Hi everyone, I was looking for some advice, this topic has probably been discussed before but I still don't know my way round the site so I haven't read much on it. Any tips would be welcomed. I have a beautiful 9 week old golden retriever X Labrador and a crazy 22 month old son (don't tell me I'm mad for getting the pup I defo already feel that this week!) The problem is the puppy biting. She drew blood from my hand this morning- it wasnt a hard bite but it scraped my skin. I've read so much conflicting advice on this. I've tried getting her used to biting ME softly (would never let my son do this) but when ever she gets excited she bites clothes and ends up getting skin. The biggest problem I have is getting her to release the clothes. I've tried distracting her with treats, I've tried ignoring her, I've tried taking her out to the garden to get her to burn off her energy there and it seems to be getting worse. I know I'm only a week in so this is to be expected but I'm wondering what people have found the best practice when children are around. I keep telling my son to stand up around her and they are supervised together so if they are too excited they get separated but when she bites on his clothes he gets scared. I don't want my son to see the puppy as scary I want there interactions to be lovely. Is this something that will work itself out soon or is there something Im not doing right? *She's pen trained (child's 6 sided pen that she can't get out of ((she hated the crate)) *We have stair gates dividing the living room and kitchen and stairs. *She is only aloud downstairs *If she does go for my son with the nipping I pick him up immediately and tell the pup to 'leave him'
Hi @Kapella You have a lot of work to do. But good thing, you already realise that. 1. Picking up the puppy is not going to teach the puppy anything. Instead use a treat or tug toy to redirect the puppy away from your child.show her what you want.picking up the puppy is too abstract/ill-defined for a puppy to work out how she should behave. 2. The puppy will not understand the word leave. You have to teach it. And I certainly would not teach that cue using the clothes you are currently wearing. Too much chance of a mistake, some squealing which could inadvertentky reinforce the behaviour you don't want. 3. Please read the thread on crating and re-teach your pupyy to love her crate. Its not an involved process but it will take 2 or 3 days. 4. Never leave the puppy and the child unsupervised. If you must leave the room, put the puppy in the crate. Make sure your child cannot put his hand nor fingers through the slots in the crate. I suggest you use a blanket to cover the crate. 5. When the puppy attempts to nibble or bite you always redirect her mouth onto a tug toy, 6. If you cannot redirect her to the tug toy, then put the pup in the play pen for some time out. When she calms down she can come out again until the next bout of over-zealous play. 7. Be consistent, and fair. Show her what you want and reward her for doing so. 8. Try to persuade your son to be calm around the puppy. No yelling, waving arms wildly, running around the house or garden when the dog is out of the crate or play pen. I think step 8 will be the hardest. 9. Good luck.
I don't want to sound too negative, but you are probably going to be in this bitting mode for another month or so. Like suggested, use tug toys, chew toys, plastic bottles if you have them on hand. Also dont throw cardboard boxes away. They will distract. What also helped me, was using what he had learned in training. Proofed cues. "Wait" was my go to word, it stopped him just enough to pick some kibble and use "sit", "paw", "other one" and "down" (always in the same order, he stil does all of them on his own just by my extended arm without a cue). When he was down I just grabbed the first thing to distract further.
It's never recommended to take on a puppy and a toddler, as almost always people will struggle with issues like these and how to combine the two. I agree with Michael - return to the crate. Giving up just because she 'hated the crate' is short term gain for long-term (very long-term) pain. Unless you want your house destroyed in adolescent chewing spates, you need to use a crate. A pen is really only going to contain her during baby puppyhood and you will have no way to separate her easily after that. Especially if you have young kids and you need to ensure the dog is safely out the way at peak kid-caring time (meal times etc), a crate is essential. There are many resources on this forum for crate training. Here's an article I wrote: https://thehappypuppysite.com/crate-training-a-puppy/ You need to ensure the pup goes in it frequently with you sitting right outside the door, before you being moving away at all. As for the biting, you need to ensure there are loads of suitable and interesting toys lying around for her to pick up and play with and bring to you for a game. If she comes to you empty-mouthed, then your first act should be to reach for a toy and preoccupy the mouth. Get a toy in there, and it can't be biting you.... Don't wear flowing clothes which are tempting for pups and will damage easily. Denim is great. If a pup bites clothes, to get them to let go you will often need to GENTLY insert your fingers into the sides of their mouth to physically release their grip and unhook their clothes. Their needle teeth will catch on everything. And get a 2.5m puppy house-line - you can get them from Clix. Constantly chasing pups to catch them can either lead them to think it's a great game, or can lead them to fear your hands around them - get a house-line and control the pup by taking the end of it and gently leading the pup elsewhere, encouraging with a toy.
