German Shepherd Puppy Biting - Desperate!

[shorty82]

Hi, I currently have a 13 week old German Shepherd Puppy who has developed a bad habit of biting over the last 2-3 weeks. The problem that we have is that it starts off as play biting which is normal but then when either myself or my partner try to correct it, our puppy starts to get agressive with the biting and snaps and starts barking or growling when we say no.

I've checked on different forums to see if I can get some advice and tried everything from

- saying no and replacing my arm or any other part of body he is biting with a chew toy

- say no and stop playing with him and leave him alone

- tried to say no and hold his snout closed but this just agravates him more

- tried to say no and gently push him away but he just gets worse because he thinks we are playing

- tried making a loud noise when he bites and did this by putting a little rock in a a container and shaking it which seemed to work at first but now it doesn't phase him

There was a time where he also started to try and hump my leg but he has stopped doing this. The main thing is that when you say no and you put your hand up to say stop he starts barking and snapping more.

To me this sounds like a dominating thing and it sometimes gets bad where we can't even walk in the backyard without him attacking our ankles and jumping up and biting our clothes and also drawing blood sometimes. We try to correct him and get him to calm down by saying no and trying to get him to settle but once he is in that mood he just doesn't want to listen.

We have started taking him to training and he is in week 2 of puppy school.

I was hoping someone could help but giving some advice we haven't heard before so that we can try and snap him out of it before he gets any bigger. He generally is a beautiful dog and does listen most of the time but sometimes when he gets too excited or in this mood he is too hard to control and I worry that he won't grow out of it.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nekhbet]

What has your puppy school trainer told you?

If you're in melb or geelong or surrounds shoot me an email. I think a one on one to teach you some basics might be the way to go.

[poodlefan]

To me this sounds like a dominating thing and it sometimes gets bad where we can't even walk in the backyard without him attacking our ankles and jumping up and biting our clothes and also drawing blood sometimes. We try to correct him and get him to calm down by saying no and trying to get him to settle but once he is in that mood he just doesn't want to listen.

He's 13 weeks old. He's unlikely to much of an idea as to what dominance is.

The jumping and biting is normal play behaviour, especially if he's not inside with you - he's going to be so excited every time he sees you. You've got yourself a highly intelligent breed, developed to work with and for us all day every day. The more time he spends in the company of the family (not outside) the better.

I strongly recommend:

* you buy a good crate, train him to use it and allow him inside, even if only in the crate. He won't learn to calm down around you unless you give him lots of time to be with you and teach him what's appropriate.

* you ask here for a recommendation for a good professional trainer to come out to your house and set you up to raise this pup. Mouthing issues aren't unusual but one on one advice sure beats the internet.

* you join either a breed specific or a general obedience training club and train this dog for the longer term.

[koalathebear]

I had a similar problem with my puppy when he was a lot younger. The little monster seemed to be constantly in "jeans attack" mode and was driving us bonkers.

I received a lot of helpful comments here. Lots of things that work for other people don't always work for one's own puppy, alas. Hope you can find something that helps!

Edited November 25, 2010 by koalathebear

[HugL]

Have you tried high pitch yelp like a litter mate in pain? This taught our GSD when to stop and he became very apologetic and quite pathetic.

The other options seem very negative and he doesn't appear to respond well to that.

Does he have chew toys? We give babies teething toys but a lot of people forget that puppies go thru it too.

Not sure if these will help - just ideas.

Good luck and if all else fails, seek professional help before it's too late.

[bianca.a]

Hiya,

Been through the horrible land shark stage with my GSD too. It is normal puppy behaviour unfortunately. Here is a link to a GSD forum that has lots of info about this exact same issue. Also as they are working dogs make sure to tire your pup out with both physical and mental stimulation. Good luck It will get better.

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/puppy-behavior/

Edited November 25, 2010 by bianca.a

[shorty82]

thanks everyone for your replies.

Koalathebear, that sounds exactly like our puppy, straight for the jeans or anything that hangs down he can reach lol, will definately check your link out and see if it works thanks

HugL, tried the yelp it worked 1 or 2 times and then he just ignored it and it was like it made him angrier so we stopped.... he is very stubborn!!!! Also he has tonnes of chew toys but prefers to find things in the backyard to chew on like wood and bricks that we didn't even know we had that he miraculously finds out of nowhere :D. I was told by a behaviourist that redirecting him to a chew toy is not the way to go as it is actually rewarding his biting - which i totally didn't know so we have stopped doing it but he has tonnes in the backyard to play with when he wants to and when we play with him.

thanks for the link bianca.a - we are kind of limited at the moment because our vet told us not to take him for walks until he gets his last 16 week shot which kind of threw us because we started taking him for brief walks around the block and it kind of calmed him down a bit so he will be 16 in a few weeks so hopefully that might help him get a bit tired out.

With being at work i don't get to spend heaps of time with him but i make time for him when i get home, the problem is because of the biting it cuts our time together short because we end up going inside as he doesn't calm down and gets worse with everything we try to do.

Poodlefan, we always let our dog inside to spend time with us and play with him outside.. he does sleep outside as he is a big dog and we wanted him to get used to his kennel before he got too hard to train to sleep outside.. he loves it outside more then he does inside as he hasn't learnt to settle down and finds outside in the open more exciting then inside.. but at the same time loves to spend time with us on the couch inside when he is "calm" mode. I know that puppy's biting is normal but when it gets to the point that there is agression in the biting like grabbing body parts and growling/snarling/biting when you try to correct him doesn't sound very "playful" especially when he goes to lunge at you and doesn't stop. We just want to curb it before he gets worse, that's all - he's already grown quite fast as you can imagine a 13 week pup would so we just want it under control before he gets too big and hurts someone... those teeth of his can already do damage and just worried as we have young family members we want to feel safe around him.

Nekhbet, we are taking him to all paws forward training and i actually posted the same topic on their forum site and the head behavourist told me to call her to have a chat about it. I am going to check out their leadership forums like suggested and also everything that everyone here has suggested and hopefully between the 2 forums we can fix our puppy's problem.

I want to thank everyone again for your help, you guys have been great

Will keep you all updated and let you know how we go

Fingers crossed ;)

[shorty82]

hey koalathebear, i just checked out your topic and it's like our dogs are twins LMAO He is identical to what our dog is doing and you tried what we tried so i will definately check out the tips you have.

Will let you know how i go, at least i feel a little relieved now as one of the behavourists made me feel bad for doing what i have tried saying it's "agressive" and i would never do anything to hurt our puppy but as you know you get to a point of desperation to try new things when people say it worked for their dog straight away but like you said, it doesn't work for all dogs.. every dog is different..

Hopefully what helped your dog might help mine...

Thanks for the info, really appreciate it :D

[Cosmolo]

You need to have a trainer come to your home and show you exactly what to do-having it explained is not the same and given the issue, the sooner it can be nipped in the bud, the better!

[koalathebear]

hey koalathebear, i just checked out your topic and it's like our dogs are twins LMAO He is identical to what our dog is doing and you tried what we tried so i will definately check out the tips you have.

Will let you know how i go, at least i feel a little relieved now as one of the behavourists made me feel bad for doing what i have tried saying it's "agressive" and i would never do anything to hurt our puppy but as you know you get to a point of desperation to try new things when people say it worked for their dog straight away but like you said, it doesn't work for all dogs.. every dog is different..

Hopefully what helped your dog might help mine...

Thanks for the info, really appreciate it

Heh heh. I hope it helps, too. Seriously, it's so frustrating when people are all: "Just leave the room," and we were like: "We can't leave with a puppy hanging onto our jeans!" and for some dogs, going: 'owww!" is a reward. You'll see that while the spray bottle worked for us, it doesn't work for other people because their dog thinks it's a game. It's finding out what works best for your dog. A spray bottle ended up being the best aversive for our dog. Sometimes he'd behave just if we waved the bottle around, but he's not scared of it because at training he'll drink from a spray/water bottle that we're holding when it's hot.

It took a while hanging out on DOL before I was able to get a suitable sense of perspective about problems. There's a broad spectrum of people, dogs, attitudes and how to handle various problems. There are people who will recommend you see a behaviourist (or worse, a behaviouralist) at the drop of a hat and so it's hard to get a sense of what is a serious problem and what is a relatively normal dog phase of development. There are some problems that shouldn't be ignored and they shouldn't be diagnosed over the Internet because they don't go away and they just get worse, some problems aren't really problems - they're fairly normal stages. If you aren't sure which category your 'problem' falls into, then you probably should seek someone more experienced to help you out.

For us, as with many people, the nipping and biting went away as suddenly as it came. I was very grateful for the people who let me know that I shouldn't be worrying overly and that it was pretty normal puppy behaviour. Elbie doesn't nip and bite anymore - he would never touch our clothing or our skin - even if I'm wearing a big floppy skirt etc. He's very gentle when taking treats. He doesn't have a nipping/biting inclination anymore. I get the impression that a lot of GSDs are a quite mouthy as pups and this can be normal, but you do have to keep an eye on it and make sure it's managed so that it doesn't become an entrenched behaviour.

We actually ended up seeing a trainer/behaviourist for Elbie for other stuff and I can vouch for how helpful it can be so if you know someone good and helpful in your area, it's actually great to have someone who knows your dog very well, who has known your dog since it was a pup. With our behaviourist, because she knows Elbie so well, I can call her up and chat to her over the phone and her advice is from a position of knowing Elbie since he was 5 months. Good luck! It's so frustrating when they're still small and cute but you can't cuddle them because they're a wriggling mass of sharp teeth ;)

Edited November 26, 2010 by koalathebear

[shorty82]

It has been great to hear from you koalathebear because you make us feel so much better in the respect that we are going through the same thing as you were and its so hard to find someone that can relate to you, especially one that isn't going to criticise and so forth so i really appreciate your help.

We are taking Jet to training and have been speaking to a number of behavourists and I guess the best thing we have learnt in the last few days is to avoid him getting agressive at the best possible time.. the moment we start to see any sign of nipping and biting we take action, whether it is to stop playing or to put him outside if he is inside and I think he is starting to calm down. A big thing that we found was that we stopped walking him on the vet's advice to wait til his vaccinations were complete but ever since he had gotten worse (in the last 2 weeks). After speaking to our behavourist at trianing she told us to try and start it back up again (just avoid him from touching the grass areas and sniffing any dog droppings, etc).... and ever since it has helped alot.. which i knew it would because he is so active..

The only thing that has arisen since taking him for walks is that he gets overly excited when he gets closer to home and won't calm down on the lead... i think i might take a new route on our walks to see if that helps....

[poodlefan]

Don't overdo the walking Shorty. - very short ones only for a growing pup.

[shorty82]

Don't overdo the walking Shorty. - very short ones only for a growing pup.

hey poodlefan we already did our research before we got jet and there is nothing to worry about as we only take him around the block which takes no more than 10 minutes and we feel that is enough for him until he gets bigger. It's more to get him used to the lead and it helps him with his training for loose leash walking and also to exert some of his energy.

The rest of his energy is spent playing and training in the backyard.

[corvus]

What do you mean by correcting the biting? I'm not sure if you mean you correct him and then he gets worse or you correct him when he gets worse.

Just a suggestion a little out of left field, but I wonder if he's just SO aroused and excited by being around you that he gets over the top and forgets to inhibit himself. All puppies are pretty impulsive, but some seem to get fired up so easily and they'll bounce around and try a zillion different things between you saying one thing and the next. I had a puppy a little like that, although not as bad as yours, and one of the first things I did was teach him a rock solid sit. It was extremely helpful, but I soon moved to a rock solid down and I like that one better, now. I think that a default down is a good thing to have for a dog that gets easily excited. Being in a down is just a little bit inherently calming, I think. And it gives you a moment to decide what to do next. Have you done any self-control exercises with him? Or massage? Some puppies have to learn that they needn't be excited ALL the time, but they need a little help to realise that's possible.

[aussielover]

Puppy biting is very frustrating!

But I think it is one of those things that they do generally grow out of if you are consistent in your approach.

My puppy is a labrador- a very "mouthy" breed in general. Her puppy biting was extremely frustrating and lasted about a month. At 4 months old she had totally stopped though thank goodness!

She did similar behaviours to your pup although not humping our legs. She would latch onto our trouser legs and not let go though lol.

For a very people oriented dog, a good approach that worked for us was to simply end the interaction when the dog engages in the undesirable behaviour.

We have used this approach for a number of problems that arose with our puppy such as

- puppy biting

- counter surfing

- barking for attention/food

- jumping up on furniture

It is really helpful to have a designated "time out/punishment" area such as the laundry, which is devoid of toys or potential entertainment. we would only leave the pup in there for a minute, and if she performed the behaviour again, it was straight back in. She got the message pretty quickly.

Now we put her outside or inside (whever we are not) if she does something naughty but when she was little, she would have too much fun in the yard (ripping up shrubs etc) and leaving her in the house unsupervised was NOT a good idea (im sure you can imagine why LOL).

[all that glitters]

Don't overdo the walking Shorty. - very short ones only for a growing pup.

hey poodlefan we already did our research before we got jet and there is nothing to worry about as we only take him around the block which takes no more than 10 minutes and we feel that is enough for him until he gets bigger. It's more to get him used to the lead and it helps him with his training for loose leash walking and also to exert some of his energy.

The rest of his energy is spent playing and training in the backyard.

You must have a smaller block than mine! My block takes 15+ minutes at a steady walk, and I didn't take my german shepherd puppy around the whole block til 5 or 6 months old, I literally kept the walks very VERY short, just down the road a bit and back