Having Biting Problems with Izzy

[Sarah Mae Doughty]

So my family (my mom, dad, and I) just got an F1B labradoodle puppy last Thursday (which was June 28th). Since we got her, I have become her primary caretaker, and I spend the most time with her. Anyway, she has recently become (what I consider) quite aggressive towards me. For example, she will bark at, growl at, and bite me. What I have been doing in an attempt to discourage this behavior is grabbing her muzzle, looking her in the eyes, and saying "no bite" in a stern voice. Sometimes I will flip her on her back in addition to this. However, none of these things seem to be working.

Basically what I am trying to do is ask "is this normal?" Because I feel like if she was just playing that she wouldn't bite as hard as she does (she's made me bleed) and she wouldn't growl and/or bark at me.
Also, if it is not normal, what can I do to help correct this behavior?

[Jarka, Monty & Auggie]

I would say you are doing everything right. Be persistent. I remember having bite marks all over my arms and my clothing ripped. We had no growling, but the biting was all over and since Monty was a male, he tried to hump me every so often. I tried everything from squealing in high pitched voice to a pop can filled with rocks. Nothing quite worked and I had my doubts about the puppy. When he had all his vaccines, we enrolled in a training class and with the help of obedience training and aging of the puppy, these nasty things went away. So please don't give up on your puppy. The behavior is very normal. Make sure she has safe things to chew and let her know what the boundaries are. It will all be just fine once she is more mature. She is still a baby.

[Heidi & Milton]

My husband and I got Milton, our F1 goldendoodle, on June 1st.  Milt will play bite with us (not hard), but tends to get very agressive (nipping at our ankles, growling, pulling at our clothes) when he does not get his way (stopping to sniff at something, walking in another direction).  My husband thought that I was stressing him out too much with intense pottie training along with leash training.  I was always getting on to him about something in an attempt to train him, but I think I was overwhelming the little guy.  We relaxed a bit on the leash training allowing him to walk off leash a lot more, and it has really helped us.  This could be something that you are dealing with as well.  Check to see if you might be introducing too many new things and demanding results too quickly that could just be stressing him out way too much.  I hope this helps!

[Bonnie and Kona]

Please join the Puppy Madness group! There is lots of information on nipping puppies there. You can search the discussions in that group for suggestions. One idea is to yelp loudly in a high pitched voice when the pup tries to nip. This is what the pup's mother would do to stop this behavior. It is good to have lots of dog-safe toys available that the puppy can chew on. Replace whatever he is biting with what is acceptable. Another thing we did when the puppy would get riled up with barking and nipping was to put him into his kennel for a "time-out". 

You will want to get enrolled in a puppy class. If there isn't one available check into a private trainer to help you.

I hope things improve with new efforts. Please keep us updated. ;o)

[Ginny Nightingale]

Sounds totally normal and lots of good advice here--one I would add: exercise, exercise, exercise---puppies have a lot of energy--play with the pup and let her get tired out and when she gets nippy and snappy, it could mean that she is pooped and needs time in the crate--most of the time bad behavior is due to fatigue--they can't control themselves because they are too tired. Hang in there--you have lots to learn and the pup will come along just fine in time. Get to a training class as soon as she is old enough too--they can teach you lots of good remedies. 

[Sue and Buddy]

She is treating you like another puppy and playing with you as she would another dog. Puppies have to learn bite inhibition. I used Ian Dunbar's method and it worked great with Buddy. He does a much better job of describing it, so you can find it here

You might want to look at other sections of his site as he has lots of good information on raising puppies.

[BG and Gavin]

This is an excellent article Sue.  It is what we did with Gavin as well who was very mouthy as a puppy, particularly with my DH.  He regularly "stormed out of the room" when Gavin got too rough.  Seems like a distant memory now :)

[Sabina]

My Vienna would play bite when we first got her--I actually encouraged it to an extent. I read early on that if you teach a puppy what is 'too hard' (yipping when it becomes even slightly annoying, etc) they'll learn the bite inhibition and soft mouthing  that they would ordinarily get from their litter mates. When I play with her now, she does not bite hard at all. It's like a mouth hug!

However, what is the MOST important is consistency. When she bites hard, correct her. Wait until she settles into a sit before you start playing again. If you pet her immediately afterwards, avoid her head and face because she might take that as an invitation to continue play biting. If she keeps biting, get up and turn your back to her, ignoring those precious whines and jumps for attention. Doing this every single time is of paramount importance to keep your dogs behavior in check

Also: puppy teeth. My six month old just lost her last one this week, but her need to gnaw on me when ever I was sedentary has pretty much disappeared. Stuffing Kongs with dog food and freezing them are a great way to help teething, though I do prefer the wigzi lock stuffable toys--easier to clean. Make sure your puppy has plenty of fun things to chew on that aren't you.

Continue to do this and you'll be set.

[Heather & Brinkley]

It is a puppy thing! It will get better. I will say that our Goldendoodle is 2 1/2 and when we really get playing hard he still "growls" and nips and goes for the ankles just like he does when he is playing with his dog friends... But it is a different growl compared to the one that he's done only a few times when he's scared or threatened. And the difference now is that he's older and when I tell him to stop the play biting, he does. It used to take my husband's presence in a room to get him to stop the nip and bite attack (which does hurt!!) which told us that he looked at my husband as the leader, not me so I had to stand my ground.

The grabbing the muzzle never worked for us. It actually made it worse and he'd come back even harder and stronger. We would still tell him no bite very sternly but it seemed the grabbing of a muzzle set Brinkley off. We would say no bite and if he'd listen on first try, he'd get a reward. If he didn't listen, we'd say it again and turn our back and walk away. What he really wanted was lots of attention and we wanted him to know that he wouldn't get our attention that way. He quickly learned that positive attention was better. Hope that helps but hang in there because this is totally normal!!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Often when puppies get into a "nipping frenzy" it's because they're over excited.  That's when all the play should stop, and possibly a "calming down" period in their crate.  Just stay calm but let her know that you are not going to tolerate this behavior by walking away or putting her in a crate or gated area.  I've not heard much success from people who grab the muzzle and she may just think you're playing with the flipping her on her back.  There's definitely lots of great "puppy advice" in the Puppy Madness group.  Good luck!

[Adina P]

Defintely NORMAL.  I had a living furry JAWS when Rosco was a pup.  He turned out great.  But he left me feeling scared, hopeless and once or twice in tears because I felt so useless in my attempts to stop it.  What worked best is working hard in obedience training as he grew into a bigger, older pup.  By the time he turned a year old he was a gem!  Most pups don't take THAT long to quit the nipping behavior.  is she enrolled in a puppy class? If not, I would do that as my next step so you have a trainer that can help guide you.