Biting Puppy

[Anonymous]

Our German shepherd puppy went through an absolutely horrible biting phase around 3-4 months. I have a scar on my hand, and she ruined soooo many pairs of pants- she would literally jump and latch onto our ankles biting hard, totally latched on and ripping at our clothing. It was so awful.

It only lasted 4-6 weeks and then disappeared quite suddenly...some of it was due to teething I think, and it’s also more common for some breeds (like herding breeds will really want to nip at ankles).

We also have older kids (tweens and 4th grader) and she did the same to them during that time- worse actually. We tried everything under the sun, and this is what worked:

1) prevention. It seemed to be much worse when the puppy was overstimulated, or if/when the kids were actively playing/running around. It would wind the puppy up...we learned to recognize when the pup was getting overstimulated and put her in her crate for a nap/rest preventively. Also- if the kids were doing a lot of running around- active noisy games etc- puppy went in her crate during that time
2) avoiding triggers. For her, this seemed to be “tug” type toys (made things worse and seemed to encourage the biting), and running, fast/jerky movements (common with kids)
3) talked to the kids about avoiding the above, when around the puppy
4) if she did bite, turning and walking away- removing the fun. For a time we put her in a super yard but a gated room etc would also work well. Anywhere boring so that she learns biting ends the fun. We’d come back after a few minutes and try again. Repeat repeat.
5) once she was fully vaxed we started spending a lot of time at dog parks. The other dogs taught her bite inhibition!

Things that didn’t work: yelling no, giving her a toy when she tried to bite (rewards an unwanted behavior- bite and I get a toy!)

[Anonymous]

Our Goldendoodle puppy was a horrible biter his first few months. Slowed down by 4 months. Completely gone be 6 months.

[Anonymous]

I grab their nose and slap *that hand* hard and shout GRRRRR.
Then give them a toy to chew, and say "good" once they chew.
YMMV. I'm still new at this.

[Anonymous]

She doesn’t consider you the alpha yet your bodies have become toys to her. The more you snatch your limbs away or make sudden movements in response to the biting, the more she will think you are playing.

A couple things to try BUT YOU MUST BE CONSISTENT!!!
1) When she starts biting, say firmly “No” and immediately remove her from your space. She will be persistent so you will need to match her persistence. Each time, say no and remove her. When she stops biting, reward her with a high value treat. At first, reward her after 30-60 seconds and increase time as she gets better.

2) When you do remove her for biting, if she comes back, make sure your body is not accessible(ex. If you’re sitting on the couch put your feet up) and ignore the hell out of her if she’s trying to get at you. Once she settles down, reward her.

3) You have to very consistent with this no matter what. Even if she becomes less intense you need to have the same response every single time.

Also, if you haven’t started other basic training, you need to do so right away. Beagles can be difficult to train so you need to start early and train often!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She doesn’t consider you the alpha yet your bodies have become toys to her. The more you snatch your limbs away or make sudden movements in response to the biting, the more she will think you are playing.

A couple things to try BUT YOU MUST BE CONSISTENT!!!
1) When she starts biting, say firmly “No” and immediately remove her from your space. She will be persistent so you will need to match her persistence. Each time, say no and remove her. When she stops biting, reward her with a high value treat. At first, reward her after 30-60 seconds and increase time as she gets better.

2) When you do remove her for biting, if she comes back, make sure your body is not accessible(ex. If you’re sitting on the couch put your feet up) and ignore the hell out of her if she’s trying to get at you. Once she settles down, reward her.

3) You have to very consistent with this no matter what. Even if she becomes less intense you need to have the same response every single time.

Also, if you haven’t started other basic training, you need to do so right away. Beagles can be difficult to train so you need to start early and train often!!

Thank you so some questions to your comments...

1) "Immediately remove her from your space." So we got a pen and placed it away from our main TV area where we spend 95% of the time with her. So she started biting me. I picked her up and placed her in the pen. She did not bite me when I was carrying her but I'm afraid that she will bite the kids or me when doing this. She started barking in the pen. I waited about 45 seconds and went and got her. Picked here up and we went back to where we were. She bit me again. I repeated. So is this what I should be doing? What if she bites while being carried? What if she bites while I'll taking her out?


2) If we are not accessible, she will un and try to jump on everything. I'm not sure I like to ignore her when she's doing this.

We start training today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mouthing or biting?

It is normal. If it bites YOU say “ow” loudly and turn your back on it to teach it that disengagement is a consequence. Or a stern “no.”

Biting. Broken skin (blood). Bruising. We do stern Nos. We do the pennies in a shaker can. We say Ouch and turn away and she will just attack your back or shirt, or whatever.

Biting that breaks skin is not the same thing and I don’t think the pennies in a can are a good idea. That’s more to shock/distract away from a problematic behavior. Biting that breaks skin means fear or aggression and the penny can will make that worse. The yelping and turning is to teach a puppy who is mouthing during play that it ends the game. Again, not the same thing. You need a private trainer ASAP. Not puppy class.

Thank you for this. I'll add some more detail on the breaking of the skin. For example, the puppy got me on that loose skin between the thumb and pointer finger. That drew blood. She also got my wife on the wrist and it drew blood. The teeth are sharp as you very well know. I said BITING because I didn't want the PP thinking it was just gentle mouthing. It's more than that. I also want to say that I feel like there is zero aggression, just play BITING. She isn't bothered when I put my hand in her dog dish. She eats out of my hand nicely. I can give and take bones/toys away from her. No aggression or posturing whatsoever. Just constant latching on to us with her teeth. Biting sleeves, socks, pants, etc. Sometimes, she'll be sitting on our lap nicely and then just latch onto our thigh.

For play biting, the sharp yelp and turn around worked for me. It's a really sharp, very high pitched yelp, and then you turn away and sulk. It feels ridiculous but it works well. I think the yelp is key though. It has to be shocking to the puppy and clearly indicate that you were hurt (you weren't, but any time teeth touch skin). Puppy just needs to learn that teeth are poison to skin.

If you're sitting on the couch and the puppy randomly bites you, I wonder if the puppy wasn't asking for attention before that. Your responses to the biting have varied widely, so at this point you may have trained the puppy to bite to get a reaction of some kind from you. The whole family needs to get really, really consistent on the loud yelp and turn away plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She doesn’t consider you the alpha yet your bodies have become toys to her. The more you snatch your limbs away or make sudden movements in response to the biting, the more she will think you are playing.

A couple things to try BUT YOU MUST BE CONSISTENT!!!
1) When she starts biting, say firmly “No” and immediately remove her from your space. She will be persistent so you will need to match her persistence. Each time, say no and remove her. When she stops biting, reward her with a high value treat. At first, reward her after 30-60 seconds and increase time as she gets better.

2) When you do remove her for biting, if she comes back, make sure your body is not accessible(ex. If you’re sitting on the couch put your feet up) and ignore the hell out of her if she’s trying to get at you. Once she settles down, reward her.

3) You have to very consistent with this no matter what. Even if she becomes less intense you need to have the same response every single time.

Also, if you haven’t started other basic training, you need to do so right away. Beagles can be difficult to train so you need to start early and train often!!

Thank you so some questions to your comments...

1) "Immediately remove her from your space." So we got a pen and placed it away from our main TV area where we spend 95% of the time with her. So she started biting me. I picked her up and placed her in the pen. She did not bite me when I was carrying her but I'm afraid that she will bite the kids or me when doing this. She started barking in the pen. I waited about 45 seconds and went and got her. Picked here up and we went back to where we were. She bit me again. I repeated. So is this what I should be doing? What if she bites while being carried? What if she bites while I'll taking her out?


2) If we are not accessible, she will un and try to jump on everything. I'm not sure I like to ignore her when she's doing this.

We start training today.

I personally don’t use the crate as a place for discipline but because she is acting it when you ignore her, that may work for you. The only issue is you’re taking her out while she’s barking. She is demanding to be let out and you are obliging. Do not let her out until she is quiet. It also sounds like she needs more exercise. How much time does she spend outside (walking, running, playing)? A tired dog will be much less inclined to being mischievous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She doesn’t consider you the alpha yet your bodies have become toys to her. The more you snatch your limbs away or make sudden movements in response to the biting, the more she will think you are playing.

A couple things to try BUT YOU MUST BE CONSISTENT!!!
1) When she starts biting, say firmly “No” and immediately remove her from your space. She will be persistent so you will need to match her persistence. Each time, say no and remove her. When she stops biting, reward her with a high value treat. At first, reward her after 30-60 seconds and increase time as she gets better.

2) When you do remove her for biting, if she comes back, make sure your body is not accessible(ex. If you’re sitting on the couch put your feet up) and ignore the hell out of her if she’s trying to get at you. Once she settles down, reward her.

3) You have to very consistent with this no matter what. Even if she becomes less intense you need to have the same response every single time.

Also, if you haven’t started other basic training, you need to do so right away. Beagles can be difficult to train so you need to start early and train often!!

Thank you so some questions to your comments...

1) "Immediately remove her from your space." So we got a pen and placed it away from our main TV area where we spend 95% of the time with her. So she started biting me. I picked her up and placed her in the pen. She did not bite me when I was carrying her but I'm afraid that she will bite the kids or me when doing this. She started barking in the pen. I waited about 45 seconds and went and got her. Picked here up and we went back to where we were. She bit me again. I repeated. So is this what I should be doing? What if she bites while being carried? What if she bites while I'll taking her out?


2) If we are not accessible, she will un and try to jump on everything. I'm not sure I like to ignore her when she's doing this.

We start training today.

I personally don’t use the crate as a place for discipline but because she is acting it when you ignore her, that may work for you. The only issue is you’re taking her out while she’s barking. She is demanding to be let out and you are obliging. Do not let her out until she is quiet. It also sounds like she needs more exercise. How much time does she spend outside (walking, running, playing)? A tired dog will be much less inclined to being mischievous.

Forgot to add, not sure what else she’s mixed with, but beagles for whatever reason are anxious dogs. Depending on the setup of your home, it might be a good idea to find an alternative to the crate(unfortunately that’s easier said than done with a puppy). I’ve never met a beagle that crated well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She doesn’t consider you the alpha yet your bodies have become toys to her. The more you snatch your limbs away or make sudden movements in response to the biting, the more she will think you are playing.

A couple things to try BUT YOU MUST BE CONSISTENT!!!
1) When she starts biting, say firmly “No” and immediately remove her from your space. She will be persistent so you will need to match her persistence. Each time, say no and remove her. When she stops biting, reward her with a high value treat. At first, reward her after 30-60 seconds and increase time as she gets better.

2) When you do remove her for biting, if she comes back, make sure your body is not accessible(ex. If you’re sitting on the couch put your feet up) and ignore the hell out of her if she’s trying to get at you. Once she settles down, reward her.

3) You have to very consistent with this no matter what. Even if she becomes less intense you need to have the same response every single time.

Also, if you haven’t started other basic training, you need to do so right away. Beagles can be difficult to train so you need to start early and train often!!

Thank you so some questions to your comments...

1) "Immediately remove her from your space." So we got a pen and placed it away from our main TV area where we spend 95% of the time with her. So she started biting me. I picked her up and placed her in the pen. She did not bite me when I was carrying her but I'm afraid that she will bite the kids or me when doing this. She started barking in the pen. I waited about 45 seconds and went and got her. Picked here up and we went back to where we were. She bit me again. I repeated. So is this what I should be doing? What if she bites while being carried? What if she bites while I'll taking her out?


2) If we are not accessible, she will un and try to jump on everything. I'm not sure I like to ignore her when she's doing this.

We start training today.

I personally don’t use the crate as a place for discipline but because she is acting it when you ignore her, that may work for you. The only issue is you’re taking her out while she’s barking. She is demanding to be let out and you are obliging. Do not let her out until she is quiet. It also sounds like she needs more exercise. How much time does she spend outside (walking, running, playing)? A tired dog will be much less inclined to being mischievous.

Forgot to add, not sure what else she’s mixed with, but beagles for whatever reason are anxious dogs. Depending on the setup of your home, it might be a good idea to find an alternative to the crate(unfortunately that’s easier said than done with a puppy). I’ve never met a beagle that crated well.

OP here. When I was saying we put her in her pen, I was referring to a small exercise pen that we just got. We don't want to use her crate for punishment either. I agree that we have tried so many different things to stop her biting that we haven't had any consistency. So I agree with all of that. We met with a trainer today and she also doesn't like the put her in a pen type solution so we will be done with that. The trainer recommended bitter apple on hands and the yelp and turn away technique. I'm still not clear what to do when she bites you, turn away and she continues to bite you though just on your back or whatever.

As for the crate...I would hate to jinx us but she actually doing great with crate training so far. Knock on wood! She loves the crate.

[Anonymous]

I hate my biting and nipping puppy. It is a mixed heeding breed which as others have said makes it worse.

For people who have sent their dog away for training does the training address this? I am willing to spend whatever to get it out of the house and back well-behaved.

[Anonymous]

*herding not heeding
I wish it heeded

[Anonymous]

OP here...so the trainer basically just said to teach her the word "Off" so when she is biting, say "Off" when she responds, "give her a treat". This works most of the time and we knew this...but the problem is...it seems like every waking moment in the house all she wants to do is bite us and we cant give her 1000 treats a day. This is madness! I also try the "ouch" and turn" but she just bites you in the back. She doesn't stop!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here...so the trainer basically just said to teach her the word "Off" so when she is biting, say "Off" when she responds, "give her a treat". This works most of the time and we knew this...but the problem is...it seems like every waking moment in the house all she wants to do is bite us and we cant give her 1000 treats a day. This is madness! I also try the "ouch" and turn" but she just bites you in the back. She doesn't stop!

Use her kibble as treats.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She doesn’t consider you the alpha yet your bodies have become toys to her. The more you snatch your limbs away or make sudden movements in response to the biting, the more she will think you are playing.

A couple things to try BUT YOU MUST BE CONSISTENT!!!
1) When she starts biting, say firmly “No” and immediately remove her from your space. She will be persistent so you will need to match her persistence. Each time, say no and remove her. When she stops biting, reward her with a high value treat. At first, reward her after 30-60 seconds and increase time as she gets better.

2) When you do remove her for biting, if she comes back, make sure your body is not accessible(ex. If you’re sitting on the couch put your feet up) and ignore the hell out of her if she’s trying to get at you. Once she settles down, reward her.

3) You have to very consistent with this no matter what. Even if she becomes less intense you need to have the same response every single time.

Also, if you haven’t started other basic training, you need to do so right away. Beagles can be difficult to train so you need to start early and train often!!

Thank you so some questions to your comments...

1) "Immediately remove her from your space." So we got a pen and placed it away from our main TV area where we spend 95% of the time with her. So she started biting me. I picked her up and placed her in the pen. She did not bite me when I was carrying her but I'm afraid that she will bite the kids or me when doing this. She started barking in the pen. I waited about 45 seconds and went and got her. Picked here up and we went back to where we were. She bit me again. I repeated. So is this what I should be doing? What if she bites while being carried? What if she bites while I'll taking her out?


2) If we are not accessible, she will un and try to jump on everything. I'm not sure I like to ignore her when she's doing this.

We start training today.

I personally don’t use the crate as a place for discipline but because she is acting it when you ignore her, that may work for you. The only issue is you’re taking her out while she’s barking. She is demanding to be let out and you are obliging. Do not let her out until she is quiet. It also sounds like she needs more exercise. How much time does she spend outside (walking, running, playing)? A tired dog will be much less inclined to being mischievous.

Forgot to add, not sure what else she’s mixed with, but beagles for whatever reason are anxious dogs. Depending on the setup of your home, it might be a good idea to find an alternative to the crate(unfortunately that’s easier said than done with a puppy). I’ve never met a beagle that crated well.

OP here. When I was saying we put her in her pen, I was referring to a small exercise pen that we just got. We don't want to use her crate for punishment either. I agree that we have tried so many different things to stop her biting that we haven't had any consistency. So I agree with all of that. We met with a trainer today and she also doesn't like the put her in a pen type solution so we will be done with that. The trainer recommended bitter apple on hands and the yelp and turn away technique. I'm still not clear what to do when she bites you, turn away and she continues to bite you though just on your back or whatever.

As for the crate...I would hate to jinx us but she actually doing great with crate training so far. Knock on wood! She loves the crate.

I would just stay turned away and silent, unless she hits skin again, in which case Yelp really loud. It’s an absurd noise to make but it’s really important. You can’t just go “ouch.” Think of the noise your dog would make if you accidentally stepped on her or shut the door on her paw. It’s very loud and alarming and it clearly communicates that you’ve been injured (obviously that part is fake).

[Anonymous]

So I may be in the minority but she needs another puppy to chew on! She just really, really wants to play by biting and needs that outlet
Do you have friends with a puppy, or a mellow dog park?
Can you start puppy playtime sessions at the spca? And puppy kindergarten?