puppy biting! tried some deterents and failing! suggestions would be gratefully recieved?

Question

we,ve said no firmly, given him loads of toys/chewies given him timeout when over excited, held his mouth, he gets hyper and attaches to your leg, toe, sock and it hurts, help

Answer 1

You can use the puppies natural instincts to stop this. All puppies play bite, their mouth is the only tool they have to investigate the world. When puppies bite their litter mates too hard in play, the bitten puppy will yelp to say "hey that bite was to hard". If you do the same thing, a high pitched loud yelp, then stop all activity and turn your back the puppy should understand what it is doing wrong. It will take a few times, some puppies learn faster than others. Just be consistent.

Answer 2

Your trainer may be right about the puppy not learning the bite inhibition, especially if he was removed from his litter mates at an early age. In the litter when the puppy bit another puppy, that puppy would have let out a loud piercing yelp! The other puppy may have also spun around and nipped your puppy back. So try to imitate this natural progression, when the puppy bites you, squeal LOUD, as if he really really injured you. I know this sounds ridiculous, but it's worth a try right? Also you may try a imitating a quick "nip" with your fingers on the back of his neck - exactly where his mother would have disciplined him. Quick and firm, no shaking or anything, just a pinch sort of with all your fingers in a mouth shape. Good luck, even if this doesn't stop ALL the nipping he should grow out of it but you should continue trying to deter it now. Keep your patience - the loving dog you'll have will be worth it!

Answer 3

all puppies nip when they play. Some mouthing is acceptable but anything which hurts should be rewarded with a loud yelp. Just yelp, stand up and look closely at the imaginary wound, then walk away. If you play roughly or get the pup over excited you will expect the pup to do the same. Keep playtimes calm and happy. Holding their mouth simply scares them. Puppy teeth are like needles. There used to be an advert' on TV which said they tetley tea bags have 100 perforations. Us breeders/rescuers always comment that we have hands like tetley tea bags when we have puppies :0)
once the adult teeth come through at 16 weeks they don't hurt half as much.
I suggest you get the pup a nice big raw beef bone from the butcher. He will tend to gnaw that and leave you alone, plus it will help losen puppy teeth and add much needed protein and calcium to his body.

Please do not tap,smack,swat,pop (or any of the other American euphamisms for hitting) the dog for it and never ever hit a dog on the nose.

Answer 4

Puppies love attention and they sometimes find any attention, even punishment, rewarding. I think the best strategy is to give him absolutely no attention, no eye contact, nothing when he's biting. (I know this is hard when it hurts - you might have to wear thick clothes for a while). Carry some treats with you and the minute he calms down, give him loads of fuss and a treat. This way you are rewarding only the behaviour you want. You (and anyone else in the family) will have to repeat this consistently every single time he gets nippy, but you should start to see results in just a few days.

Answer 5

Don't tell it that its naughty, its a DOG it cant understand the word naughty. Don't bang it on the nose either. Do what some of the others say and that is yelp like a puppy in pain, he sees you as a pack mate, turn away without speaking. Now, this is going to get a reaction from animal "lovers" but we had a dog trainer who advised us just to nip it back on the ear straight away, until it yelps, not to hard, just enough pressure to cause a reaction, it worked a treat. I told someone else about it and they said it was cruel they were outraged, their dog is 5 now and STILL nips, mine doesn't.

Answer 6

You have to be consistent,it wont stop over night,it will take weeks.I know it's annoying and painful at times but best bet is just to keep telling him no and offering chew toys and walking away from him.What we used to do is when our pup nipped us while we were on the floor playing with her was we would say no and sit on the sofa and watch some tv,or we would put her in her crate for time out.This eventually worked for us,it may be you have a more persuasive pup,in this case you have to be more consistent.It will stop trust me,just keep doing what your doing.Good luck.

Answer 7

I have 2 puppies who are only 12 weeks old and I am going through the same thing. I have bought a noise deterrant. Its basically compressed air in a spray can that makes a sound like a goose hissing. Its not that loud to us but dogs hate it as it is a warning sound made by animals. This stops them doing whatever they are doing and they will associate this noise with their biting your feet and will stop. http://www.vetuk.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=467 Good luck

Answer 8

As much as your going to hate me for this, the only thing that you really can do it stick with it. We have a 6 month old Rottie who was terrible for mouthing. He still does now (on the odd occasion) mouth, but you just need to keep drilling it into him that it's naughty. He will listen eventually.
I'm now fed up with the sound of my own voice, but it really does work!

You should tell him off in a very low voice, almost a growl like his mother would do. Sounds stupid I know. Give it a go though!

Good Luck!!

Answer 9

DO NOT SHARPLY flick the dog on its nose because then u are giving the poor thing mixed messages and that can affect the dogs actions later in live
what i did with my dog is that i make a squiling noise like a little puppy as if it was getting hurt then he/she will stop bitting u.

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Answer 10

This is perfectly normal behaviour for puppies (watch puppies playing together!) when he/she starts to bite, walk away and ignore the puppy...do not reward it with any response, negative or otherwise just like children. I am sure your puppy will outgrow this normal behaviour in time. Do not 'smack' the puppy or you will end up with a nervous dog....prone to snapping. If it gets too much... the water spray is a good idea...good luck