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Biting!!!!!

3293 Views 19 Replies 18 Participants Last post by  designsbyisis
We brought home Daisy last Friday and she's settled in really well, not cried at night been eating well and she couldn't be more perfect............. exept she's found her very sharp teeth & she's using them on everyone.

We've tried distracting her with chews but she jumps past them to bite your hands and feet if she can't get your hands.

We've tried shouting ouch to let her know she's bitten too hard. No good. She just continues biting.

We've tried tapping her nose, but don't like that.

Help, we need to nip it in the bud so we can hug her but if she's not sleepy she just wants to bite!

Help anyone. Jo
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I promise it will get better. Most people including myself have poted similar posts.
Maybe trythe following:

1) put some coins/stones/nails in a small tin and shaking them when she bites, they don't like the noise and it can help stop them.

2)Shouting ouch a firm No

3) If sitting down, stand up fold your arms and turn away from her

Rufus is now nearly 7 months and he has been much better for a long time
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it is her age, so don't worry this is totally normal...different dogs react to different things, you are going to have to try a few things before you find what works. but when it works...remain very consistent. for Lady we had to wimper and pretend to cry, she would then give us a light nose bump or kiss and we would resume play...whenever her teeth make contact with your hands even if it doens't hurt wimper or shake a can of coin, or something....you want to make sure that it does stop... undoubtedly it will. Lady would literally attack our feet sometimes.
be consistent and you will pull through this stage.
We had the same issue with Alfie - he would be hanging off our clothes and the techniques you mention above didn't work for us either In the end the only way we could stop him was to segregate him in an area (the sin bin as my husband called it) when he got bad. Just until he calmed down i only had to do it 3-4 times and he really improved because he hates to be separated from us!

Promise it does get better!
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Hi Jo

I am not a dog trainer by any means, but in this post I have detailed info on how I stop my puppies doing this ... and it worked for me and my dogs ... hope it helps :)

http://www.mydogslife.co.uk/2012/04/16/frequently-asked-cockapoo-questions-answers/
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Thank you for this information everyone! We just got our cockapoo puppy last week. Was a mellow little charmer for the first couple of days. Now he is starting to show a split personality--sweet and then yipping/growling/nipping. He just seems to get more riled up when we correct him (hold his mouth, shout NO, etc.). He is really bullying my 11 year old son (who is trying to be carm, but gets really frustrated and angry when the nipping continues; it hurts!). So... I'm going to try the coins in the can method to startle him. See how that works. Any other advice????
Consistency is the key, whatever method you try coin shaking/holding nose/ time out

You need to do it every time as it will only confuse your dog if he/she isn't reprimanded when they bite/nip

They will however grow out of this stage but you'll have a better puppy experience if you can nip it in the bud x
Dexter was another biter. I used a shrill whistle that at I blew at him when he bit and a plant spray with water in. The whistle worked for a while but it drove the rest of the family mad! The plant spray didn't work as dexter thought it was fun but it worked on my cavalier to stop him barking .
Thanks Anna tried 2, no effect. Will try 3 but maybe really hard when she's biting your feet REALLY hard! Will give 1 a shot that sounds really good.
Sorry can't really offer any advice just sympathy! our boy Dudley has improved ever so slightly the last week or so and he's 17 weeks now - none of the methods worked for us and we tried them all, the best was to offer toys instead of our hands, we were not able to cuddle him unless he was really sleepy, although a recent thing we have done is to hand feed him some food whilst stroking him all over gently as I think it had become habit for him to immediately put his teeth on us when he felt a hand on him. hope something works for you.
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Puppies bite its just what they do and they dont really stop till around 6-8 mths,I had to learned the hard way (and so did my trousers!)

They wont stop till they stop teething so you need to find what works best for you and your pup.

Distract ....give them a toy to chew when they try to bite you

Turn your back.....this really does work ,puppies love to try and nip a moving target so when you walking around its great fun for them but stopping and ignoreing is boring so they soon learn its no fun at all.

Sleep..... make sure they are getting enough sleep and time outs,a tired pup will be even more bitey.

Let them learn how to bite....dont stop them play fighting just remember by saying ouch even if it didnt hurt you your teaching them to be gentle with humans.

Children.... puppies see them as play mates so have a tendency to bite them more,teach your kids how to get your puppy to sit this may help them when time outs needed,also the standing still works great for kids.

I found this to be a horrid time and i thought never ending but you will get there (just wear an old pair of trs for the first few months !)
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I know it was said that the "yip"/ouch hasn't worked, but keep trying it. Remember that the high-pitched "yip" will probably work best and to make sure to do it immediately as the biting occurs. If you can find some videos of dogs playing and one making the "ouch that hurt" yip, then that would be great in helping you get the feel. When my Scrap was a puppy, she could bite hard. It took a little time but she slowly learned how to bite without hurting. It's the same way a pup would learn in an all dog pack.

Watch some videos and look for the ouch yip. Notice that all dogs involved will stop for a second and then resume. This is basically an "is everyone all right" pause. It gives each dog a small window to leave the game. Otherwise, it continues on and the dog that caused the ouch remembers to try not to bite so hard.
I gave dexter a wooden rolling pin and he loves chewing on it and it has taken a lot of his biting away from me - Teething is a pain!
Simon had the same problem as a pup. After researching a ton of resources, I come up with a method that worked for him. Apparently, based on reader's comments, it's helped quite a few dog owners with the same problem:
Biting and Mouthing Correction.
Wow this takes me back. I posted a number of times when Dex's biting got bad. Now though he is 26 weeks & all baby teeth gone. He hardly ever mouths. I think it is mostly maturity that stops it. We did teach him the off command to get him to let go on command & that helped as we could verbally remind him not to do it. A frozen filled kong, stag bar or frozen damp tea towel helped with his sore teeth. Don't panic - it will stop


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Lisa - mum of 3 boys, Dexter Cockapoo & 4 hens !
Thank you for this information everyone! We just got our cockapoo puppy last week. Was a mellow little charmer for the first couple of days. Now he is starting to show a split personality--sweet and then yipping/growling/nipping. He just seems to get more riled up when we correct him (hold his mouth, shout NO, etc.). He is really bullying my 11 year old son (who is trying to be carm, but gets really frustrated and angry when the nipping continues; it hurts!). So... I'm going to try the coins in the can method to startle him. See how that works. Any other advice????
yipping, growling, and bullying are signs that this young pup may be attempting to establish itself as the alpha dog in your pack. You need to address this immediately and assign someone as a pack leader in the home. Your dog will be much happier as a pack follower once someone establishes themselves as the leader. It is very simple to do attached is a link with suggestions
http://www.cbrrescue.org/articles/packleader.htm
Hi

bertie did a lot of biting and at 10 months old was still biting all has changed over night when a friend gave me a spray of pet corrector.

I have only had to spray it 4 times and the difference it has made. wish i had used it months ago as i had tried everything and nothing worked until i used this spray.

Good luck
One of my friends used a spritzer water bottle and spritzed the dog in the nose with it when it tried to bite. It did stop biting, but I don't know if I could do that unless I was really concerned with the biting.
I posted something similar to this! Minnie is 8 weeks and when she gets to playful she really hurts when she bites and gets far to carried away! And when you shout NO and her to trys to bite you even more! Im being very consistant with her and she is slooowly starting to learn!! It's when she sees my younger sister she get like this and I know it's because she always plays with Minnie and she just thinks she playing all the time!

Other than this shes amazing! I wouldn't change her for the world and I know in time she'll grow out of it!! I know exactly how you feel though, Jo!!

x x x
I hope you are feeling better now you know it's not just you ! I had some nights when I seriously considered giving Dex up because of it - I promise it will resolve. At night now we have what everyone dreams of - a well behaved & toilet trained ball of fluff who loves nothing more than a cuddle & snooze on the sofa while watching the telly. :)


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Lisa - mum of 3 boys, Dexter Cockapoo & 4 hens !
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