My pup, Argo, will be 10 weeks on Wednesday. We are experiencing nipping when playing. When did this behavior seem to slow down for you all? Also he does not seem to know his name quite yet. Any good ideas to work on this? We had a yellow lab (Odin) that we had to put down in August and this is such a big adjustment. Life now is hectic with 2 children and we want to do our best to train Argo to be as good as a dog as Odin. It has been frustrating and we know persistence is important.
Welcome to you and Argo. It stops properly at around 5 months old Here is lots of excellent advice for dealing with your wee crocapup! http://www.thelabradorsite.com/labrador-puppies-biting/ Just use his name a lot and he'll get used to it. Twiglet didn't know hers at first and it took ages as we kept calling 'puppy puppy puppy' instead of her name!
Thanks for the quick response. We are doing a lot of the ideas in the article. I guess I just feel guilty because Argo has been spending a lot of time in the kitchen (with baby gates) when we can't focus on him completely. (He can see us from there). We have a 6 year old and a 16 month old and they love him already but sometimes his energy is a bit too much and scary for my 16 month old. I don't think he is trying to hurt her. He just gets excited and doesn't know her cues. Argo is doing great with the crate at night and during the day while we are at work. We go home at lunch to feed him and let him out. So far, so good with no accidents in the crate.
Great advice from Boogie already on the biting. You need to monitor the puppy with your children very closely particularly the 16 month old. At 10 weeks old there is no way he understands "cues" from a toddler, he is a baby himself who will respond with excitement/jumping/biting to the squeals/cries etc. of a child
Hi Argo , I just wanted to give you a bit of reassurance in the nipping department. I'm about 8 weeks ahead of you and the memory of the pain is still very real but my pup hasn't nipped for about 4 weeks now. Follow the advice from boogie and other posts and he'll soon learn. The trick that worked best for me was to just completely disengage the moment she bit. It really didn't take long for her to cotton on that my arms were not in fact another chew toy It sounds like you have your hands full with work, kids and a puppy - you must be exhausted but what an exciting time. Welcome to the forum, I hope you find it as useful as I have. Lou (and Tatti)
Hi Argo, Follow the advise people here give you. Trust me it's always great advise and it works. I know how you must feel but keep thinking "it's just a phase and this puppy will become the greatest dog ever one day". About the name what I did was: I kept saying Eric, Eric and when he looked at me I would give him a tasty treat and praise. Did this for a few days and he got it.
