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More than just mouthy


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Finley is now just under 12 weeks. He is turning out to be an amazing dog. With that being said, I'm struggling a bit with his biting.

He started with the ankle biting, which has phased out for the most part, but I am really struggling with the hand/ arm biting. He's more than just mouthy, he really wants to play rough.

This behavior is pretty constant throughout the day, any time he gets on our level he starts with the biting.

Now, I have been working on it and he clearly understands that's the behavior I am correcting, but he "argues" with me and try's to find ways around the rules. (Biting through clothing, not opening his mouth all the way, biting and running away, crawling up and biting a toe, etc)

 

Please tell me this is a phase? Will he eventually grow out of this if I just keep correcting it? I've looked through the boards, and it didn't make me feel much better, it seems most threads were just slightly mouthy pups, I've got a real biter on my hands.

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He's still just mouthy, those suggestions will still help!

 

At 12 w/o he doesn't know the rules. So teach self control, express your displease, put him in his crate if he's just not listening - all that biting could mean that he's over tired. My pup got crazy when he needed a nap. It was like my sweet pup turned into an out of control crazy pup. After a nap for an hour or so he was so much better :)

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I can't believe the number of people posting in the last month or two panicking about their baby puppies' mouthiness. Accept it, move on and be prepared to deal with it for the next couple months. It's part of the territory.

 

You're just getting started with this puppy. If you've read the other threads, I hope what you came away with as the most important thing is patience.

 

Wink is the worst little land shark I've ever had, much mouthier/more bitey than previous puppies. Just the other day I realized I'm not having to scold him nearly as much for chewing inappropriate things and for biting me. He hit 20 weeks old on Sunday.

 

So just. be. patient. At not even 12 weeks old you're just beginning to teach your puppy how to behave. Yes. It will end Unless you do nothing, but that's not the case here).

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It must be the name, our Finley, aka Snippy-Snap, likes to play rough and is very mouthy and bitey. At 14 months he has gotten much better, calm consistent correction with crate time outs when he reaches that point of over stimulation where nothing gets through to his brain have helped. He is still a work in progress and I think the fact he is a BC/Heeler mix gives us a double dose of those traits. We realized early on that he is not small child or dog park material, however he does really well in a class setting. For us, time and consistency seem to be the answer.

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Our puppy Mavis is 14 weeks old and we've been going through the exact same thing. She is definitely a biter. She bites clothing, shoes, hands, arms, ankles and often jumps up to grab clothing - and hard too! We've been trying to work with her on this and realize she's still a baby, but we have had the same question several times - will this eventually end? :)

  • At first we tried saying "Ouch!" and removing ourselves from play and then returning, but this didn't work. We also tried removing ourselves from the room for 30 seconds to a few minutes, but this didn't help either and when we'd return, she'd give us "the eye" and wanted to bite us even more.
  • I taught her "leave it" and initially used this to get her to stop biting/lunging/growling at our legs, followed by a sit and a treat. But I think this created a negative behavior chain and she eventually equated biting/attacking, followed by a sit = treat!
  • Her puppy kindergarten teacher recommended a rough collar/scruff grab and yelling "No!" We didn't feel this was the right approach (along with several other issues with this trainer/class).
  • We decided to switch to a different training center and started off with a few private lessons before she starts her new puppy kindergarten class this week. They recommended a place/sit/extended stay/"yes!", followed by a treat which has helped a lot. We consistently use this to try and prevent the behavior before it starts, but once she gets going, it's hard to get her to stop biting - and it's very hard biting at times, not simply mouthiness. If she's going completely berserk, we will put her in her exercise pen for a nap.
  • The sit/stay is also now her "default" behavior for treats/toys/walks/her small Frisbee, which has helped with our communication. Playing tends to amp her up too, so when playing I will get her to "leave it" with her toy, she will automatically sit/stay and then I return the toy to her. This seems to help with calming her.
  • We use a crate at night and exercise pen in the day for naps. The naps do help.
  • She is not super affectionate, but likes to give licks when she wakes up or when greeting you. She will start talking in her "crazy" voice as a warning and the licks turn to bites, so now I always end it while they are still licks.
  • She bites when putting her leash on, so I've been working with some collar touches/yes/treat and it seems to be getting a little better.
  • We started taking her to puppy playtime, hoping that the socialization/play with other puppies might help. But despite how much she bites us, she is very timid with other puppies. She is also very sweet and timid when meeting other people, often peeing a little bit. Her new puppy kindergarten classes include 30 minutes of playtime with the other puppies, so we're hoping this will help.
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My guy was a piranha when he was a pup. I redirected the biting onto an appropriate toy, asked for an alternative behavior, and when things got very bad, he was sent to his sensory depravation chamber (an airline crate in a dark room).

 

He did attempt to perform a mastectomy on me (I was standing next to him and he jumped up and got one) and was corrected very strongly for that. He later tried again and was corrected for that as well, and that was the last time.

 

With my guy and his sister, the pit bull, the chewing and biting pretty much stopped soon after they cut their last molars.

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Bandit was super mouthy. I had proof of that all this past winter because I no longer have the goose down coat he shredded (the year before).

I didn't make a big deal out of it. Redirected to toys, let him be mouthy to an extent, put him in his crate for a nap when he was over the top. Threw out the coat.


He outgrew it and he really has beautiful bite inhibition now. And this year's winter jacket, although not nearly so toasty, hasn't a single hole.

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When we got Livi she went through a very nippy/mouthy stage. I knew to expect it, but worried that I should be doing more to correct it and that I was going to miss some crucial manners training and end up with a dog who always nipped at people. I tried to relax and stick to the general advice here. I redirected to toys, or crated for naps if she was out of control. And then one day I thought, "Huh, she hasn't been nippy and mouthy for a while. When did that stop?"

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I got my first border puppy when he was 12 weeks old. He was never mouthy. We believe it's because he was with the breeder and his mom for a longer time, and dog mom's don't put up with mouthiness. We got our golden puppy at 7 weeks. The land shark phase lasted a good few months. If I ever get another puppy, I don't think I'll pick it up at the 8 week mark. Maybe 10 or 12 weeks.

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I picked my first border collie puppy up at 5 weeks and 6 days old. This was when it was very common to get puppies at 6 weeks old. He wasn't mouthy at all. My second border collie pup also came to me at 6 weeks of age. She really wasn't very mouthy either. I don't really remember the third one I got at 6 weeks old was either. But this latest one, was older than any of the wee puppies I've gotten, is by far the mouthiest and bites the most.

 

I think it's largely an individual thing. ;)

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I totally relate to piranha and mastectomy. Tess bit my nipples several times (not only extremely mouthy, but a great jumper as well). I lost count of the t-shirts she ruined. She's now almost 3 yo and still loves to play bite games, but she knows when and with whom she can engage in those, and she has beautifull bite innibition. So, yes, it will pass, as long as you keep working on it and don't loose your patience.

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It's great to hear the encouragement! He is such a fantastic puppy, we just get tired of bleeding. He has def gotten my nipples a few times! Not a great feeling.

Thanks for all the imput! I will just be so happy when all this biting is over. I miss my little suckling puppy with no teeth!

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I got Juno at 10 weeks and she was obsessed from day one with my watch. She would bite/chew on my watch and arm at every opportunity. My hands have always been rough so I just played with her to the point where she had removed every hair from the back of my hands. At times when she was biting too hard I would pretend to be injured and say no. She seemed to get this and scaled back a bit but I continued to let her chew/nip away at my watch and arm for a long time as long as it was within the limits of play. Eventually she grew out of it and when I replaced my watch lately I was surprised to see that, despite the continual abuse, the watch was basically unharmed. During this time I also gave her an incredible number of rawhides to chew on. This also helped as she never damaged any household items or furniture during this time (except a sweater my wife had just finished knitting but I blame that on the cat for knocking it on the floor!!) At this time I read a lot about rawhides so I tried to get her ones made in Canada or the USA but now I am lead to believe that even these aren't the greatest for dogs so I stopped them before she was a year old and changed to antlers. Juno loves to chew on her antlers but I suspect these would have been too hard for her when she was a pup.

Bill

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well, Spillo was a little shark as well...;-) not only on my arms and hands but in one occasion he was able, from inside the crate, to make a hole in the wall, and in another occasion he was able to remove the plastic base from the crate and make a hole in the vinyl floor...

I did work on his bite inhibition, often pretending he was hurting me even when he was not.

so it will pass, I would say just enjoy this puppy stage, as it is fun and it will not last long ;-)

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Sounds to me like a typical puppy. I'm still in the midst of a super mouthy puppy as well. We got Kira at just over 8 weeks old and she was a land shark/vampire attacking all clothing and ankles and jumping up to nip everything (ruined a fair amount of shirts/jackets) for the first few weeks we had her. Also LOVED attacking shoe laces on our shoes or any bare feet :wub: Redirection and lots of patience has worked and now at 22 weeks, she has seemed to finally stop (for the most part) attacking feet and jumping up to nip.

 

That said, she's still SUPER mouthy and it seems to be pretty normal puppy behavior, but is learning to mouth very softly now. We let her chew on us as long as it's soft. As soon as there is any pressure, all the fun ends and she goes into time out or gets ignored. Just trust that your pup will grow out of it and continue redirection with toys and time-outs till it eventually clicks.

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