Help!!

[Joyce Orland]

Lucy is almost 4 months old. She is a wild doodle. Her biting is out of control. Can anyone suggest methods that has helped them. I had a trainer come to the house, and that really did not help. I have bites all over my hands and legs. I am loosing it.

I try to keep her on a lease in the house so I can tether her when she bites, that's not working. 

I have a feeling we are both out of control. I am the only one home with her so I am trying to train her not to bite and be so agressive. 

I feel like I am just not doing anything right.

Any suggestions on how to stop the biting is greatly appreciated. I know she is a puppy, I am just afraid that she is going to grow up to be a big dog that bites.

I am really loosing it she attacks me non stop.

Help Please,

Joyce

[John and Finn]

I tried everyting and for the most part Finn is better but as long as you consistently correct her she will eventually improve.  Here are some things people usually suggest 1.  Bitter apple spray 2. Timeouts 3.  Saying no bite 4. Make hurt noises loudly like another dog 4.  Stuffing your fist in their mouth  5. stuffing your hand in flatly  6. redirecting their biting to another object like a toy  7.  More excercise until your pup cant do anything but sleep (lol, just dumb like who has time for that)  8.  Turning your back on her and ignoring her when she bites.  9.  Water and vinegar spray when she bites.

In the end just find what works and stay consistent. BTW, with Finn the palm in the mouth worked best along with the tethering until he started getting his adult teeth and chewed thru them in minutes.

[Jassibeth Weaver]

I was having the exact same problem with Nigel (4 months tomorrow)! We put him in his crate for a timeout when his biting gets out control and that seems to have done the trick.  Now anytime he starts biting - I just say "I'm going to put you in your crate" and he stops biting instantly.  I would only put him in the crate for about 10 minutes for him to calm down. I was also very worried that he would grow up to be an agressive dog but I think its just a puppy thing. Now if I could get him to stop barking!

Good luck!

[Casey and Granger]

I once read that when they start doing that you go into another room and shut the door. You wait 3 minutes and then come out and greet them like you haven't seen them all day. It sounds crazy to me but the article I was reading said it really works. I guess anything is worth a try!

Good luck!

[Lia & Pippa]

Pippa was a pretty nippy little puppy. When her and her daddy would play she would get all riled up and bite a ton. When she was itty bitty it was kind of cute but as the weeks went on it became a problem. We first started with making the yelping "ow" noises but that just seemed to rile her up more. We also tried to turn away and ignore her when she did it but that didn't make much of an impression either. Eventually my husband started grabbing her snout and saying very sternly "no bite" or just "no". He said it liked he meant it and she listened! She really did not enjoy having her nose grabbed (by the way I was very unsure about this tactic in the beginning but my hubby has had a lot of dogs throughout his life) and eventually if we just said "no" or started reaching for her nose she would stop. It only took a week or so of being very consistent and not letting her get away with it before she stopped completely. Now only very rarely when she is VERY excited does she try to nip but she usually realizes she has made a mistake as soon as she bites. Good luck! Sometimes you have to be tough with them!

[Midge and Gracie]

Joyce, I know exactly what yo are going through.  The puppy has no idea that biting hurts humans because they have been biting in the litter since being born.  Plus it doesn't pierce dog skin like it does in humans.  They just don't get it. Be mindful, that biting another dog in play doesn't hurt like it does us so they must learn that that behavior is not good.  My trainer gave us a great tip and it took about 10 days to get our Gracie alerted to the pain of a bite.  Every time she bit, we would cry out "Ouch" in a high pitch squeal. Really say it high pitched so they are shocked by sound.  She immediately would look up and wonder why we said that.  That got her attention.  Then we would ignore her.  If she went in for the bit again, another squeal.  As soon as she was startled we started saying "kisses, kisses" and after ten days she figured it out and has the softest mouth of any dog.  It definitely works.  Even now, when she plays she mouths us but if I say kisses it turns into wet wonderful licks.  It will pass, Joyce.  Just stay with it.  These dogs are smart they just have to be shown the way.  

[Helen & Kirby]

My dog had a real bad puppy biting stage too.  I, like you, thought what if she turns out to be agressive.  Remenber that eventually  she WILL grow out of it.  Try all the things that John and Finn suggested.  BTW, my dog turned out great.  She is now a therapy dog, absolutely no agression issues.  Hang in there

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

At one year old, Lilly does not bite anymore but when she was little our arms looked like we were bad drug addicts that could not find a vein. Bully sticks helped her from biting us and let her get out that biting need. Buy made in USA. we got ours at the vets. We would put her in the crate when the jaws biting attacked would hit. We wouldn't say a word, just put her in the crate and that would calm her down. Walks helped but they need to bite..just like babies cutting teeth. Wet a old tshirt/ wash cloth.. tie in knots and put in freezer. this helped her bite something and I think the cold helped her gums.. good luck.

[Emily & Wispa]

I think it depends if she's actually biting you or just mouthing.  It's not really the same thing.  You said 'attack,' but is she really attacking you, or just trying to play with you?  Wispa's not so bad, but at times she gets really mouth-y, and when it happens we start with "NO" then immediately go to pet her, if her mouth stays closed she gets lots of praise and a treat.  If she tries to nip again she gets a time out - pick her up and plop her down outside the room and shut the door, but only for about 30 seconds.  Then we open the door and she's sitting the sheepishly, I tell her to come, and then I lavish her with priase for coming and pet her.  If she doesn't nip she gets more praise and a cuddle :)

Other things that work: sticking a chew toy in her mouth, if she rolling around on her back and mouthing, putting her own paw in her mouth (it distracts her and she happily gnaws on it for a while)

Things that didn't work for me: yelping like a hurt dog.  It helped the first few times, but now she thinks it's a game and it makes her nip even more!

Things I've heard work, but haven't tried: having something like PB to hand to dip your fingers into so it teaches them to lick instead of bite.  A bit too gross for me.

[Susan]

I know exactly how you are feeling!   I felt like I was loosing it too for a couple of months.  Cubby is now almost 9 months and I promise IT DOES GET BETTER.  All of the other comments seem spot on except we did one more thing that worked really well for us.   Remember your puppy is "teething" and his mouth is probably sore, so we took a couple of old washcloths , soaked them in cold water, wrung them out so they were in the shape of a bone and froze them.   We called them his freezebone and he LOVED them.  Felt great on his teeth and when he got wild we would crate him with one of them and Ahhhhhh Peace!   :)   I know that Petco sells actual teething rings that you can freeze- this was just our cheaper alternative.   Good Luck and Hang in there!