Help with biting puppy

[Gayl Talbert]

We have an 8 week old Goldendoodle. He's as cute as can be but the nipping is getting worse1 We bought a few small rubber squeeky toys and he's interested for a few minutes then decides that he likes our body parts far more.

Does anyone have advice or know of chew toys that would be good to try? He's a mini so has a very small (but powerful!) mouth. Thanks. Gayl

[Dan, Judi, & Timbow]

Hi Gayl! You should join the puppy madness group here on DK! There are a lot of great ideas about this topic on there. -- I know a lot of people spray sour apple on themselves or yelp (to sound like a litter mate) when the puppy bites. Do you have a kong for your puppy yet? They're really durable and you can put treats or freeze peanut butter inside to keep him interested. Good luck and congratulations on your new puppy.

[Frannie & Callie]

This will sound really crazy, but I recorded a program from animal planet (it was a dogs 101 about puppies) and the trainer recommended putting cold butter on your hands so that they know to lick your hands instead of biting them. I have no idea if this works, or how anyone would feel about rubbing their hands with butter (could be very moisturizing!), just reporting what I saw!

I've never had a puppy, but my sister has had great success with her schnauzer pup with a puppy kong and an empty water bottle tied inside a sock.

[Debbie and Thomas]

Oh my!!! My husband and I were just talking about this and thank goodness it is a distant memory. If you do a search for puppy biting, nipping, you will find many words of advice. Our goldendoodle pup was a "vampire" and we were not expecting it. He just wanted to bite us-many days my husband went to work with bandages on his arm or hands. He would even jump up when I turned my back to him and bite my bottom! Some nights, I went to bed in tears... everything else went perfectly, trained to do his business outside in 10 days, slept in our laundry room right thru every night without so much as a wimper, learned sit, leave it, shake paw etc etc, but the biting continued. I have said this 20 times before on this site, but I truly believe there is not much you can do about it-they JUST GROW OUT OF IT. By the time our Thomas was 5 mths old, it had pretty much stopped. thank God! I have heard that they are "mouthy" dogs (retreiver) but their puppy teeth are so sharp that it really hurts and sometimes draws blood. One word of advice I can give is to start saying"no teeth" and cry or act upset. You may have to do this 100 times, but eventually he will get the picture. Our boy is 15 mths old and he may in play grab us with his mouth but it is a "soft mouth" now. They don't mean to hurt you.

[Chelsea and her doodle Piper]

Gayle, I could copy and paste the post Debbie wrote about her doodle too! We were not expecting such a mouthy dog, BUT if this helps any, Piper got better and better every week. He is only 3 1/2 months old now and it is not a problem like it used to be. There are times when he will "nip" but not too hard and it is only when he is super excited. We were very firm with him, because he was attacking our 4 year old and it was totally unacceptable. And we NEVER let him playfully chew our hands if he used any pressure at all! I read a post on DK and got the idea to smear peanut butter on our palm (held vertically like a stop sign) and as he licked it say, "kisses" and close your hand if he used any teeth. He learned quickly what kisses meant and we remind him to give kisses instead of bites. Hang in there, it will keep getting better. He seemed to turn a major corner at the 12 week mark (regarding overall behavior)!

[Debbie and Thomas]

I wonder if the males are worse than the females in this biting thing. As I was reading this again it occured to me that I don't know if I have ever read a post on the forum about a female goldendoodle or labradoodle with these biting issues. Just a thought.

[Leslie J]

We have a female puppy, and trust me, she can be quite nippy at times! What our trainer recommended is to keep a leash attached to the puppy at all times and use it to gain control of her whenever she get hyper or starts nipping. I just step on the leash so she cannot jump up and nip. I then have her sit down and get lots of calming cuddles. When we pet her or rub her belly and she gets nippy we put a bully stick or other toy in her mouth and say "chew this". Believe it or not, it has helped.

I also keep her tethered when she is not in the kitchen. One reason is that she will eat ANYTHING and I have small children who leave things lying around, the other is if she starts nipping we just walk out of her reach and ignore her. When she is calm and behaving I use a long tether. When she is being too wild and nippy I slip the loop of a 5' leash under a sofa leg. It seems that she calms down when she has a shorter leash. She doesn't mind the tether at all- she is used to it and she is generally happy as long as she within petting distance of us.

I think that nipping is usually just a development milestone. Like babies go through mouthing stages and dropping stages, dogs go through chewing and nipping stages. Cocoa almost completely stopped nipping at 12 weeks- then started up again recently at 20 weeks- I think because all of her baby teeth are falling out. Just like babies start mouthing everything and dropping toys from highchairs, you puppy will stop nipping!

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

The good news is that the puppy teeth usually come out between 4-5 months and that helps tremendously. I also saw the show on putting butter on your hand to teach them to lick vs. bite. Our Lucy is very "mouthy". She doesn't bite, but she will try and put your arm in her mouth. I've taught her "kisses". So whenever she tries to put my arm in her mouth I put the top of my hand down and tell her "kisses" and she will just lick my hand. It distracts her and she stops mouthing my arm!

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

I think this is just part of having a puppy. Gracie Doodle was quite a nipper and we called our hands "handburger". We had band aids on our hands and arms for months! My neighbor who has Springer Spaniels went through the same thing. Just a puppy thing. But, the tether method helps too. That was our trainer's method. I just posted a discussion on "GoldenDoodle Book". It was our go to book for all things while Gracie was going through her first year. It is a really good book to have and your baby Doodle is at the perfect age to start reading the book! Good Luck!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

We acted like we were crying. It seems like Peri's adult teeth grew in and then overnight, she stopped the nipping. Now she may try to nip in a playful way, but I still say "no bite" and she stops.
Try the crying thing. That is how pups warn each other when playing (they yelp). Peri would immediately back off when I yelped.
And like others say, hang in there, it gets much better.

[Julie B.]

I am raising a pup right now and my method, which has worked on 4 previous puppies I have raised... is to have a huge toybox in the room and constantly pet and play with them on the floor. If they try to bite my hand I always have a fun toy to put in there instead. When I see them chewing on a toy and entertaining themself I go over and really pet them nicely while they are chewing. I believe in teaching them from day one that hands are for petting and never for chewing or kissing... I am not a big fan of dog kissing anyway. Sydney is now 10 weeks old and her favorite thing to do is to climb in my lap while I hold a nylabone for her to chew. I also don't have young children around anymore so the playtimes can remain pretty quiet and calm which I know helps her to settle down and not nip at me. I also have another doodle who is 4 and she entertains her when she wants to "play rough". You have to start this early and never play with your hands! Good luck.

[Libby & Bentley]

What we did was make a loud yelp like dogs make...and abruptly walk away when possibly, and ignore the dog for a few minutes after. And we would be doing this repeatedly for hours at times. I also made sure I was socializing my pup often as this helps teach bite inhibition...fortunately..it goes away.. :) Bentley is just about 7 months old ..and almost perfect training wise. But those days were stressful :) Hang in there