Uh - adolescents!

[ShellyF]

As we deal with one unacceptable behaviour so another pops up. 

We seem to have stopped the ‘i’ll Bite, you chase’ and successfully trained Merlin to bring his toy to us to play. However, his new rude game is to drop the ball in our lap and then give a bite on our arm. So we are dealing with that. All this coincides with him getting tired more easily, sleeping a lot and getting bitey on the leash again - this time in the middle of the woods on our property that have never been an issue before. 

I am sure this is just a testosterone spurt/growing up moodiness/fear period or something like that. 

My question is not so much how to deal with it (as I am deploying advice already received on these boards) but seeking reassurance that when a loving pup bites hard (despite having good bite inhibition) it doesn’t necessarily spell disaster. 

Did anyone else have a six month random biter who calmed down once adolescence went?

incidentally our game plan is to stop play, insist on a lie down and then ignore him to allow a rest period. If we get a repeat then we send him to the kennel for a rest. He happily goes and seems to be enjoying lots of rest at the moment both in and out of the kennel. 

[CptJack]

Kiran was god awful with the (HARD!) biting about that age. I was patient.  I was kind.  One day he got over excited, latched onto my *BREAST*, I reflexively hit him on the top of the head and called him a stream of curse words. 

That was the end of that. 

 

I am not recommending that as training. 

And his bite inhibition today would, no doubt, be excellent if he hadn't hurt me badly enough to make me flail, scream and yell. 

[ShellyF]

THankS @CptJack - that gave me a chuckle. Yes bites in that region are the worst. Sometimes when Merlin is snuggling he decides to check me for fleas in that spot and gets the tiniest bit of skin between his front teeth - ouch!