# Crazy biting puppy!



## kcd27 (Jul 13, 2010)

We've had Belle for 2 weeks now and things are generally going great (thanks to some very helpful toilet training advice on here!). HOWEVER, she is starting to become very aggressive when she plays with us, particularly with my fiance, leaping at us to bite us. When we say "no" or try to distract her with another toy, she becomes even more riled up and if we try to discipline her, she goes comepletely mad, racing round the room! She is still not allowed out for walks as she hasn't had her 2nd set of jabs, but she has unlimited access to our garden and we are trying to make sure she is using up lots of energy throughout the day with games/training etc. We really don't know what to do, her playing is becoming so aggressive, we're very nervous about letting other people meet her.


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## Amy&Ted (Jul 14, 2010)

Ted is exactly the same


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## kcd27 (Jul 13, 2010)

Thank goodness it's not just us! She's so good in loads of ways, but it's so frustrating when she behaves like this - and we end up getting angry and then feeling guilty for getting angry etc. etc.! If you find anything that works...!


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## joleary (Jul 10, 2010)

Have you read Ian Dunbar's "After you get your puppy"? (dl free at Free Downloads | Dog Star Daily)

He has a step-by-step guide for transforming puppies' natural instinct for mouthing/nipping/biting into acceptable behaviour.

Lots of other valuable stuff too.


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## Terr (Mar 2, 2010)

Ahahahaa! This is completely normal. It is her way of trying to get your attention. Mine did exactly the same thing and if you tried to grab hold of him and calm him down he was RACE at lightning speed around the house with his hackles up like a crazy animal. 7 months now and still occasionally doing this sort of thing.

The nipping is awful, I know. One has to wonder what they need those tiny sharp teeth for or if dogs are somehow genetically related to sharks.

Joleary! Where were you when my dog was chewing my fingers off? That looks like a great link!

For me personally I chose to completely ignore my dog until he'd calmed down. Clicker training helped to an extent to but you'll need to find your dog's personal currency for it to work really well.


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## MontyA (Feb 3, 2010)

Don't worry, it's normal, and it will pass. I used to print posts off this forum to show the rest of the family, as we were convinced we had an aggressive puppy. Having carefully chosen a golden retriever for their temperament, I was so worried that we had made a mistake. He did exactly as you're describing, and would go like a bat out of hell, tail tucked under and just run around and around. Launch himself at us, and not let go. The more we tried to stop him, the worse he would be. He ruined so many clothes by hanging onto trouser legs or sleeves. If we tried to ignore him he would bite ankles or arms until it became impossible to ignore him any longer. He drew blood and I had scratches all over my arms.

We applied the 'time out' approach. If he was naughty, we put him in his crate until he calmed down.

He's now nearly 8 months old, and never bites. He has such a soft mouth and is so gentle. Of course he's still naughty, he's a puppy, and he still does the mad dashing about thing every now and then. Thankfully mainly in the garden where he doesn't cause any damage!

Don't worry about it, this stage will pass, and so many people go through it. They look so cuddly but it's very hard to cuddle them when they bite so much. They're much more cuddly when they're older!

Good luck!!


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## lexie2010 (Jun 7, 2010)

yep i thought i was going mad when i got my pup 2 mths ago and all she would do was bite my hand, arm, leg whatever she could reach and now i am so relieved to say that through advice on here we are coming out the other side! it is totally natural but that doesnt make it any easier to cope when you are her target! Ian dunbar is a genius, lots of good stuff on dogstar daily and in those 2 free DL's. great advice on the sticky thread on here too, best advice i received was from "tripod".
but perservere and you will reap the rewards even when there are days that you want to give up, i felt like that too and am so glad that i did what i was advised and now she is still occasionally nipping but her force/frequency/intensity has reduced greatly and thats in about a month (shes 18weeks now).
good luck:thumbup:


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## bethy (Jun 19, 2010)

just reading this and got some good tips as my 9 week old staff is driving us to distraction with his biting , tried all the tips on the internet but so far no luck awwwwwwwwww well only a couple of mths to go b4 his adult teeth come through for us


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## bobkerry (Jul 23, 2010)

hey this all happens due to the training... i would recommend you to give the best training to your dogs in order to make their lives trained and best one
if they are trained well then you will not face any further problems


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## Beebuks (Jun 4, 2010)

kcd27 said:


> We've had Belle for 2 weeks now and things are generally going great (thanks to some very helpful toilet training advice on here!). HOWEVER, she is starting to become very aggressive when she plays with us, particularly with my fiance, leaping at us to bite us. When we say "no" or try to distract her with another toy, she becomes even more riled up and if we try to discipline her, she goes comepletely mad, racing round the room! She is still not allowed out for walks as she hasn't had her 2nd set of jabs, but she has unlimited access to our garden and we are trying to make sure she is using up lots of energy throughout the day with games/training etc. We really don't know what to do, her playing is becoming so aggressive, we're very nervous about letting other people meet her.


Sounds like you are talking about our pup! Having real problems with this.


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## billyboysmammy (Sep 12, 2009)

perfectly normal but as you say not acceptable.

Have a search on the forum for threads about bite inhibition... there are a number on here that will teach you how to teach your dog not to bite. ITs normal puppy behaviour and its how they learn so take your time reading and start as you mean to go on.

As for the puppy grand prix! Again perfectly normal, my 1yr old does it, my 3yr old does it and my mams 15yr old still does it! :lol:


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## RobD-BCactive (Jul 1, 2010)

Yes, dont' worry!

I apparently had psycho pup, who actually with no warning, galloped at me from 4 yards, leapt from 2 yards, and was hanging by his teeth in my shorts on inside of my thigh... I had turned as a reflex action protecting my assets. It took quite a while, not to think of that moment, when ladies gushed in park over the "sweet, cute" puppy!

Try doing some obedience training using reward based methods, there's nice explanations in PDF files at the Company of Animals website. That will calm the puppy down, and give you control over hyper behaviours.


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## Lucy1012 (May 23, 2010)

If you are doing puppy classes the instructor should be able to offer advice, I know of many ways that have proven to work for me over the years. 

1. Ignoring the dog, when teeth touch your skin, a firm NO then leave the room, shut the door and come back in 30 seconds later and try again (a bit like the rapid return situation you do with kids at bedtme) 

2. Mimicing (SP) the litter mates, puppies will not interact with litter mates that hurt them, so a very high pitched OUCH will encourage the puppy to use less force whilst play biting. 

3. Place your hand round the puppies nose and lightly slap your hand, offer your hand back should the puppy bite again repeat, should the puppy sniff or lick you offer servere over the top praise. 

4. If a puppy is not mouthing but actively lunging and growling for you whether in play or not, I use only 1 method. Hold the nose, push to the floor and hold them till they stop wiggling. This cause no pain (as you never use force) and is an exact replica of what mum would do. 

Gotta love puppy teeth


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## kath3kidz (Jul 24, 2010)

Hi all. I've had my puppy for a week - he is 8 weeksold tomorrow. He has got more confident and settled over the wek and we have just seen some of this behaviour today. we had been playing tug of war type games with him and he got more and more over excited and then managed to launch himself at my partner and nipped - he even drew blood. I notice that he got more worked up when my partner (male) was growling playfully in imitation of him. I've noticed when I play the game - I don't growl - he is less OTT. So maybe the growling was sending him the wrong message??!


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## RobD-BCactive (Jul 1, 2010)

kath3kidz said:


> we had been playing tug of war type games with him and he got more and more over excited and then managed to launch himself at my partner and nipped - he even drew blood. I notice that he got more worked up when my partner (male) was growling playfully in imitation of him. I've noticed when I play the game - I don't growl - he is less OTT. So maybe the growling was sending him the wrong message??!


Probably best to change to a calmer game, when the pup is growling. The aim is to teach the pup manners with people after it's first socialisation with litter mates, and not act or be treated like those litter mates more than is inevitable. Then let dogs teach the pup dog manners during socialisation period and beyond.

That said, getting nipped and yelping in response, so a pup learns to be soft mouthed with people is important.

The pup probably really enjoys it, and the last few weeks before vaccination immunity means you're clear to go out to doggie friendly parks, is the hardest to keep them entertained. So it is rather tempting to play this way. I think being focussed on getting out asap, and not wanting the pup to nip strangers children and such, is the real persauder, to avoid rough housing type games, until the dog is more mature, secure and less exciteable.


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## ploddingon (Jun 15, 2010)

Oh the wonderful world of puppyhood 

Bobby was a monster when he was younger. It was a nightmare trying to get dressed because there would be this mad puppy hanging off the bottom of my pants - my pj's ended up in the bin! - and various parts of my anatomy were seen as fair game for a bite. Trying to walk in the house was a real pain because he would be chewing at my shoes, feet, slippers, even if I was trying to get up or down stairs.

It was especially bad if a game had made him over-excited because then he would literally leap like a gazelle trying to grab hold of some bit of me! 

I soon learnt that games had to be toned down a bit, or even stopped altogether before he reached madness point. Standing still and totally ignoring him when he was swinging off my clothes did eventually work, although it was soooooo frustrating to do, and doing the 'ouch' thing and ignoring him definately did the trick after a while.

He does still have the odd episode when the end of my pants just seem irresistable but it is a lot less.

Don't worry, there is light at the end of the tunnel


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## kath3kidz (Jul 24, 2010)

THanks for that advice both. I shall definitely try both things i.e. calmer games and stopping before he gets OTT, also saying OUCH when he nips. He has played with my son's very calm 9 month old JRT and he completely showed off, biting and leaping all over him, showing all the dominant dog gestures, and growling and bearing his teeth (all with wagging tail). IN the end my son's dog really tol him off (didn't hurt him) and he was really shocked and subdued! THey then played again and Muffin was very keen to display all the submissive gestures i.e. sticking his bum up to the other dog, lying on his back etc. They then had a lovely, rather rough, but fun game. when he met my sister's dog who is mature and used to pups, he was more restrained and the older dog put him in his place once when he got too cheeky by suddenly pushing his nose hard towards Muffin and staring at him for a moment. Muffin responded by becoming more calm and sensible. Today I have a friend coming with a 12 week old Westie and Tonight he is off to pup socialisation group for the first time - should be an interesting day......:lol:


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## smudge.rimmer (Jul 25, 2010)

I was just about to post a similar thread about our working cocker spaniel Smudge.

She is doing really well (now 12 weeks) Has had he 2nd jabs and is going out on walks. Playing with other dogs very well and getitng used to walking on the lead. But at home she is like somthing else.. 

Sometimes she just snaps mid game and wants to bit your arm or legs over and over. Trouble is my misses is at home atm looking atfer the puppy full time and is at breaking point with all the pain she is causing with the biting,she has bitmarks and scrtaches all up her legs.. (and she isnt the best with pain).

We have tried he her with time outs in her crate.. Which she "sort-of" responds to put generally she always goes back to the same behavour after being out of the crate for more than about an hour at a time. (although somtimes its 5 mins) The walks have helped but only as a distraction as its "new" to her. We try and let her have 3 good 30min walks a day now. 

Although nothing seems to make her tired or wear her out.. 

We have noticed that she is never like this with strangers as they are new and exciting as well. She only does it with myself and the misses who she see's alot. The only restbite we can have is when we are in the kitchen washing up etc.. when she just stops and accepts that we arnt going to play when we are in that room, but i dont really want to spend the rest of my life in the kitchen hiding from her . (standing up in the lviing room or outside she often just bits our legs instead)


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## RobD-BCactive (Jul 1, 2010)

The sticky puppy nipping thread, has lots of discussion of the techniques that worked, and whilst it could do with summarising for clarity, all the information is there to help your wife turn the corner with your spaniel pup.

Your pup sounds like it's behaving rather like mine, time outs were totally ineffective. I had the same effect, that in the big wide world he was as good as gold, and noone could believe there was this tiger-mode, slowly tearing us up to shreds.


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## kath3kidz (Jul 24, 2010)

Well Muffin had an interesting day as I expected! He was less aggressive/ dominant in his behaviour towards my friend's Westie in the morning for a few mins and then went back to all his biting/nipping /challenging behaviour again. They had a few tousles but my friend was nervous and was intervening before any real harm was done. They generally were pretty good together tho. 
Then when we got to our first puppy socialisation session at the vets, he was the youngest pup by 1 week, and the 2nd smallest, but he got into quite a lot of snarling and nipping and challenging towards the other 4 pups. I noticed this was mainly towards the ones who were in his face, although he did approach a coupl of the more timid ones in a sort of playful way, but then was growling / snarling at them too. THen a very boisterous and dominant 10 week old springer spanie (called Indiana!!) leapt at him and really started on him, The owner went to drag him off and he lifted poor Muffin off the ground in his teeth before he would release him. Muffin was not hurt but clearly shaken and sat on my lap watching the others for quite a while. The vet nurse says all this is normal, but I'm a bit worried that it will make him aggressive/defensive towards other dogs if he thinks they are going to attack him...... trouble is he seems to start it. He later went back playing with them all and was STILL doing his snarling/growling/nipping thing


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## Walk and Wag (Jul 26, 2010)

I can recognise this behaviour! I have had many dogs that have an over excited flip out sessions, scooting around the room coming up to me nibbling my arm then running off and semi growling and the more I would say 'enough' or 'no' the worse he would become, I was affraid too of having people around too because it looked like he was being aggressive but he wasn't. The difference being that he would bite hard if he meant it and his nose would go wrinkled and body would go stiff! How old is your dog? Is it still a pup or? It's still is the behaviour you don't really want. 
Sometimes its the Alpha dog syndrome or sometimes its just to much energy and excited play. There may be other reasons but you should do some research on the net and try some different techniques and find ones that work for you!
I use to turn around the minute the play biting use to get out off hand and fold my arms, some people use the distraction technique like a can ful off stones, so when he starts to nip too much or flips out shake it to distract him. I also use to walk out of the room to show I was not playing.

Hope some of this helps!

Jodi


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## kcd27 (Jul 13, 2010)

Have to say - hearing that so many other people are going through this is such a relief! When she goes completely mental skidding about all over the floor we really don't know whether to laugh or cry! We have scrapes and gouges out of all our limbs and were really at our wits' end! The link looks fantastic and we will hang in there and hopefully in a couple of months (argh!) she will calm down. Thanks again!


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## Jobeth (May 23, 2010)

Regarding the puppy class. Mine lets puppies off lead, but they are let off in clear groups and that would just not happen. He won't let mine go down with a lot of the dogs that go even though he is bigger than some of them. He bases it on the level of contact that the dog is happy with. As soon as there is any growling they are also moved apart.


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## kath3kidz (Jul 24, 2010)

I think the vet nurse doing our class is very inexperienced - she seems a bit nevous herself!! I am going to try again next week and see how it goes. As Muffin is only 8 weeks old I don't think he has really learned how to behave with other dogs yet. I am going to let him play with my sister's dog as much as I can, as that one is very calm and experienced with puppies, and seems to know how to play with Muffin safely.
Good luck to all you pup people - it's a tough road, but it will be worth it when we have got our lovely dog companions sorted out!
Incidentally, I would like to recommend 2 books I used to train my last dog - both by john Fisher: 'THink Dog' and 'Why does my dog....?' They are both really helpful.
Another tip I would like to pass on is one I got from my previous dog's breeder - he won 'One Man and his Dog' for the UK so knew what he was doing!! He told me to buy some liver and chop it up very fine. Spread it out on a greased baking tray and slow cook for hours and hours - I do mine all day on the lowest setting. Turn it over from time to time.It dries into little hard bits like gravel and then you can put it in a bag and keep in your pocket or wherever. I have yet to find a dog who won't co-operate for the tiniest piece!! Muffin is so small I am grinding the lumps into cake crumb size and he has learned to come when he hears his name!! He races into the room like a shot and sits:thumbup: Maybe it could be used to distract some of the nutty behaviour?


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