Hello All, I have a 16 week old -- Cooper --- we were playing fetch yesterday and, for the first time, he was bringing the ball back to me. Not dropping it but at least bringing it close to me. Then, all of a sudden, he was coming back with the ball....dropped it....and lunged at my arm (with no ball being held by me) and bit and bit and bit my left arm.....Luckily I had a collar on him so was able to grab it and bring him to his crate and put him in there until I could collect myself. I was truly shocked at this, as you can imagine. He has been biting but nothing like this.....this was almost an attack. Have any of you experienced such a thing? He is on antibiotics.....could this be the reason? I really dont want to make excuses for him but want to find why this happened. Thank you.
Re: Biting at 16 weeks old Hi Yvonne , this is most likely puppy biting, they can and do bite hard at times , there are locked articles on this puppy board about how best to deal with this . You say that Cooper is on antibiotics , is he unwell ? If so, then yes , this could be the cause of a more harsh bite . Pups are rarely aggressive , but their play can be really rough at times to the point of upsetting us .
Re: Biting at 16 weeks old My pup is a bit younger than yours but she bites, especially when we have been playing for a while. She's getting better now firstly we were having to put her in the utility room for time out but now we can control it with a firm no and a sit (most of the time!). Could your pup be teething? I have read on this forum puppies behaviour can worsen including biting as they enter the teenage months!! Sorry I haven't actually given a solution but can sympathise with you, I sometimes still get upset if I get a particularly hard bite!
Re: Biting at 16 weeks old Thank you, ALL. I talked to my vet this morning and she said that he is at the age of a third grader and wants to have his own way and when playing he gets excited and starts to bite...also, the antibiotics are for kennel cough that he picked up at one of the classes! He will be on it for another ten days. The cough has gone, thank goodness. I just can't wait for his grown-up teeth come in!!! Again, thanks very much.
Re: Biting at 16 weeks old I think it's just excitement and play The game with the toy probably revved him up a bit and then his puppy brain exploded and he initiated an even more fun (to him!) game of biting the human. No malice in it - he just doesn't realise yet that it is ok to play bitey games with other dogs but not with humans. You did the right thing by putting him in the crate for a brief time. You can also avoid getting him too excited by introducing little 'moments of calm' during games. If you're playing a game with a toy, break it off regularly (before he gets really excited) to do something slow and static, like a few sits and downs, and calm stroking. Then start the game again (which is the reward for calming down). This will help him learn to develop an 'off switch'.
Re: Biting at 16 weeks old Thanks Rachael, you make me feel better. He has been calmer re biting for two days. He is burning his energy on destroying a pull-out couch's cushions! But he is a really good pup in all other ways. So will put up with the biting issue until he stops teething and will take your advice re play and cool down in between. Thanks.
