milosmum Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Does anyone have any idea roughly when puppy biting stops? Milo is a 15wk black lab puppy and her she has been biting for a few weeks now and I was told that puppy school helps but so far if anything its getting worse! She is now almost doing jaw locks around my wrist! One puppy school (im at 2) told me to do the alpha roll and the other school told me to do the ignore and I have tried both and nothing works! If I do the ignoring it means Milo will not get patted at all and I think that makes her crazier! Every play time now is just her biting me! I have tried to replace my hand with toys but she is not interested. The only time I get to pat her without being bitten is when she is sleeping! Sometimes if she out the back playing I will call her and she will sprint at me and dive through the air at me with her mouth open ready to attack! She is not baring her teeth in an angry way i really think its her version of playing but its not mine!!! Does anyone have any 'happy ending' stories, was your pup a mad biter and then miraculously stopped one day? I have Milos 3rd vac in a couple of weeks so will ask the vet for some advice then but hoping to hear some feed back before then. Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shellbyville Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 I have lab pups at the moment, and they do have a tendency to like to gnaw on my arm. I have found that when I am around them I have treats in my pocket and do the come, sit and give them a treat. I have to do this pretty much all the time and if they go to mouth me I just do a loud Uh, Uh!!! sound like you would do if a child was going to grab something hot!!! Don't give up, just keep up the basic obedience and use treats to reward good behaviour and ignore bad behaviour and use a loud noise when they go to bite. If you persist they will get better! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogs4Fun Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 Does anyone have any 'happy ending' stories, was your pup a mad biter and then miraculously stopped one day? I have Milos 3rd vac in a couple of weeks so will ask the vet for some advice then but hoping to hear some feed back before then. Thank you! This behavious will NOT miraculously stop. Every time she bites you and you keep interacting with her, it is cementing in the fact that this is how you want her to interact with you. Lots of ways of dealing with this, and I sure you will get plenty of opinions on this one. I have had success with immediately redirecting the behaviour eg one bite and I would "yelp" like a puppy, move away (ie take away the contact she wants), then offer a toy she could bite. ie telling her that biting you is not OK, but biting this toy is OK. You can then play with her with the toy, but one touch of teeth on your hands, and the game is over, toy is away and she is in "time out" on her bed (or wherever). With this method, my puppy soon learnt that mouthy play was not OK. Its quite funny to watch now, if he gets over the top when playing and wants to bite something, he will break off the play to beat up a toy. I'm not a fan of alpha rolls. It is a very dominant thing to do to a dog, and can be dangerous. A dog that is already happy to bite you may end up biting your face in this position. Physically, do you really think you are strong enought do this to your dog anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 I agree with Shellbyville...i have a GSD puppy and he was very mouthy, so i used the treat method always getting him to sit when he would greet me and i would treat. If he got impatient and went to mouth he would get a loud uh uh and i would walk away and come back a few minutes later and i would have him sit, drop and then would treat. After strictly following that he was vastly improved within a week and now he rarely mouths at all, and if he does he gives me an "oops shouldnt have done that look" and quickly sits and drops and tries to give paw (shake) to make up. I initally tried the puppy yelp technique that dogs4fun suggested to you but it only worked the first half dozen times for me and then puppy just ignored the yelp and kept mouthing. I think the trick to this one is in perfecting the puppy yelp and i just could not master it although i would love to know what the neighbours thought was going on as i am sure you could hear me two blocks away. Good luck and just keep trying because it will not stop without a lot of effort on your behalf.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoilt lab lives here Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 I have a 12 month old lab and he used to eat me aswell. When he did it i would say "uh-uh" in a very firm voice and remove myself from the situation. As he got older the gnawing on me started to decrease only because i would remove myself and cease all play as soon as i said uh uh. You need to be consistent every time she does the biting you, say a firm (without yelling at her) uh uh or no give her a toy and leave. When she has settled down go back and play more. As for the launch and attack. Ramses still runs and leaps about 2 metres out, he has bowled me over on a few occasions. I am not a small girl and for him to bowl me over at 6 months over was a shock If he did that i would grab his jowls and growl at him, because he would do it so often with his mouth open in an excited way. No aggresion what so ever he was just so happy to see me. He does jump on me occasionally once again i grab his jowls growl and leave. I go back out after 5 or 10 mins, enough for him to settle down so far it is working but these things take time pactience and most of all CONSISTANCY. Without enforcing the last point your going to have a very confused dog. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badboyz Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 I have always had success using their mothers as an example when teaching puppies not to bite. If the puppy annoys its mother she will stand very still and give a low menacing growl. Most puppies will back off quick smart and all goes on as normal. If not the next step would be for the mother to grab puppy by the scruff and growl again then move away and ignore the puppy. So you do the same. I find "uh uh" to be a bit soft and high pitched whereas a low growl is much more menacing. I also use the stand still and ignore method when my young dogs are jumping up for attention. I will fold my arms and look away - if necessary moving my body away also. When they back off (mine will usually sit as they are taught to sit for a treat/meals) then they get the reward of my attention. Hope this helps - I know it is a very annoying habit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 dont just shove something else into the pups mouth - it can get the idea that biting you gets a reward. When the little bugger goes for you, grab it by the scruff and growl at it loudly. Give him a right growl at then walk off. He will realise that biting only means he gets punished and ignored. Dont be afraid to be loud, he wont freak out and hate you. Pups expect to be taught boundries and if you dont he will continue. Never expect a dog to grow out of anything - expect it to only escalate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k9phoenix Posted February 14, 2007 Share Posted February 14, 2007 exactly what nekhbet said - dont expect the biting to stop until you teach your dog that that kind of behaviour is not ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
milosmum Posted February 15, 2007 Author Share Posted February 15, 2007 Thanks everyone, she is my first pup so i wasnt sure whether it was normal and she was just being a pup or whether it was behavior that I needed to spend time on training her to stop. She is a quick learner, is sitting on request and fetching balls for me already so Im sure she will learn to stop biting quickley if I am stricter with her. I will start being a bit firmer I know I am a softy and trying not to be! She does not bite my OH nearly as much as me and I think its because he has alot gruffer firmer and louder voice when she does it to him. She knows he is the tough one and I am the pushover... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted February 15, 2007 Share Posted February 15, 2007 you've hit it right on the head milosmum. Dogs get away with what you let them. Puppies are notorious for bad behaviour because people think 'awwww how cute' then it grows up and instead of a little 10kg pup doing it you have a 30kg dog with a full set of adult dentition pushing you around. A dogs brain works by trying to get the most for the DOG. The dog will listen and respect you because you show it that X behaviours get it rewards and no punishment, Y behaviours gets punishment and no reward. Think like a dog, not like a person. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madison Posted February 16, 2007 Share Posted February 16, 2007 a loud no usually works ...mum usually trains the puppies not to bite too hard while playing you will have to take on that role and teach that its not acceptable.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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