12-week-old puppy biting and growling

[Anonymous]

I read all the advice and watched all the videos before we brought home our 8-week-old puppy. For the biting and growling, we were committed to all the gentle methods. We tried the redirecting his mouth to toys, separating ourselves, getting him on a schedule, making sure he has all his naps, getting him mental and physical exercise, doing the loud "ouch" and leaving, and turning around and ignoring him. It's been a month and NOTHING has worked. At this point I'm done. Our hands and arms have scratches and scars from the puppy drawing blood. The kids (who we got the puppy for) can't play with him half of the time and my daughter has gotten nervous being around him. There are a lot of trainers out there that suggest holding the puppy's collar (only enough to get him to stop) and then redirecting to a toy. They say just giving him a toy without correcting the behavior actually rewards the bad behavior. Has anyone had success with this, or any other methods that I haven't already tried?

Also, I wanted to add that our puppy isn't irrationally aggressive or violent, and is super sweet when he's not being bitey and growly. This seems to just be his version of play. He will sometimes do it when you try to pick him up, but not always.

[Anonymous]

What breed (or mix of)?

[Anonymous]

This is peak velociraptor phase. Very normal. I could barely stand to exist near our puppy when this was going on. Every pair of pants I owned (especially yoga or workout pants) had holes and my hands were a hot mess. She even put a hole into a brand new winter jacket when she grabbed it while I was trying to put on her leash. My kids wore gloves when they wanted to play with her. It sucked. It will probably continue another month or so. I found offering toys and turning my back to be the most effective but it takes a long time for them to have enough self control to make progress. And then one day, they do!

Our dog is now 1.5 y.o. and is the sweetest, most gentle girl. That feels like a long time ago! Hope it passes soon!

[Anonymous]

He's a doodle.

To PP, some people say if you don't correct it now they won't just grow out of it. I can't have an adult dog doing this.

[Anonymous]

This is completely normal puppy behavior. They explore the world with their mouths and he’s teething.

Hire a professional trainer to come into your home and evaluate the situation to make sure the growling isn’t actually resource guarding or fear, but otherwise you just have to wait it out. When the teething ends they won’t be trying to eat your hands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is completely normal puppy behavior. They explore the world with their mouths and he’s teething.

Hire a professional trainer to come into your home and evaluate the situation to make sure the growling isn’t actually resource guarding or fear, but otherwise you just have to wait it out. When the teething ends they won’t be trying to eat your hands.

It's not resource guarding. We can pick up food and toys easily and remove things from his mouth with no issue.

If it's a wait it out thing, then why do the trainers say you have to correct the bad behavior now as a puppy or they'll take it into adulthood? Also I'm not sure I'm wiling to wait it out while my kids get constantly bit, even if he's not drawing blood every time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is completely normal puppy behavior. They explore the world with their mouths and he’s teething.

Hire a professional trainer to come into your home and evaluate the situation to make sure the growling isn’t actually resource guarding or fear, but otherwise you just have to wait it out. When the teething ends they won’t be trying to eat your hands.

It's not resource guarding. We can pick up food and toys easily and remove things from his mouth with no issue.

If it's a wait it out thing, then why do the trainers say you have to correct the bad behavior now as a puppy or they'll take it into adulthood? Also I'm not sure I'm wiling to wait it out while my kids get constantly bit, even if he's not drawing blood every time.

Can't talk about your trainer, but I wouldn't really correct a puppy. Just removing hands, then short-time out (like 20-60 seconds), then redirect. That way you're not actually reinforcing biting - even 30 sex is a long time for a puppy
And yes, you'd have to wait it out. Also - does the puppy bites when chasing kids or when they try to pet him? If former - bored puppy, maybe get a flirt pole for kids to interact with the puppy (let it chase the toy), for latter - explain to kids that dog is not a toy to be petted at kids convenience, but rather a living creature with their own wishes.

[Anonymous]

You are going to have to be 100% consistent in withholding attention, rewards, play etc. while the puppy is biting. Reward the puppy with attention play exercise and affection when not biting. They do learn, but it takes time..If the puppy was separated from mom.and siblings early on, it may not have had time to learn basic bite inhibition from them. It helps to teach basic commands like 'sit' or 'down' which are inherently calm behaviors that can be rewarded.

[Anonymous]

Stick with it, OP. You're overthinking a very normal behavior for a very young puppy. Almost all puppies are mouthy (certainly some more than others) but the vast majority of adult dogs are not. You are teaching it limitations and the more calmly and consistently that you do it, the better. Get your kids some thick gardening gloves and make sure they are calm when they engage with the puppy. They can learn a lot from this too. There will be time for rougher, funner play when the puppy is done with this bitey stage. This shift almost always happens between 4-6 months.

In the mean time, sign up for puppy kindergarten. You'll see how normal this is and get feedback from trainers and other puppy owners to make sure you stay on track. Raising a puppy well is really not totally intuitive!

If you really don't think you can persevere, please re-home the puppy immediately while it is still cute and has a chance to find a new family with the patience to get through these normal phases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stick with it, OP. You're overthinking a very normal behavior for a very young puppy. Almost all puppies are mouthy (certainly some more than others) but the vast majority of adult dogs are not. You are teaching it limitations and the more calmly and consistently that you do it, the better. Get your kids some thick gardening gloves and make sure they are calm when they engage with the puppy. They can learn a lot from this too. There will be time for rougher, funner play when the puppy is done with this bitey stage. This shift almost always happens between 4-6 months.

In the mean time, sign up for puppy kindergarten. You'll see how normal this is and get feedback from trainers and other puppy owners to make sure you stay on track. Raising a puppy well is really not totally intuitive!

If you really don't think you can persevere, please re-home the puppy immediately while it is still cute and has a chance to find a new family with the patience to get through these normal phases.

Not really a patience thing after four weeks of your kids with broken skin bite marks. Biting is normal but without training it’s not going to magically disappear. Different training styles work for different dogs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stick with it, OP. You're overthinking a very normal behavior for a very young puppy. Almost all puppies are mouthy (certainly some more than others) but the vast majority of adult dogs are not. You are teaching it limitations and the more calmly and consistently that you do it, the better. Get your kids some thick gardening gloves and make sure they are calm when they engage with the puppy. They can learn a lot from this too. There will be time for rougher, funner play when the puppy is done with this bitey stage. This shift almost always happens between 4-6 months.

In the mean time, sign up for puppy kindergarten. You'll see how normal this is and get feedback from trainers and other puppy owners to make sure you stay on track. Raising a puppy well is really not totally intuitive!

If you really don't think you can persevere, please re-home the puppy immediately while it is still cute and has a chance to find a new family with the patience to get through these normal phases.

Not really a patience thing after four weeks of your kids with broken skin bite marks. Biting is normal but without training it’s not going to magically disappear. Different training styles work for different dogs.

How old are you kids? Why are they interacting with the puppy to get bitten?
I'd say it's parenting issue, not the puppy training issue

[Anonymous]

This is a tough phase. It will get better. We got an exercise pen and our puppy spent a lot of time in the pen during this phrase.

[Anonymous]

Growling? Wow my dog only growled at me if she was hurt or I was bathing her.

For biting, as a puppy, gently and quickly squeeze both sides of their mouth and say NO. Firmly. Just as you would if you wanted to take something out of their mouth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Growling? Wow my dog only growled at me if she was hurt or I was bathing her.

For biting, as a puppy, gently and quickly squeeze both sides of their mouth and say NO. Firmly. Just as you would if you wanted to take something out of their mouth

This is what I have always done, though I am more specific. "No bite!" vs "No." In my experience with bigger, pretty smart dogs that clarifies it is unwanted behavior but gives a name to the actual issue. So "no jump!" And "no bark!" Etc etc goes a little further when they "get" why they are being bad beyond being just a general jerk.lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He's a doodle.

To PP, some people say if you don't correct it now they won't just grow out of it. I can't have an adult dog doing this.

Did you meet the litter and have the chance to choose the puppy? Or was this the only option? This isn't normal puppy mouthy. A friend once got one that was like yours and all needed gloves and boots for ankle protection. She had decades of experience with dogs as did others who met the puppy. Puppies do learn bite inhibition when playing with littermates and from their mom.