My puppy is driving me crazy with the biting!

[Shianne Mack]

My Goldendoodle puppy is 10 weeks old and he always tries to bite everyone. He is getting better with me because I tell him "no bite" or squeal pretty loud and he gets the memo, but with other people he is still bad. I don't want him to be the dog that no one wants to go near, so how do I get him to stop biting other people too?

[Laura and Angus]

A very common concern for puppies your age ...I remember feeling the same thing with our little monster. I honestly wore crappy clothes around the house for 2 months so nice clothes wouldn't get ruined from tiny sharp teeth...even though they did anyway.

What worked for us was a combination of things..loads of chew toys, time - when teething is over, tons of exercise, and we had a "time out" spot that we used for short calm down periods when puppy got too bitey to handle. He got much better after teething and even better after neutering age (6 months). To finally drive the no-bite point home we ended up using a spray canister that sprays a puff of air paired with the word "no" to teach him that "no" is a bad word.

At any rate, when your pup is that little, you may wanna get loads of different chew toys, have a cool down spot in mind for a safe separation when you and puppy need a break, and also check out Zac George videos on youtube. Those really helped me too :)

[Judith and Addie]

I noticed when my puppy was young that the biting also came around with playtime. My little girl seemed to like going for hands. I also would squeal - or actually my bad imitation of yelp - and pretend to nurse my wounds. Any play was immediately stopped for several minutes, probably akin to a time-out.

I also had the nipping at clothing and legs - things that moved and seemed like they would be fun to play with. When she did try to male it a game, it was a time-out until she settled a bit. Addie was and still is a dog who becomes excited easily and I would need to stop her excitement from escalating.

[Nala and Cooper]

You should check out my recent discussion on Nalas biting, the responses I got were such a relief to hear. My puppy is always trying to nibble my hands whenever she can- it drives me NUTS. Even worse, even when I yelp or say no, she continues biting! My only working methods is redirecting to a toy or using taste deterrent. I just had a guest over today and 30 seconds into their meeting I heard a very unpleasant "Ouch!" followed by me apologizing and removing Nala from the scene.

Always have a toy in hand. And with guests that are willing, hand them a toy and let them know that whenever they see their hand being targeted, immediately replace that with the toy. With their mouth busy on that, they're in the clear to pet your puppy with their other hand without being nipped at. 

Be patient! At your puppys age, their milk teeth are already being pushed out by their permanent adult teeth. In just a few weeks you shouldn't be surprised to find a tooth or two lodged inside one of the chew toys. I'm being patient until the day Nala gets her big girl teeth in- because once they're all set, the biting is sure to stop almost immediately! Keeping that in mind has kept me sane these past few long (and painful) weeks. Hopefully you'll find consolation in it as well.

[Kelly & Zoe]

At the top of this group page is an excellent thread on just that topic, chock full of great advice! : http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/puppymadness/forum/topics/compreh...