Hi all, I have been reading a lot of posts on this forum since we got our puppy Bonnie and found the discussions and advice really helpful. Bonnie is now 14 weeks old and whilst her biting is better than it was, she seems to be directing her biting at me rather than my partner or my parents, who help to care for her during the day. She will still attempt to mouth my parents and partner but this does not tend to be hard, whereas with me her bite is harder and she nips a lot more. Sometimes this can be without any real warning and other times I can tell that she is going to try to bite me. Often she will attempt to lunge at me, grab my hand and pull it. I have tried holding her nose and saying no biting but this tends to encourage her. I have tried standing completely still but she then continues to bite any part of my body she can ie my feet, ankles or arms behind my back. I have also tried moving from her and effectively giving her time out, which after a few periods of time out, she will eventually stop. When she had attempted to bite me or has bitten me, I have on occasion flinched and moved from her. I don't know if that could have given her the impression that she can somehow bully me with it. I have spent a long time trying to figure it out and I am just surmising. I wondered if anyone had any suggestions as to how I could improve the situation with her. It's quite upsetting being the one person out of the family that receives the bites. Is it something that will get better over time if I stick with it and keep trying to enforce the boundaries? Is it normal for a puppy to react like that with one person in comparison to others? Any suggestions at all will be gratefully received. Thanks
Yep, all totally normal. Stick with it, be consistent, and you will get past this stage. Definitely don't do the muzzle holding - as you found out, this just makes it worse. As you have been doing, remove yourself from her area, avoid making a fuss, excitement-inducing noises etc. Just step away and give her no attention. Some folk have success with swaps - have a toy always handy to pop in her mouth. Encourage chewing on safe things - an old wetted and frozen teatowel, maybe a cold carrot, a small chew (you might need to hold this). Yep, completely normal. "This too shall pass" is our mantra.
You must be his favorite playmate Mine does the same thing. He comes after me more than anyone else. Brimley is training to be a service dog for my husband. The trainer says my pup doesn't respect me. I'm more his buddy than his mom/authority figure apparently.
Hi as @drjs@5 already said it is all perfectly normal. Keep consistent with your reaction - apart from holding her muzzle - just no reaction and remove yourself or pop her in her crate for a few seconds to calm down. It does sound to me that you are a favourite playmate. There is an article on the main site about bite inhibition that I found really helpful. http://www.thelabradorsite.com/teaching-bite-inhibition-to-your-labrador-puppy/ this is the link. It will pass once adult teeth come through, and you do have all our sympathies as most of us still carry the scars from this stage ourselves, keep going and be consistent. Good luck
It sounds more like you need a new trainer! Dogs and especially puppies do not have any concept of 'respect' which is a human attribute or any idea of what an 'authority' figure is. Puppies tend to bite the person/people they interact with most which probably isn't so surprising. The more time you spend with a pup the more chance of having teeth clamp on to you .
Hi @Bonza, you have my sympathy, favourite playmate here to , when my puppy was small she was just the same. As others have said consistency is the key. The link above is good, but I would add that I found the "yelping" didn't work. I think I made it worse by mis-timing and making a game. But that is just my experience, I've only had the one Lab. Bonnie is a very pretty name, what colour is she?
Thanks Selina27 and everyone for your advice. I really appreciate it and its reassuring to be remined that it will pass. She's a lovely yellow pup and to be fair doing extremely well in other areas of her training. I think sometimes when she gets into her biting mode, I forget how well she's doing generally and that this is just one little aspect. I should have said that I tried the yelping too but similarly found that it tends to excite her more and make the situation more play like. She seems to respond better to the deep voice of my partner and my dad. I wonder if they come across as more assertive. Either way, I won't be giving up anytime soon!
It's hard when they're so relentless, but clinging on to what's going well is the key to getting through whatever is going on. I'm having an issue or two with my 14 month old at present, this forum is so good at reminding each other to remember little steps lead to greater progress.
Strongs! Its a very challenging behaviour, along with jumping up. We also tried the yelp once or twice, but unless you can get the pitch of the sound perfect, your pup will most likely interpret it as a play sound, or be afraid of it. With our puppies we try not to play unless we have a toy in our hands, and if they touch skin instead of the toy they get a firm "uh uh", and if they do it again, even once, and even if it doesn't hurt, we move away and stop the play. Consistency is key.
