Words of encouragement for those with nippers / biters...

[Anne]

I just wanted to post a quick note with words of encouragement for those with puppies like mine.  From the time we got my goldendoodle, Rocky, at 8 weeks, he was such a mouthy/nippy/bitey little guy.  I would guess his teeth were on me 50-100 times a day!  Sometimes gently, sometimes rough (I have a few holes in my jacket!).  I tried the can with coins, yelping like a puppy, "NO", time out.  Nothing seemed to help.  But I think my problem was that I was trying everything.. and nothing consistently.  There were also times when I just didn't have the energy to react and let him do it gently.  Anyway, long story short, on the advice of my trainer, I was determined to be consistent and decided to put him in a time out EVERY SINGLE time his teeth touched me.  I even set up a time out spot outside (attaching his leash to swing set).  I have been doing this for about a week and the results are dramatic.  I think he only was in a time out 2 times yesterday and it was only for very gentle mouthing.  I'm so relieved as I was very concerned about this problem!   By the way, Rocky is just over 4.5 months old.  Good luck!

[Anne]

Forgot to add one other thing that really helped.  Every time I sat down with him to pet him, I always had a bully stick or chew toy in my hand.  This way he could chew this instead of me!

[Vanessa & Evie]

That is awesome, glad it has worked for you. Thank god for persistance and time outs !

Time out worked wonders for us with Evie when she was nippy. We still use it a bit with some jumpiness on certain visitors. 

Evie is now just over a year old and we are starting to use time out for when ever she barks at people walking dogs past our house from our front door. I hope it works with that also. 

the one thing i find funny about time out in the bathroom at our house, is that evie has never shredded a toilet roll when she is in there for a time out, but seems to go in there on average once a month and shred one by herself lol Guess she knows she is in trouble and doesnt want to be in any more lol

[3tcmu8wc5xgqz]

Thanks for posting, Anne. Our Noel is 10 weeks old today, and though she doesn't seem to be quite a mouthy / biting as Rocky, she still does it frequently.

Typically I just say "no" and stop playing with her. Other times when she does that I will give her one of her toys. The ignoring seems to work the best though because she wants attention. I think she's starting to understand that if she bites, I stop playing, and she doesn't like that.

BTW - your Rocky sure is a handsome boy. Love that grin he's got in your profile pic! :)

[Breanna Haggerty]

Thank you so much for posting this! Our pup is a little over 11 weeks old and loves to bite! Although he has so many different chew toys, there is something about hands/feet and ankles that he loves! And those teeth are sharp! Ignoring him seems to work the best, and then he will go find one of his toys, but I want to be able to play with him without him getting bity.  How long would you leave him in time out for?

[Anne]

Not long.  Maybe a minute or two.  BeforeI let him out I ask him to do something positive (lick my hand or sit).

[Marnie, Stanlee's Mom]

My boy is 11½ months and still has the desire to lead me around the house by my hand.  What I did in an effort to eliminate this was I went to the fabric store, bought a big remnant of fleece, cut it into squares and tied a knot at one corner of each of the squares.  Stanlee has learned that when he greats someone it is not okay to mouth them so he grabs a "binky" and greets with his mouth full.  This has alleviated almost all of his mouthiness by redirecting that urge.  Don't get me wrong, he's a spazzy nerd and sometimes just can't help himself but he's MUCH better than he was as a very young puppy. 

 

We still have MAJOR issues with the jumping up on people in his excitement and looks like it's due to lack of consistency on my part....I'm such a bad mommy!

[Jessica and Ava]

Thank you so much for this! I just got my puppy 2 weeks ago and she loves to nip, it seems as if that's all she does. I have been trying the yelping thing and that only works the first couple times, I would try ignoring her and I've tried the time out. I think I'll take your advise and put her in a time out every time she bites to be more consistant, hope it works!

[Star and Goldie]

I'll have to figure out a good time out spot. Being tied to the swing outside would be more of a reward for my pup. HA! The coin can and yelping seem to be holding us over for now. Luckily it doesn't happen often. I probably only feel Goldie's teeth 2, no more than 3 times a day and soon as I even start to say AHHHH she has backed away. Hopefully it stays that way!

Love the idea of time out but I just don't think I have a good time out spot for a puppy. I'll have to keep thinking on that one.

[Jen and Annie]

We used to hold Annie and walk over to the corner, and put her nose in the corner for about 30 seconds. LOL, we didnt have a good 'spot' either so we used to do it that way. When she got too big to be picked up, we would walk her over and make her sit facing the corner. Like a child!

[BettyAnn, Holmes & Lucy]

That's funny. I've never thought of that but will give it a try because I'm having the same biting issues w/ my 8 week old. 

Did you physically hold her in the corner for 30 seconds?

Thanks for the encouraging words by the way.

[Jen and Annie]

Yes Ma'am.  For some reason, when we picked her up, she calmed down - and making her stare at the corner for awhile calmed her down, at least temporarily.  We didnt ever FORCE her face into the corner, we would just hold her and walk over to the corner.  And when she learned that her nipping and biting would get her in time out, it didn't stop completely (Because they need to bite - they are teething AND it's just what they do as a form of play) but the hard bites got fewer and farther between.  The time outs in addition to our YIPES really helped her to loosen up her bite, and it stopped hurting when she softened her mouth.  Here is a picture of her getting a "time out" - this was one of the last times that she got time out this way, I want to say she was around 4 months because she was just getting to heavy to hold for 30 seconds!

[BettyAnn, Holmes & Lucy]

I can just imagine a sad Annie face in that picture :)

I'm having a hard time teaching my younger kids how to handle all the biting. Whenever they walk by the puppy (we haven't named him yet) starts nipping at their ankles so then they run and you can imagine what the puppy does next! He's on a leash all the time so I try and hold him at bay and training the kids how handle him. Definitely going to try time outs!