12 Week Golden Puppy Biting/playing

[emaas]

We've had our retriever for 4 weeks now and is 80% of the time a wonderfully behaved dog. We're taking him to puppy school. Over the past week he has developed his "witching hour" when he runs around the house/garden doing the "Puppy 500" and his eyes roll back and he growls and bites, which includes our legs! We've said "no" loudly and replaced our legs with toys in his mouth, but he is now growling whilst chasing us. We know we are supposed to stand still and ignore him and we do when we can but sometimes it hurts too much to wait for him to lose interest! He has recently been let out in the garden without a leash to pee so I am suspecting maybe we have given him too much freedom too soon ??? Any help much appreciated.

[Nekhbet]

yup all puppies, even adult dogs, get the crazies just leave him out there, ignore him completely and go inside then go back out and play when he settles down. He's just playing and the growling and nipping is his way of going 'come on what are you waiting for!!"

Teach him to play gently as well. Dont play tug of war because you teach him to nip and pull, plus puppy teeth can be ripped out or damaged. Never chase the pup, throw things for him to retrieve - rattly balls, kongs, even food out in the lawn for him to search for. If he starts nipping you turn around and go in the house. Dont say no just walk off. Conversely you can try a spray bottle of water, he can loon around but running up and biting gets a spritz in the face.

I dont see how letting him roam around the garden without a leash is too much freedom. He needs to be able to explore and run about, give him more time out there, even some alone time with a big meaty bone or toys, make sure there is fresh water and shelter available. Teach him some independance.

[Dogsfevr]

I dont get the to much freedom with pee time??Isnt the dog allowed to play in the back yard on his own ??Is he always on leash when out there??

A dog of his age should be happily playing outside unattended unless there is some good reason why,if the dog isnt allowed to do so you will have a man made monster .

My dogs have there set time zoomies each day & we just leave them alone,when all stops they venture back inside.

You have a gundog & a breed that thrives on companianship & retrieving a bored one is a naughty one & if it isnt getting adequate natural playtime & develpment activities on its own in its own world the humans will become its play too whether it be unacceptable play or good play

[emaas]

Thanks for your replies. I was worried his biting was getting to be a dominance thing. He was doing wonderfully with his sit, stay, drop, give and come but now when I ask him to follow me he just lays on the floor with his chin on the ground and looks at me - I think he's starting to rebel a bit?

He will continue to have some play on his own outside then, but his growling and biting seems to be uncontrollable. He's responding a bit to "time out" in the laundry.

[7464]

My Golden went through a toe biting period. Those puppy teeth sure do hurt!

I found the best thing to do was just leave him, not put him somewhere because by the time he gets to the laundry for time out he's forgotten what he did. Just walk away every time he bites and he'll get the idea that biting means no more play. If he was too rough with his litter mates they would yelp and stop playing with him. He'll figure it out.

[Nekhbet]

dont look too much into rebelling and dominance its too young to actually have anything to worry about. Maybe he doesnt understand the come command properly yet. Dont push too much obedience down the pups throat, just have fun. Let the pup play, sounds like its having too much regimentation and not enough kiddy fun time. Its desperate to play hence it has super spaz time!

[Dogsfevr]

Why do you insist he follow you??Continue to have some play time on his own outside??why isnt he allowed just to free roam the backyard??

I agree it sounds like the dog isnt aloud to be a dog nor a puppy & your expecting all awful considering it sounds like he isnt allowed to be a dog & play etc.

Do you have asecurely fenced backyard??

[mita]

A single, loud, high-pitched squeal whenever a youngster bites or nips, usually turns it off doing that to humans.

[emaas]

We have a Buckeye tree in the back yard and he's been eating the seeds. We've just found out about it (we mvoed in recently) and apparently they can be poisonous, causing tummy upsets (not seen) and hyper-excitability (seen a lot of that!), so we're keeping him on a lead in the back yard and he's really really mellow with bouts of normal puppy exuberance since, which explains why he was going a bit insane. He had his 12 week jabs the other day and the vet said to keep him in the garden for another 4 weeks, but at puppy school last night the trainer said it's really important for him to get out and about and socialise, as that is more important, so I took him for a little walk this morning and he seems to have burned off some of his energy.

[Nekhbet]

If the buckeye isnt that big either trim it right back and fence it off or remove it if you can. Its the sprouts, fruit, seeds etc thats toxic you might as well just get rid of it.