Our lab puppy is 9 weeks old and we are struggling. The last week has been more challenging than I ever thought it could be.... and I was truly prepared for a challenge! I had been reading about bite inhibition and the technique of standing still and staying calm and stepping over a baby gate... I was mentally and intellectually prepared. But now that we have had her for a week, my question is: How do I step over a baby gate when the baby gate is across the kitchen and my puppy has her teeth firmly lodged in my ankle? She doesn’t just nip... she bites down hard. Toys work sometimes to distract her, but usually she prefers ankles. Food works sometimes too, but I’m worried that if I give her food when she’s actively biting me she will feel rewarded. I have been watching video after video and I understand bite inhibition concepts in theory, but in practice my puppy digs in harder when I “yelp” or say “ouch!” If anyone has any words of guidance I would be so grateful. It’s gotten to the point that my 12 year old son is afraid to come into the kitchen when the puppy is in there, and I am feeling myself tense up every time the puppy comes up to me. It’s been a painful week (both literally and figuratively!). I am typing this through tears. Thank you for reading this.

 

Hi Maisie and welcome to the forum. Sorry to hear you are having a tough time. When you are in the initial stages of dealing with a 9 week old biter, it can be a big help to adjust your clothing for a few days! With some pups, bare legs and ankles are just not possible. It's a question of covering up for a while. If you are a jeans and trainers person it may be a case of adding thicker socks but for those who love to wear skirts, there is often a major wardrobe readjustment for those first couple of weeks with a new pup.

 

Yes - thank you. We are definitely making those wardrobe adjustments!

 

Hello, just want to check in my 22 week old is still biting. We have turned a corner and she is much less bitey. But she is still doing it and hurts, will break my skin and rip my clothes by jumping up and biting my tops. She does this when excited in play , this has always been the case and also does it on greeting me . So when I return from work I am clicker training her sit as I come through the door, fine until I stop then I get a jump up. During play it’s less predictable and I have to keep play such as fetch a toy or tug very short. She also still plays very hard with other dogs if she can get away with it with them. As she is reaching six months is this still within the realm of typical , even if unpleasant, puppy behaviour?

 

This morning she was really intense. I couldn’t even leave the room easily as she was biting my arms, ripping my clothes, if I turn my back she bites at my legs, if I tell her to sit she jumps up. I managed to get out of the room quietly but had to tolerate painful, skin piercing bites on the way. She can’t be eating all of the time as a distraction and it’s hard to put in enough walks at this age to tire her. We have 5 mins training sessions which she is great at.she has kongs, chews, toys. I’m sure we must have gone wrong at some point in responding to the biting but I’m sure this is not typical puppy biting??? I’m getting a little unsure of her. I can’t quite see what I need to do next. I’m just going about my daily business like having a cup of tea. I can’t really play with her as it often escalates her. Don’t get me wrong it’s not all of the time but when she does it it’s very intense and it’s difficult to do anything. Appreciate any views as I can’t see this as normal puppy behaviour at 22 weeks???

 

Lots of good advice on here @gemma84

 

I am so thankful to have found this site! We have a 12-week old lab that is driving us crazy with his biting. We also have a 10-year-old lab and I don't remember her biting us as much, but we may have just forgotten. Trying to stop him just seems to make it worse. The only success I've had is to leave the room completely and leave him alone. I did this a few times this morning and it seemed to make a difference.

This puppy stuff is for the young - we've had him for a month and it feels like a year already!

 

Great info.
Our little silver lab is 9 weeks old and a pretty lazy girl. However, our closest friends just got a puppy too and now they wrestle CONSTANTLY. It looks like they're taking huge bites out of each other, but no one is squeeling. Now though, our little girl is biting her friend harder and not letting go.
Is that normal puppy play?
I feel like she's biting us more now that we've let her start wrestling with her new friend.

 

Hi All. MaisieNYC - I could not have expressed this myself any better - I have a 15wk old "Crocopup" and the foot/ankle biting is the worst - It is very difficult to climb over a stair gate with a puppy hanging off your ankles! We have tried the "ow" and remove ourselves, the distract with toy, distract with training, distract with food (I agree that it feels weird to give treats for biting, though my trainer says its not reward its distraction) and I am concerned that the kids are getting nervous of him - I know I am sometimes as I feel "on guard". He likes carrots/frozen banana but they last minutes. Anyone have any ideas for a chew-type distraction for puppy that he can just amuse himself with - I can get about 20 mins with a frozen kong! Are we in the "teething" zone yet?

 

I have an eleven wk old pup who can get into a biting frenzy. I found that petting him is one of his triggers. I’ve worked a lot with him on “sit” then “down” (lying on his belly), particularly when I’m in the kitchen. It’s taken a lot of repetition and a ton of treats, but he’s gotten better at not going into bitey mode when I’m trying to do something else. When he really gets bad, I put him in the bathroom and shut the door. Calm, no scolding, just put him in, shut the door and leave him for a couple minutes. Offer him a toy when he comes out and walk away. It usually is enough to redirect him. I also got him a Pork Chomp bone. It’s not rawhide and more digestible. He really works his molars on it.

 

At pet stores there is generally different levels of chew toys. Some of these are aimed at puppies during different stages of teething. We were fortunate that Captain took to these well. I also believe something else that helped was the games we played.

At that young age, we were focusing really hard on name recognition, and fetch. Both of these work really well into gaining a great recall, but the fetch also helps with energy containment. When we go for walks, i would walk slowly with my pup while watching him. This allowed me to observe him and identify ways to predict when he was likely going to strike. I would see the beginning behavior and call his name, give him a command (sit, lie down, look at me, etc) and reward for the positive behavior), as appropriate. When he would walk without biting me, i would reward; sometimes it would be every 2 or 3 steps, but others would be a minute or two. At a young age, i worked in our back yard on a leash for this, and it only allowed even more training. This kept him very engaged mentally and physically.

In the house, when you can't go outside, or are limited to play space, i would practice obedience commands, name recognition & recall, and crate comfort. Lots of treats, always lots of treats. It would be more common for Captain to eat his meals through rewards rather than his bowl. We used to use his kibble as reward, but he has grown away from that being a high-value reward. At 10-months old, we still use his kibble, but it is for behavior that we know he is great at and just looking for a reward.

 

My little "Crocpup" is now 17 weeks - and honestly he is so smart and amazing - except for the biting!!

He sleeps well, he doesn't toilet in the house, he picks up training really well etc but its the biting!! Its upsetting me, and although I try to stay calm, it hurts, and at the moment I feel like I am going to have the worlds only bitey Labrador!! I feel I cant trust him with the kids and I certainly don't feel like I could ask anyone else to watch him, in case he bites them. He never seems to just "settle down" and although we have a few chew toys inc a "root" one, and antler and he loves a frozen Kong (Frozen carrot, banana, a frozen Frube yogurt!) but they might buy us 20 minutes max! I am not confident enough to know what other chews are "safe" for a puppy his age?

I know it can be worse when they are overtired so we make sure he has proper naps in the day - but first thing in the morning when he is very excited to see you he can be really bad too, or because the kids came in, or because I am trying to do something else, or because I have socks on, or because its a Tuesday.... lol x. If he starts, I try treat distraction, or doing some training. I might walk out the room and leave him for a minute. Any other gems I could try?

No sign of him losing any teeth yet, so I not sure if this is "teething" or something I am doing wrong, but any advice or reassurance appreciated. I just want a calm, non-bitey dog I can actually stroke and relax with.... is that too much? x

 

Hello. Thank you for sharing your experiences with your pups. It has really helped me feel less alone. We have a 10 week old lab mix. He gets excited and often overly excited in the typical situations (play, meals, petting, one of us enters the room). We have been working on using toys to distract when he nips or standing still. It has gotten really difficult with him breaking skin and tearing clothes. I understand this can also be part of the puppy stage. I am starting to get scared because he lunges and bites my thighs and I’m concerned he’s going to really hurt me. He has also started humping when he’s overly excited. We’ve been trying to use a toy to redirect during those moments as well. Is there something else we should do? We just set up a calm down space (a gated off area). Can you help me understand how to use the calm down space. We put him in there but he just seems to escalate and then I don’t want to let him out when he’s at a heightened state. When should he rejoin us? How do we teach him to calm down in his space? The first time we used it, we let him out when he was quietly laying down. It took awhile for him to walk out but when he did I tried to calmly pet him and give him a treat. I went to fill his water bowl and he was instantly jumping, then biting and tearing my pants and humping me. At this point I was rather scared because he was getting his teeth into my thigh. I used treats to get him off me so I could get to a gate and get out of the room. Please help. I don’t want to be scared of our pup. Our kids are already scared and spend almost no time with him. Thank you.