Update: Rory is 19 weeks and still biting. She just gave my wife a nasty bite on her arm and all she was doing was filling her water bowl. We have her in puppy class. We have seemed advice from trainers, her vet, other dog owners and nothing has worked. Very frustrating indeed......
That worries me Oakley will be 16 weeks Sunday and his biting still doesn't seem better. It's the moments he goes crazy and he doesn't always do this when he's exhausted. Today everything was fine we were walking nicely then out of no where he jumps up graves the back of my shirt and ripped it. Then right at that moment he stopped at our older dog and was barking at him and bothering him and hee wouldn't stop, he came back to me and kept trying to jump up and bite me. I had to try and get away from him. I left him out back alone with us watching through window for about 5 min. I am so worried this won't end. I knew when we got him he would bite and get I to stuff but not to this extent. I'm am so tired.
I've let.our 13/14 week old nibble my fingers and to be fair you can feel where the back molars are trying to push through the gums. Really it's just like your children when they were teething unfortunately puppies are more mobile!. Foind with ours if you let her "gum" your finger she's fine.
We were doing this as well but then our trainer told us not to allow him to do this, I feel so confused on what's right and wrong anymore, it definitely can be frustrating.
I think it varies by dog. I did this with Ziggy and I do feel it made a difference. I also hand feed him and spend a bit of time working on not mouthing on most feeds. His biting has all but stopped although he was never a total crocopup other than his first few weeks.
You can only do what you think is right, we always have toys on hand as well for her to chew on. She's very good with not snatching food out of your hand, we try the "leave" command most days now. Need to find a freezer friendly chew really!.
Yea we have many freezer chew toys that we rotate, he likes them but again only for awhile before he results to liking hands better. He is getting the "leave it" command ok but not when it's something he really wants, such as if he takes off with a shoe that he knows he's not suppose to have, he'll bring it back (most of the time) when we say bring it, but he wont always "leave it". It's a work in progress
Hello everyone! This is my first post on this forum! I was drawn to this post, because I was having the same problems as OP KirbyHawk75. I am a Mom to a 17 week old Chocolate female named Leela. She is not my first Lab or my first pup, but she is my first Lab pup, and I have to say, her mouthing/nipping was a rude awakening for me! I'd read some books, and watched a lot of Zak George YT videos, but I couldn't find any technique that could make a dent in my girl's mouthing, biting and overexcitement. Like many, my saying "ouch" just made things escalate. We were advised by our trainer @ Petsmart, as well as so many others that she needed to run/play off the extra energy, so we tossed toys for her while on a long lead. That mouthing made matters far worse.. she escalated from mouthing to jumping on us and repeatedly trying to nip us or rip our clothes. The trainer said, "just say 'off'". Didn't work and I was getting tired and fearful of being nipped at. The Petsmart trainer couldn't come to our house for a private lesson and I desperately wanted someone to come, observe and advise us. So, I found a trainer who just came for a consultation. She stayed nearly 2 hours and didn't charge a penny. Leela performed true to form.. mouthing, barking, her typical overexcitement menu... even bit the trainer when she tried to correct her. She took one look at her and told me, "she hasn't been exercised enough". She went on to explain, and this is the point of my post: "She needs to walk." Turns out that in this trainer's view... learning to walk on a leash is mental exercise and will drain her energy. Now I must say, the trainer was just here last Friday, and we've been practicing loose leash walking only since then. BUT, I have to say... that so far, so good. Today was proof that this works! Before last week, I couldn't play on the floor with my puppy, because she would mouth and nip in her overexcitement, chew at the outside of her crate, or our furniture. We'd pull her off and try to distract her with a proper chew toy and she would go back to the forbidden fruit like it was a magnet. Today (and as I write this I am in tears of joy), we played on the floor, she didn't chew her crate, she didn't chew the furniture... she actually played with her toys and we did some clicker training! I was able to redirect her and she was so much calmer!! KirbyHawk75, believe me, I had entertained the thought of returning our girl to the breeder. I felt such shame because I couldn't understand why we were having so much trouble with a Labrador, of all breeds?!?! All I wanted to do was have fun with my puppy and I just couldn't before, but today, I did!! I believe the walking has helped calm her mind, as well as help make us work together as a team. Believe me, our walks are all stops and starts, and "sits" and redirects... it's not all just plain walking from point A to point B, but I'm more calm and so is she. As I did some clicker work today with her during our playtime, I looked in her eyes and saw a look of trust staring back at me. And that is what I believe has happened. I certainly wasn't trusting her during our outside time, when I was never sure when she was going to charge and nip. (she RIPPED a hole in my shirt the morning the trainer came!!!) And because we are both calmer, it's also easier for me to see when she might need to go potty, rather than my just being reactive to the teeth coming my way. Also today during our playtime, she ran off (she is on a drag line so I can supervise) and found the garbage can with an envelope she thought was the COOLEST thing ever... and I just laughed. Of course, I had to get it out of her mouth, but... I could laugh at myself for leaving it out, and even thought for a second that it was funny, Just as I would have if I'd seen a video of it on YT. So I want to say... don't despair, but try walking and doing some obedience exercise. I can see that we needed to practice calm things. I hope it helps you as much as it's helped me so far. Best of luck! Leela's Mom
