16 Week old BITER from hell..............?

Question

We have a cross Labrador/Golden Retriever puppy. She is 16 weeks old and is still really biting us HARD!!!!!!

We have tried spraying her in the face with water, smacking her nose, telling her NO in a loud voice and even holding her down on the floor until she calms down (although this sometimes makes her worsse).

She also has a habit of rolling over onto her back if you touch her collar to put her lead on. Then she refuses to get up. Any ideas???????

please help because I love her when she is calm but when she goes into a mental state she is quite frightening. I don't know whether she will just grow out of this and not to worry too much or should we take it very seriously?

Thanks to you all.

Answer 1

You may have scared her when you tried holding her down;; thats why she now acts submissively when you go for her collar. She thinks you are going to roll her on her back again.
You are ending up with an exciteable pup that is growing into a fearful and rebellious dog.
Please take her to puppy training classess, explain the biting problem to the triner, and they will show you how to manage her.

Answer 2

A lot of puppies do this: It's a very puppy behaviour! First off, don't reward your dog by giving in a chew... It will just create a connection between ragging at your pants and getting a chew (both very positive!!) So if you want the dog to continue to do this... feel free to carry on! A recent dog a friend hand that i often look after did this, and with age it did go away, but i also - when i walked her- would stand still when she did it. She's get bored and stop. So i'd walk on and she'd start again. So i'd stop. Again she would get bored. This may take you 10 minutes or so, but soon the puppy realises that there is no reward out if it what so ever :) Dogs and puppies are very clever little things! :)

Answer 3

the rolling over show clearly that she is afraid of you. Training should be done with reward not punishment. Never smack a dog anywhere let alone on the nose!!!!
Never initiate rough play. Dogs play by biting. If she bites, yelp loudly, get up immediately and turn away and ignore her for a couple of minutes.
She isn't going into a 'mental' states. She is getting confused and frightened and does the only thing she can think of, llie down and be submissive.
Your beating and yelling and holding down is turning her into a scared dog who may never recover. I strongly advise you to take her to some training classes which are cheap and held one evening a week usually.
Your puppy is not mad, bad or savage. She is confused and afraid.
Imagine this.
You are taken away from your home, and sent to Russia. A big hairy Russian woman comes to you, says something in Russian, and because you don't understand, she hits you in your face and wrestles you to the ground. Would you be afraid of her? You can bet that *I* would be!
Your dog doesn't understand the English language any more than you or I understand Russian. You have to use body language and reward to train her. Your local library will have some books on training but classes once a week will give you plenty of help. Brute force and ignorance never worked years ago and it doesn't work nowadays.

Answer 4

This is normal behaviour. When animals are teething they will bite and chew at everything that is put in front of them. The only thing to do is push her away, saying a 'no' in an authoritative voice and she will get the message that it is uncomfortable for humans. Also see if you can get some suitable 'nibbles/toys' from your local pet shop for young animals. You will find that she will grow out of this 'biting' phase.

If she refuses to get up, just ignore her. When she is cooperative give her a small treat and tell her that she is good in a raised, and friendly, voice. Then take her out, or do something she enjoys like playing with her - she will soon learn the good and bad things.

Answer 5

Biting is a bad habit to start. You can stop it now.

STOP spraying her or doing any fast actions (such as slapping) to her face. This is why she's laying down. You are training her to become a fear biter by doing this.

Stop any yelling or hitting or spraying.

The dog is rolling onto her back because someone has been too hard on her. She is showing you submissive behavior, because you, her pack leader, has been very hard on her.

Don't put a collar on her when she lays down. Instead, you should be sitting, call the dog to you, pet her and then slip it on. She is learning the collar is a bad thing and she has become afraid of you.

Just walk away if she won't get up. Go sit down, call her and put it on.

Many people are mis-informed how to train a dog. They only know from watching others and following their "human hearts and minds" as to how to make a decision on what to train the dog to do.

We have to think like a dog to train a dog properly. Watch some Cesar Milan shows. He's practicing many of the same methods we have here.

Your dog is doing a dog behavior of submitting. Someone has made it afraid. Whatever the behavior is that made it afraid, it has to stop now, or you will not only ruin the dog, but you will make her become a biter. A dog's natural instinct is to bite to protect itself. IF it's already showing aggression and you force it continually to collar when you are frustrated with it, it will continue to show more aggression with time.

My guess, however, is it is not showing any aggression, rather, it's playing hard with you. Your dog is a retriever breed, and he has to have toys to teeth with, instead of human hands.

The biting has to be stopped. Even tough mouthing is too much at her age and hitting will not work. This is a human reaction to frustration and so is spraying. Neither are dog cures.

A dog, when bitten by another dog, yelps or barks, shows teeth and then puts the other dog on the ground and stops it from biting.

You could try holding her mouth shut, but if this does not work, then I suggest not using ANY hands at all. Instead, yelp and look firmly at her and then say NO. As you say No, put her onto the ground with her legs into the air.

This, however, is what you do ONLY if the dog is truly biting, not mouthing you. Mouthing is hard chewing ALL puppies do.

If it is mouthing, yelp as it does, soon as it stops, tell it what a good dog it is.

When she's good, you should always pet her when she's sitting in the "sit" position. Never on her back or laying on the ground and never standing.

She has to learn you are in control, but she also has to do it on terms she can understand.

When you call her, never punish her. Many people call the dog, show it the thing it did wrong, and then punish it. That makes a dog afraid of them, even more.

I really hope this helps. The big thing is make sure she's sitting in the sit position when you collar her. Don't stand above her to do it. She will do better on equal terms, sitting at your side, rather than below you for collaring. If she is afraid of a leash, then I suggest she wear one with a collar in the house for awhile, until she sees it's not a bad thing.

Remember, do not react like a human being. React like a dog.

When a dog is good, it is accepted by its pack, loved, and played with. When it is not good, the lead dog (you) puts it in its place and then the very second it shows submission to that place, it lets it go. They have an understanding, but they are not afraid of each other either.

This dog has only been alive for four months. It has no clue what you want. People often think a dog is being rebellious because it isn't doing what they want, but often the dog just does not understand what they want.

This is a baby dog. An infant. It is an infant until 3 years of age. Did you know this? Stop being so hard on this puppy.

It isn't getting "mental". It is terrified!

This puppy wants nothing more than to please you. She wants acceptance, love. She isn't deliberately biting you to make you mad. She is playing with you because she has not established that you are not a playmate. That is all it is....

Give her toys also. She will be less likely to chew you if she has toys.

I really hope this helps.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Basic Training of the Puppy - Read here https://tr.im/BNwiW

The new puppy is certainly one of the most adorable and cuddly creatures that has ever been created. It is the most natural thing in the world to shower it with love and affection. However, at the same time it is important to realize that if you want to have a well trained adult dog, you need to begin the training process right away. The dog, like its related ancestor, the wolf, is a pack animal. One of the features of a pack is that it has a single dominant leader. Your new puppy is going to want that leader to be you, but if you do not assume that role from the very beginning, the puppy’s instincts will push him to become the leader.

The most important thing to remember about training the puppy during its first six months of life is that it must see you as the leader of the family pack. The essential thing is gaining the trust and the respect of the puppy from the beginning. You will not do this by allowing the puppy to do whatever it wants to do whenever it wants to do it. On the other hand, a certain amount of patience is required. Most people err in their early training by going to extremes one way or the other. Although you need to begin the basic training process at once, you can not expect your dog to do too much at first. Basic obedience training is fine and should include simple commands like sit, stay, and come. Remember that trying to teach the dog advanced obedience techniques when it is a puppy is much like trying to teach a five year old child algebra.

It is also important to restrain from cruel or abusive treatment of the puppy. You can not beat obedience into your dog, and it certainly is not going to engender feeling of respect and trust. House breaking is an area where this usually becomes a problem because of the anger that is triggered when the puppy fails and creates a mess inside the home. Although this issue must be addressed without anger, it most be addressed. If you allow the puppy to eliminate inside the house, it will continue to do so as an adult dog. The same thing is true of other destructive or dangerous behavior such as chewing and biting. Do not expect the puppy to grow out of it. You are going to need to train the puppy out of it, but you should do so firmly but with a sense of play and fun using positive reinforcement and lots of love and praise for good behavior.

Answer 7

Hi,I would recommend getting Vitoria Stilwell's book it's me or the dog,as this is the best book I've found that works.Let the puppy play and chew on toys,but as soon as she chews on you say a short,sharp OUCH,or give a yelp;IIEE! A yelp is the type of feedback she would get from another dog.If she continues,say OUCH again and leave the room or ignore her for a moment.Return and resume play.Repeat until she develops a soft mouth.Bitting stops play.As for the other I'd buy a clicker,you can pick them up at petsathome from£2.49/£2.99 and are a great way to teach the dog.

Answer 8

When I first got our lab pup I immediately taught her not to bite because of my kids.What some experts say is to watch how they play with their brothers and sisters.When they bite too hard the bitten,yelps and turns away and stops play until the biter becomes almost submissive.
When my pup did bite,I presented that I was hurt by a sudden high pitched cry and stopped the play and ignored her then started to play again when she calmed.
She never bites now.Hope this helps.Good luck

Answer 9

Try offer rewards for good things the dog does and ignore the bad things it will soon pick up the idea of the good things. After that has worked gently wean the dog off the treats and leave it to a praise and pat hopefully the dogs exicitement will have dissapeared and it will be interested in toys and walks.

Answer 10

This is normal enough, but you should take her to a local training class soon as she sounds like she can be a right handful. Good manners and habits are best learned young. You will both enjoy the classes and it will also tire your dog out. Mine zonk for hours after they have been to class.