# Springer spaniel puppy biting!



## Dottydog (Feb 17, 2009)

I have an 11 week old springer spaniel puppy who is biting me all the time and drawing blood. I have sore hands, arms and legs! I have tried for three weeks now to redirect her mouthing with a toy, yelp when she bites me, and saying no and turning around, all of which do not work as she continues to either jump up at me or bite on my trousers/shoes. I have had 2 pairs of ripped jeans and numerous holes in my jumpers and it's getting to point now where I don't enjoy playing with her. Can anyone offer any advice please? We are currently crate training her and this has been quite successful with her toileting, although she does sometimes have the odd accident on the floor still.


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## james1 (Sep 21, 2008)

It will ease with time but continue for a good while yet, get her some chewy toys or some good quality pigs ears. I know someone who can supply big fresh premium ears for a very resonable price. They help with pups teething. PM if youd like the address.
Have you tried making her sit when she does? Try distracting her away from it if your commands arent working


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## hutch6 (May 9, 2008)

Are you doing any training with the pup i.e. Sit, down, stay etc?


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## hutch6 (May 9, 2008)

james1 said:


> I know someone who can supply big fresh premium ears for a very resonable price. They help with pups teething. PM if youd like the address.


PM for you chief.


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## james1 (Sep 21, 2008)

lol shes more of a chef lol. Gorgeous lugs:biggrin:


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2009)

my cocker is 14 weeks and still doing this although it has improved.

She seems to do it most when she wants to play. It's attention seeking.

A good game for this behaviour is known in our house as milk bottle football.

Take 5 or 6 empty plastic milk cartons
Put them on the floor and start kicking them around
As soon as puppy gets one then kick another one 
They will then dart after that one
And so on and so on ...

Completely mad but good fun and diverts their attention for a bit.

I also have found removing Oscar from the room for a couple of minutes until he calms down then just let him back in calmly, if he carries on biting repeat the removal.

This ensures you stay calm and in control and it doesn't become a game.

Start to teach the commands "Off" and "leave" aswell. Oscar knows this now and it works most of the time.


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## james1 (Sep 21, 2008)

some people disagree with that but is also my suggestion, if shes to excited that shes not listening, take her to somewhere she can calm down, this will make her realise everytime she doesnt do as you say she is put on her own and secondly give her time to chill out - just make sure you give a toy to entertain herself with?


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## Guest (Feb 17, 2009)

literally 1 or 2 minutes is usually all it takes with Oscar.

I tend to do it because otherwise the children make the situation worse.


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## Dottydog (Feb 17, 2009)

Thanks guys, just to hear other people are also having the same sort of training issues is a big help and I will try some of your suggestions.Many thanks from slightly happier springer spaniel owner. X


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## Chance (Jul 8, 2008)

Chance was a real bugger for mouthing and even at 10 months she occasionally she is.

She only really calmed down at about 6 months, even though we tried all the things already suggested. 

They say that mouthing helps to learn bite inhibition (I think!) and despite what i said above about her still biting she is incredibly gentle and I take it more as a term of endearment. 

I can hold a treat in my mouth and she will take in very gently. Reading that last line make me sound reckless and stupid, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't know how gentle she is. I'm sure I'm not alone with this one?

It also gets easier when the puppy teeth disappear!


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## deda (Oct 30, 2010)

I have a 15mnth springer spaniel pup megan,we bought her from an owner of two working dogs,the mum had 12 pups and couldnt cope so we aquired her @ six weeks old however we picked up where the owner left off and continued with mothers milk substitue for another 8weeks.
Megan has always what we termed as play bit however this is continuing even though we have walked away ,turned our backs ,ignoered it totally ,diverted with toys and hide chews,she will now jump up with her mouth open ,there is nothing for it but to say no no biting and walk away an/or remove her to a quite place to be calm.we persever but i am most concerned really because i feel that there is no improvement.
Megan is lovable outside this and its almost as if she is seeking to communicate as sometimes she will drop toys at this point at your feet so the aggressive context does not seem to be there.
THis morning however she suddenly became overly excited and when I didnt play th e game she jumped up mouth open and actually bit my leg.When she plays with her toys and gets ott excired she will growl and snarl at the toy ,is this normal in this context help deda


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## Joan (Aug 21, 2009)

Hi,

We recently had a 3 month old puppy who did the same thing. He would also do it to stop you stopping him, if you see what I mean. We tried all those things, if you said "No" and held your finger out he would bite it, you couldn't take him by the collar and lead him because he would bite/try to bite and get more and more wound up! If you walked away, he'd bite your legs/ankles. We kept him on a lead (one we didn't mind being chewed), that way you can hold him away from what he wants without losing fingers! It worked well, although there were certainly times when he just went straight back to biting us when we let him go, but we just did it again and again. Also food treats when he was doing well was a big motivator. 

It's so disheartening; why is this lovely creature hurting me and why won't they stop? I think basically let her get what she wants from biting by doing other things. I think puppies have a great ability to understand actions and consequences: I did A, B happened, I like B...I'll do A again!!!

Hope this helps,

Joan


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## Gemma/duke (Dec 21, 2015)

Dottydog said:


> Thanks guys, just to hear other people are also having the same sort of training issues is a big help and I will try some of your suggestions.Many thanks from slightly happier springer spaniel owner. X


Hi I seem to be having the same problem with mine he will be 13 weeks old tomorrow and I'm not seeing any improvement he does tend to listen to me with it suits, but he is biting my two children on their feet legs and arms I no he wants to play which I do a lot but it's like he has no respect for them, also when stroking him he will just start biting so u are not alone I just hope I can get a bit of advance from reading these comments


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## Gemma/duke (Dec 21, 2015)

Gemma/duke said:


> Hi I seem to be having the same problem with mine he will be 13 weeks old tomorrow and I'm not seeing any improvement he does tend to listen to me with it suits, but he is biting my two children on their feet legs and arms I no he wants to play which I do a lot but it's like he has no respect for them, also when stroking him he will just start biting so u are not alone I just hope I can get a bit of advance from reading these comments


Advice even lol


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## Andreeyah (Aug 24, 2016)

I have two of the little biters - if they aren't asleep like little angels, they're either fighting with each other or biting at me and my 2 girls - i do tell them NO and also have had a bit of success in ignoring them but then they sometimes bite ankles or clothes. I tried holding them down gently but firmly, basically trying to show dominance but without hurting them. THat seemed to work quite well. the next step straight after was to then sit them down and give them lots of lovely strokes around under the chin and body so they couldn't really bite - all the time telling them this is them being good boys - you can see even in their 10 week old puppy fervour that they sort of want to be 'good boys' and they seem eager to please. They just forget and get giddy. Slowly but surely, this seems to be stopping the biting and certainly the episode is over faster as they seem to remember the drill. Now if I could only stop them eating snails!!


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## FeelTheBern (Jan 13, 2016)

Andreeyah said:


> I have two of the little biters - if they aren't asleep like little angels, they're either fighting with each other or biting at me and my 2 girls - i do tell them NO and also have had a bit of success in ignoring them but then they sometimes bite ankles or clothes. I tried holding them down gently but firmly, basically trying to show dominance but without hurting them. THat seemed to work quite well. the next step straight after was to then sit them down and give them lots of lovely strokes around under the chin and body so they couldn't really bite - all the time telling them this is them being good boys - you can see even in their 10 week old puppy fervour that they sort of want to be 'good boys' and they seem eager to please. They just forget and get giddy. Slowly but surely, this seems to be stopping the biting and certainly the episode is over faster as they seem to remember the drill. Now if I could only stop them eating snails!!


I'm sorry to say this, but writing all of that was a waste of your time. This thread hasn't been active for months, and the initial question was asked and answered over six years ago. This mistake is frequently made by new members. In the future, try and look at the date on the thread before replying to it.


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## SusieRainbow (Jan 21, 2013)

May I add - 'dominance ' is a dirty word on here ! Not sure holding them down is the best approach , sounds a bit Cesar Milan to me. Ignoring, time out and redirecting to toys are all tried and ested techniques , there's a good sticky , 'help with a nipping pup ' at the top of the training and behaviour thread. 
They should grow out of it soon !


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