Anonymous wrote:We have a 19 week old puppy and have been dealing with this since we got her around 9/10 weeks. She is finally simmering down with the biting/mouthing. We tried all of the tips that people suggested here and watched lots of Youtube videos. We also started giving her Kongs filled with frozen chicken and chicken broth to help focus her chewing in the right direction. That has helped a lot. We have a herding dog, and she will still try to herd us outside by grabbing our ankles, but that is getting better day by day. We do lots of training on other skills like sit and down and stay. She can't bite us if she is doing those things. And lots of rewards for not biting.

Thank you..so for example, if you are sitting around a watching TV and she is lying on the floor or in your lap or something and she is NOT biting you...you give her a treat for not biting you or is it more like you offer your hand and if she doesn't bite you, then you give her a treat? How does that work? Thanks

We have a 19 week old puppy and have been dealing with this since we got her around 9/10 weeks. She is finally simmering down with the biting/mouthing. We tried all of the tips that people suggested here and watched lots of Youtube videos. We also started giving her Kongs filled with frozen chicken and chicken broth to help focus her chewing in the right direction. That has helped a lot. We have a herding dog, and she will still try to herd us outside by grabbing our ankles, but that is getting better day by day. We do lots of training on other skills like sit and down and stay. She can't bite us if she is doing those things. And lots of rewards for not biting.

I have fostered A LOT of puppies, and this is pretty normal for some of them. Doesn't mean there is anything wrong with them; they just need more consistency than other puppies do. In fact, my most recent puppy (who just got adopted) would randomly try to chomp on a nose, or an ear, and preferred hands to chew toys.

For the really bitey ones, the things that help: Consistency. They cannot be allowed to chomp on you, period. Every single time. Even when you are correcting 60 times a minute. I prefer picking them up wordlessly, and putting them in an X-Pen/Crate/different room. Just for a minute. Then they can rejoin. Lather, rinse, repeat. I give very strong encouragement when they decide to lick you instead of chomping.

When they grab clothing, do not engage in pulling. Tug of war is a game. Pick up puppy, take the clothing out of the mouth, put the puppy down. If repeated, put the puppy in a brief time out. Always have toys (squeaky works well), Kongs, and chewies to re-direct to.

I haven't done this, but my friends have successfully deterred biters by having them chew on themselves. For instance, instead of chomping on their hands, the dog chomps on its own lips.

You need to find a better way to disengage. Have a pen or gated area that the puppy can be in without your direct attention. Find a way where you can withdraw touch and eye contact after being bitten.

When biting occurs, immediately stop giving the puppy any attention. Either leave the room and close the door OR put the puppy in a "time out" in the bathroom, laundry room or space where they can't get into anything and that has nothing fun in it - leave it in there for 1-2 minutes, then release. Repeat this every single time and the puppy should soon learn that biting = no more play time and boring alone time.

Make sure everyone in the family is consistent with these methods and it will get better. This method helped a lot with our bitey puppy - hang in there, it gets better!!

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.

I agree. We run into many dogs at the dog park who have passed the mouthing stage whose owners clearly have not done this with them. When they play with other dogs they’re biting others dogs necks more aggressively than normal and do not stop when the other dogs yelp. Doing what the PP suggested will help the dogs to understand limits and boundaries when it comes to biting.

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.

Beagle mixed with what? A pit bull?

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.

https://www.gundogmag.com/editorial/how-to-stop-puppy-biting/175531?fbclid=IwAR3Z0VxlqseMs7x3Shr-_6Yd2U9V37izFEkiH9Q4MBSm5USAaqohYWEvJog

We used this with our puppy and it worked.

Anonymous wrote:Try some of the stuffed beef bones. My little chewer loves to gnaw on those.

She loves bully sticks but she can't chew on them all day. She might chew on them for 30 minutes then wants your arm. You offer her the bully stick and she'll go for your fingers instead. She walks up to your lap all calm and them will lunge to bite your face or neck. You stand up, she's attacking your feet. pant cuffs, etc.

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.

Try some of the stuffed beef bones. My little chewer loves to gnaw on those.

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.”

We have an 11 week old Beagle Mix puppy that we adopted at 9 weeks old. We understand that biting is normal, but all the puppy wants to do is bite. Bite your shirts, socks, sleeves, face, neck, hand...I mean you give her a chew toy or even a bully stick and it will bite your wrist instead of the toy or stick. She can care less for Benebones, Nylabones, etc. It's grueling because noone wants to be with the puppy because of the CONSTANT biting. She gets the rest of her shots this week and we are scheduling puppy training, but I'm wondering how normal this CONSTANT biting is....and some of the bites have broken skin and/or caused bruising. Just not mouthing. I does seem to be play for her and she isn't growling or guarding or in an aggressive posture. We have used shake cans, electronic whistles, we have done the "Ouch and walked away" but then who is watching the puppy? so that doesn't work. Anyway...what are people's experiences and thoughts with so much biting? Thank you.