Had my new puppy for almost a week. She is a 7 1/2 week old black lab named Marley! She is great when she isn't biting lol. Thats what brought me to this forum....information!
Welcome to my world. Also with young pup lab. After 3 weeks it's gotten better but is a problem for sure when he gets excited and he's close. Watch for the bite to the face area. Not nice. A recommendation from a breeder in Penn is to gently put your finger into his mouth to cause a gag reflex. You'll need to get it to the back of his throat and press down on the tongue. You'll do it more than once. Know this biting is very typical behavior.
Hello from my yellow girl Labrador Molly and me living near Oxford in the UK I am afraid that the biting comes with the territory when you have a Lab puppy. Quite a shock because Labradors have a reputation for a good temperament. Molly was not my first puppy, but she was the most determined nipper and my hands were covered in a network of scabs at different stages of healing. Nothing stopped her, and when some creature insists on biting you you try everything. Sometimes, you can distract them with a toy, but they can be pretty determined. Sounds silly but they are learning how to regulate their powerful jaws when they are munching on you. It stops at about eighteen weeks when their adult teeth come in. Molly is two now and I would trust her mouth anywhere. On occasion I have HAD to open her jaws and put my hand in her mouth. I always come out unscathed. I am surprised that any reputable breeder would advocate deliberately inducing a gag reflex in a young puppy. It seems cruel to me and I only use positive training methods.
Totally agree with Tina and would never suggest inducing a gag reflex in any animal. How would you feel if it was done to you? There's lots of help and advice on the forum for biting with young puppies, non of which requires the use of force or hands/fingers being forced in mouths
Sorry I can't add links as it's a faff from my phone but if you look under the Puppies bit under the Forum there's a whole thread 'will things ever get better" which may help
Hi and welcome from Fred and me. Fred is a black Lab 20 mths old. I would never put my finger in any dogs mouth to deliberately induce the gag reflex. There is just no need to do it. Had Labs all my life and I have never been told to do that.
Hello irod87, and a very, very warm welcome to the forum. If you've had your puppy for a week, that means you brought her home at 6.5 weeks. This is early, it's ideal that puppies stay with their littermates and mother until they are at least 8 weeks old. This helps them learn not to bite too hard. But all puppies nip until they learn bite inhibition. It's actually important not to rush the process of teaching your puppy to be gentle with its mouth - and in your case, with a puppy that left its littermates early, even more important. Never, ever, punish a puppy during this process. Here is the article you need: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/teach...abrador-puppy/
Have small puppy toys in every pocket. When you come into the room put the toy in the pup's mouth (keep hold of it too) the pup can then be close to you with teeth busy, but not busy biting your skin! - this will help. Eventually the pup will learn to pick up a toy when she greets you (this takes about 4 weeks - so don't give up!)
I agree, awful for the pup - and every chance of a vomitty hand!! Here is lots of excellent advice - http://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-puppies-biting/
Hi there, Welcome to the Forum,I'm really glad you have found us and can get some information on much kinder,positive ways to get through this challenging stage . Best Wishes Angela
[Edited by JulieT to remove video link - see post below] In the 3.5 weeks the pup been here we've all noticed a marked decrease in the playful biting activity. And it's not really biting, more like nipping. The recommendations of the labradorsite to curtail biting by not rewarding the pup doesn't make any sense --inhibit biting by not rewarding the behavior, i.e basically don't interact with the pup. At 10 weeks every time we held him (except in the evening when he turns his switch off) the playful activity involved biting. I'm suppose to walk away, not offer him a chew toy, in order to not reinforce that behavior? He's a puppy, that's what they do. You live with it knowing it does get better. Like with a human baby nothing stays the same for long. New challenges await.
She's right about offering a toy and wrong about the gag reflex action. We should not be making a pup uncomfortable in any way. Bite inhibition is what we need, not the idea that their owners will make them gag. Here is an article explaining bite inhibition - http://www.thelabradorsite.com/teach...labrador-puppy "Some people, including some experienced dog breeders, will recommend that you simply stop your puppy from biting by firmly correcting him each time he does so. Some will even advise physical punishment. “It works” they will tell you. And it does.So this might seem like a sensible course of action. But there is a problem here.Suddenly stopping puppies from biting may give you a fast result, at the expense of some more important aims.One problem with correcting a puppy for biting is that the puppy quickly learns to be selective about who he bites. This is very important in families with children where puppies will often bite children ferociously, long after they have learned that biting grown ups has an undesirable and even painful consequence.This may not bother you if you don’t have kids, but many experts also agree that suddenly stopping a puppy from biting may cause problems down the line by interfering with the process of acquired bite inhibition.Being completely prevented from even gentle biting, may mean that the puppy does not learn just how much force is safe to use on people."
Totally agree with you Mags. AlphaDog the play biting would be diminishing in 3.5 weeks using totally positive training methods and without inflicting pain/distress etc. to a young puppy who is doing what comes naturally.
In the interests of fairness I watched the video. Despite having a hand repeatedly put down its throat the puppy still came back for more. I do not see this as an effective method for training a puppy. I guess, if you kept it up long enough you would reach the point where the dog was going to mature out of it anyway.
With a pup or young dog you should be aiming to have them comfortable with having their mouth gently examined (eg so future vet/dental checks are possible and so you can even do teeth cleaning). The 'gag' method is highly likely to result in a pup becoming scared of having your hands near its head - the opposite to what you want to aim for in your training. I'd strongly recommend against this method. Yes, the method of withdrawing attention does work It even worked for me on a re-homed 9 month old who would firmly grab any human body part he could, when he got a bit excited. Using the 'walk away' method (or briefly shutting him or oneself in another room) got rid of this in under 2 weeks, which is pretty good for a behaviour that had been heavily reinforced for months ('grab hands/arms' was the game played when the owner came home from work).
I have removed the video link on this thread while I consult with the other moderators whether it is something that should appear on the forum. It is potentially in breach of the rule 1c in that it links out to advice that is already available on the Labrador site (and the context is that the alternative advice is conflicting and many may consider inappropriate).
She was at least 7 weeks old when we picked her. She has been doing great. We are doing just fine with the 'nipping' she is going in to the vet tomorrow for her first set of shots. We are feeding her puppychow which is what she was started on. She has been doing really good with potty training. She doesn't love sleeping in her crate but shes adjusting.
