I never thought the day would come. From about 8-13 weeks, my hands and arms were covered in bites and scratches. I couldn't put my hand near Rue without it getting chewed off. It was PAINFUL. She just turned 4 months last Thursday, and the biting has almost stopped completely. If she does start biting, we say 'timeout' and she will start licking instead. We can now sit on the floor with her and not worry about getting eaten alive. This makes playtime so much more enjoyable. If you're currently going through the biting phase (aka hell), HANG IN THERE.
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! Always great to hear from those bathing in the light at the end of the tunnel Great effort on managing it so well and coming out the other end with a puppy who can use her mouth gently with people
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! Hurrah! Gypsy's has too. She reverts occasionally when tired, but - fingers crossed - the crocapup has mostly gone! ;D
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! Hah! I look like a self-harmer at the moment! Willow is getting better at learning how hard is too hard, but sometimes her aim isn't great when she lunges for a toy I'm holiding!
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! yeah Lemmy the same only when he is tired or really super excited and only me it seems but lots of licks now. X thank God,Allah,Buddah think I praid to everyone to make the crocadog stop! X
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! Great news! Lovely being able to relax with your puppy on the floor and not worry about those sharp little teeth!
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! Good to know it doesn't last forever! We are battling with this at the moment - it's such a slow process. Advice please - at the moment we are leaving here if she is gently "exploring" but if she bites too hard we say "OW" (quite loudly) and move her away. Is this the best thing to do or are there other suggestions?
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! Glad to know it stops! Rosie is 13 weeks now and bites a lot when we sit on the floor to play with her, she's much gentler then she was a few weeks ago but still can cuase a bit of pain when she gets overexcited. We had real trouble trying to teach her that biting hands isn't on, tried yelping - she would just bark, think it was a great game and lunge for another go, we tried saying "no" in a very loud, deep voice, same reaction. The only thing that worked was to just get up and turn your back on her when she bit too hard so it was game over. This seems to be working for us, just can't wait until she stops completely now! Sarah & Rosie
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! [quote author=MrsB link=topic=8256.msg116768#msg116768 date=1413286680] Good to know it doesn't last forever! We are battling with this at the moment - it's such a slow process. Advice please - at the moment we are leaving here if she is gently "exploring" but if she bites too hard we say "OW" (quite loudly) and move her away. Is this the best thing to do or are there other suggestions? [/quote] Put a toy or chew in her mouth instead of your hand - and be more determined than her that she WILL chew the toy and not your hand! It works
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! [quote author=MrsB link=topic=8256.msg116768#msg116768 date=1413286680] Good to know it doesn't last forever! We are battling with this at the moment - it's such a slow process. Advice please - at the moment we are leaving here if she is gently "exploring" but if she bites too hard we say "OW" (quite loudly) and move her away. Is this the best thing to do or are there other suggestions? [/quote] Rue was NEVER gentle with her biting before, so I can't really say. We started leaving the room when she would bite and then eventually moved onto putting her into timeout (by using an extra pet carrier). She hated both as it meant she wasn't getting attention from us. It seemed to be pretty effective ... I think a combination of that and losing her little razor teeth helped!
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! [quote author=SarahS link=topic=8256.msg116815#msg116815 date=1413299956] Glad to know it stops! Rosie is 13 weeks now and bites a lot when we sit on the floor to play with her, she's much gentler then she was a few weeks ago but still can cuase a bit of pain when she gets overexcited. We had real trouble trying to teach her that biting hands isn't on, tried yelping - she would just bark, think it was a great game and lunge for another go, we tried saying "no" in a very loud, deep voice, same reaction. The only thing that worked was to just get up and turn your back on her when she bit too hard so it was game over. This seems to be working for us, just can't wait until she stops completely now! Sarah & Rosie [/quote] The yelping didn't really work for us either. The only thing that did seem to work is withdrawing attention (her least favorite thing in the world ).
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! [quote author=Rue7514 link=topic=8256.msg116866#msg116866 date=1413312544] [quote author=SarahS link=topic=8256.msg116815#msg116815 date=1413299956] Glad to know it stops! Rosie is 13 weeks now and bites a lot when we sit on the floor to play with her, she's much gentler then she was a few weeks ago but still can cuase a bit of pain when she gets overexcited. We had real trouble trying to teach her that biting hands isn't on, tried yelping - she would just bark, think it was a great game and lunge for another go, we tried saying "no" in a very loud, deep voice, same reaction. The only thing that worked was to just get up and turn your back on her when she bit too hard so it was game over. This seems to be working for us, just can't wait until she stops completely now! Sarah & Rosie [/quote] Ditto The yelping didn't really work for us either. The only thing that did seem to work is withdrawing attention (her least favorite thing in the world ). [/quote]
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! Good to know! Luna's at 10 weeks. We have battle wounds. To be perfectly honest, most of the wounds we have are from her NAILS! We really need to file them down ASAP. She definitely has a bite to her. We've been very strict with her about mouthing/biting. Lots of ignoring her when she does it during play, etc. That's the only time she does it, so I know it's super normal. Even still, it's not constantly because we tend to always keep a toy that she can chew on close by at all times. She redirects pretty well. We know she's getting tired when we go to pet her/pick her up after play time, and she start licking/giving kisses. That's the sign for, "I'm tired. I need a nap."
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! Thanks everyone. We do try the hand/toy exchange but will try to be more persistent with this. I feel like all we're doing at the moment is saying no! No - don't bite, eat that, pull at that, etc etc. Poor Ruby!!
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! Is there anyway you can pre empt the behaviour ? Lemmy tends to get a wild look in his eyes and that's when I'll toss a toy or give a chew to stop it before it starts, so no doesn't become needed there seems to always be a body language cue . May be worth trying till phase passes one thing I've noticed with labs they are easily distracted off task. Bless em.
Re: The biting phase has almost passed! We found that yelping on its own didn't work at all BUT yelping and at the same time turning our backs on him was a charm. We used to yelp and say in a hurt voice 'no, that's boring, I don't want to play if you do that!' and walk away - immediately - and ignore him for a couple of minutes whatever he did to try to keep playing. (Don't worry, I'm not quite insane enough to think he understood the words, but it helped us convey the right message!). In just two days of consistently doing this, the biting stopped (except when he was over-excited and lost the plot, or misjudged a lunge for a treat in my hand).
