Biting

[Caitlin888]

I have a poodle cross who is starting to bite our hands a bit more when we are patting him or playing with him. He is 5 months old, is this just teething and will he grow out of it? He has just recently lost majority of his teeth and his new teeth are all coming through so I just assumed it was teething but I am not sure.

[The Spotted Devil]

Puppies, for the most part, absolutely grow out of mouthing but the best thing you can do is consistently STOP interacting the second pup bites. Timing, timing,timing. If pup then grabs onto your clothes just calmly remove them from the situation - into a pen is perfect. No yelling, no pretending to be the mother, no scruffing, no slapping. Just calmly disengage and let the pup calm down. You may start to recognise certain triggers - when you first get home, time of day, hungry, tired etc - and you can manage those to an extent. It also might be the time to do some training using food or a tug toy.

[Dogsfevr]

Also keep In mind many people encourage the action but dont like the result.

so it's important as mentioned above is there a worse time or does it happen more when you encourage the dog to be mouthy .

If patting no your pup shouldn't be mouthy but if your pulling your hand back and forth to avoid the mouth then it's becoming a game ,a puppy that is calmly being patted rarely will mouth unless it's really had enough .

Is the pup mouthy when you brush it ?

Is pup good on a lead ?

[persephone]

LOL ... teething is when  they sit/lie down and gnaw on things for longer times , they do NOT grab peoples' hands  ;) 

he sounds as if he is showing some 'teenage' stuff 

What training does he get each day , and what sort of games ? How do you speak with puppy ?Do you use a higher pitched , 'baby' voice ..or just normal conversation tone ? 

 

[Scrappi&Monty]

Yes, that needs to be sorted out. (Sorry I'm no help with that..) 

I recently stayed at my cousins with their 6mth old lab puppy who was TOTALLY over threshold with excitement because I was there and was being so naughty trying to jump up, bite hands, chew on my jacket toggle etc. 

I thought "right, this dog needs some excercise to tire him out and tire his brain out", took him out for fetch (which he will be great at once taught) and he would run back, and jump up and nip me on the bum. 

If it's that sort of cheeky hyper thing I'd say; more training, more mind occupying games, more excercise (fetch or walks) to have a tired happy puppy. 

 

I forgot how much hard work puppies were. I think my next dog will be an oldie haha.