Our puppy was a horrific biter. I had bruises and scratches all over my arms and legs. You can probably find my post on here begging for help! But as everyone reassured me (but I struggled to believe) with patience and consistency it stopped. Now he only bites when he gets a bit over excited, and that is still gentle. It gets alot easier!
Let me start by saying I know that biting can be really awful. Not only can it hurt badly but also be really disappointing to have a pup you have so much love and pride for to behave that way and make you feel negatively toward it, even for a moment. The important distinction I came to make with my pup Minka (now almost 16 weeks) is to understand when she bites, as well as how severely. For example, Minka used to just come up and bite any fleshy appendage dangling in plain sight, even if the victim was just sleeping on the couch. Thankfully she's gotten over this completely, but I can't really point to anything I did specifically to stop this. My guess is it was just a byproduct of dealing with biting in all other situations. There are about three other times she might get me. First is when I just go to pet her when she's already excited, usually after playing a lot of tug with a toy. Second is when she's just starting out to get excited over anything, like fetch if she sees a ball in my hand, as I'm walking outside, looking at her, and just acting playfully in general. Third is when we're playing pretty hands-on with a lot of petting as well, and I just don't end it early enough because I'm just enjoying it too much, even though I see she's getting carried away. For the first instance, for a while after our play, she'll still be snapping a bit at any hand that comes near her face that isn't moving at a glacial pace. At these times I try to signal to her that it's time to calm down. I move my hand very slowly and tell her "leave it," which she already knows from games with food and just being outside generally. If she totally ignores me and never opens her mouth as I pet her neck and back, I give a treat. If she does this right after a command I might click as well. Sometimes I even will wave my hand in front of and around her face after saying "leave it." I know she naturally wants to bite at it, but if she controls herself, she gets a click and a treat. For the second, the issue is mainly with nipping around the legs when they're moving. Long pants definitely help mitigate the damage. If she latches on, I again say "leave it" and proceed slowly when she does. I make sure not to take another step and maintain eye contact until she behaves. That way she learns this behavior is only delaying the awesome game of fetch about to happen. For the third, obviously I should just take a break sooner. But even then I say may "leave it" and then have another chew toy handy to jiggle and toss before I say "get it." I also say "eh eh eh" when she puts her mouth around my fingers. This then also helps with the severity of the biting. She now tends to just mouth at me in situations where her bite impulse is too strong and there's no toy there, either by luck or design. I always finish by rewarding her with a toy she can sink her teeth into and praise her for choosing that instead, especially if I don't have to animate it first. I know some people train specifically to have a soft/carry bite for things like plush toys as opposed to more durable toys, which helps with training for properly retrieving waterfowl, etc. I haven't tried this yet. The main issues I have are still with some toys that she likes and is supposed to bite, just not so close to where I am holding it, and sometimes gets my hand as collateral damage. Since she has no reason to do a soft bite here, this can really hurt and break skin. I don't mind it too much, but it's something I'm trying to address. I have a tennis ball attached to a short rope on a loop where this becomes an issue. I'm trying to reward her for biting the ball end instead of the end near my hand, and hopefully this will translate with other things I may be holding. Unfortunately the ball is still a little big for her to get comfortably in her tiny mouth and still be able to tug and pull with as much success as if she took hold of the rope part, but I'm trying to use this as an advantage to train her to bite even the less desirable part by treating her to make it more desirable than if she bit the rope part. This toy has been very effective at training heel but is still hard on my hands. I know it's not on purpose, and if she does bite "on purpose," at least it's more of a mouthing and a signal to me that maybe I should just get something else to satisfy the urge to bite she has in that moment. I know that was long but maybe it can give others some ideas.
Hi @Simon - the first thing I did was always have a toy available to offer him. They want to chew and bite and need something appropriate to do that on. When it got overwhelming I would step over the baby gate for 10 seconds. He gradually learnt biting me was no fun. If he absolutely couldn't stop and seemed frenzied I put him in his crate and he would be asleep by the time I'd boiled the kettle - biting was way worse when he was over tired.
Also, something never mentioned about puppy biting is the exposure it has to it’s human family. Sometimes but not always the labs who have 24 hour exposure to reasonably informed dog owners seem to have better results with shorter stints of an unwanted behaviour. If your animal is home by itself for much of the day or constantly shifted to various sitters while it’s humans are working or in school the progress seems to be slowed. The animal who is sooo excited to finally see its owner who has just returned home from work tired and just wants to eat supper and relax can be a bit more problematic which is compounded by the mood your in when they bite at you.
