[MnBiscuit]

My wife and I have had many happy dogs over the years. Sadly my wife became allergic to dogs and we went 20 years before we discovered a neighbors Cockapoo. It didn’t bother my wife so we bought a 8 week old pup. Note we used to have Jack Russell Terriers, so energetic smart dogs are something we are used to.

Biscuit is a male and has been a biter since day 1. Those puppy teeth were nasty and Biscuit was very hard to break of biting us and our clothing. Finally the adult teeth came and things improved until...

My wife has been glued to Biscuit. She trains him, takes him outside, goes on walks, and takes him everywhere. He is well behaved in public and loves other dogs. He is just OK with peo_le, a bit shy.

Now the sad part. Biscuit continues to bite my wife. She has bruises all over her body and some bites have broken skin. She puts endless love into Biscuit and he randomly just starts biting at her. Biscuit isn’t as bad with me.

Tonight my wife broken down in tears. She said she has to get rid of Biscuit. She said she cannot take the physical abuse anymore. She was bleeding from a bite.

Biscuit can be warm and loving and always is happy to greet you. He has a spirit to him that is incredible. But he also has a dark side and these temper tantrums or aggressive behavior.

Biscuit is scheduled for a shot tomorrow and my wife will be talking to our vet. But my wife is at the end of her patience and I am concerned about her well-being. We have never had a dog do this.

I can’t help but wonder if our breeder was not very good and Biscuit has issues.

Any comments or help are appreciated. We have had a very tough night since we love this dog so much, but it is really harming my wife.

Thanks

 

[2ndhandgal]

Pups generally bite because it is effective and works, they need to learn that it doesn’t work, if this is a continuation of puppy biting I would be looking at how your wife reacts to it, does she yell and make sudden movements of push the pup away? All of these can be seen as huge fun by pups and will cause the behaviour to continue.

Alternately if you think the pup is showing real aggression when is the biting happening and what is happening at that time?

Vets are the people I would go to for any health issues, good reward based trainers are who I would be reaching out to for this. Video the behaviour as it might really help a trainer understand why it is happening. Happy to look at any videos and try to help from over the pond with at least understanding why the pup is doing it and what steps you need to take to resolve it.

 

[Dig]

Hi, our cockapoo was a nipper for many months and we linked it mostly to him being overexcited or over stimulated in any way. The only thing that worked for us was walking away and letting him calm down on his own. Please reassure your wife that I can totally identify with the mixed emotions or loving your dog yet feeling you can’t take this any more. Consistent messages that nipping meant no attention got there in the end, probably by about 7-8 months. Digby is now amazing and I wouldnt be without him. He still has very occasional brief moments of mouthing but definitely when over stimulated and he responds really quickly to being ignored- turn away, no touch, no talk, no eye contact.
good luck with this- a good trainer will be able to help you get to the root of the issue and support you in changing the behaviour.

 

[Dig]

I should have added that once Digby has stopped the mouthing and he is paying attention we ask him to sit and reward that positive behaviour.

 

[Cocos mum]

My wife and I have had many happy dogs over the years. Sadly my wife became allergic to dogs and we went 20 years before we discovered a neighbors Cockapoo. It didn’t bother my wife so we bought a 8 week old pup. Note we used to have Jack Russell Terriers, so energetic smart dogs are something we are used to.

Biscuit is a male and has been a biter since day 1. Those puppy teeth were nasty and Biscuit was very hard to break of biting us and our clothing. Finally the adult teeth came and things improved until...

My wife has been glued to Biscuit. She trains him, takes him outside, goes on walks, and takes him everywhere. He is well behaved in public and loves other dogs. He is just OK with peo_le, a bit shy.

Now the sad part. Biscuit continues to bite my wife. She has bruises all over her body and some bites have broken skin. She puts endless love into Biscuit and he randomly just starts biting at her. Biscuit isn’t as bad with me.

Tonight my wife broken down in tears. She said she has to get rid of Biscuit. She said she cannot take the physical abuse anymore. She was bleeding from a bite.

Biscuit can be warm and loving and always is happy to greet you. He has a spirit to him that is incredible. But he also has a dark side and these temper tantrums or aggressive behavior.

Biscuit is scheduled for a shot tomorrow and my wife will be talking to our vet. But my wife is at the end of her patience and I am concerned about her well-being. We have never had a dog do this.

I can’t help but wonder if our breeder was not very good and Biscuit has issues.

Any comments or help are appreciated. We have had a very tough night since we love this dog so much, but it is really harming my wife.

Thanks

How old is Biscuit 💙

 

[Cocos mum]

Sorry just noticed the heading said 7 month he's still a puppy 💙💙

 

[MnBiscuit]

Thank you everyone for the wonderful responses! We will be reaching out to a trainer and I will try to record the behavior.

I really like the idea of giving him not attention. That really seems to be the issue, he is biting her to get a reaction.

Again thank you, wonderful people here.