Here is a sticky on Puppy biting. Lots of great info for your little land shark! Crafther and I looked like we had been sorting cats for a few months!!!
Puppy biting!
my pup is 12 weeks old and biting everything ,try toys but he gets sick of them after a couple of minutes and right back to biting
Packer
Here is a sticky on Puppy biting. Lots of great info for your little land shark! Crafther and I looked like we had been sorting cats for a few months!!!
Puppy biting!
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kimbersmom (03-15-2015)
I used a reward system with Maverick. When he got nippy it was because he wanted to play with me or have me throw a toy or something. When this happened I got up and completely ignored him. He caught on pretty quickly. Some people also say that making a high pitched yelping sound, like a crying puppy, helps. For us it got Maverick more excited. Good luck!
Many of us sympathize with you while going through this horrible stage. Just keep saying it is only a stage and they will grow out of it. Read through the sticky and find what works for you and just keep at it.
The landshark phase of Lucy's puppyhood was the toughest for us. There were many days when I asked myself why I thought getting a lab was a good idea! Find what works, (for us it was standing up & turning our backs on Lucy) be consistent & this too shall pass.
Oh, how we felt your pain! Our little girl was a whirling dervish with gnashing teeth! My husband and I looked like junkies, our arms covered in puncture wounds from fingertip to shoulder and she was just like Meeps's Maverick. If we made a yelping noise to indicate to her that she had hurt us (as worked with past labs), it would spin her up like a top and she would thrash and bite harder (with more glee, I might add). We would turn away from her, get up and walk away from her, ignore her, remove our attention or affection and she would immediately, out of frustration, grab a pillow, toy, anything within mouth reach (throw blanket, for example), and madly attack it. Or, even worse, as we would turn to walk away from her, she would jump at our achilles tendons/backs of calves and sink in her little needle teeth. When reprimanded, she would get what we called The Zoomies, where she would tuck her tail between her legs, flatten her ears against her head, and pump her little hind legs like a rabbit and gallop like a wild thing through the house, knocking over anything unsecured, nailing door frames, and even walls. I cried daily and regularly contemplated shipping her back to her breeder.
But. It gets better! And even with a wild child, you can turn all that nutty puppy energy into training and mental stimulation to a 12 week old puppy is exhausting (a tired lab is a happy lab and a happy lab owner! Two things really helped. First off, I started holding treats in my fist and taught her the command "GENTLE!" Know your hand is going to take it pretty heavy the first few times you do this, but they get the gist of it really quickly. Show him that you have a treat in your hand and close your first. He's going to bite at your hand, but say the word "GENTLE!" and pull your hand away. The very second he stops biting, open your hand, say the command again, and let him have it. We did this repeatedly from about 12 weeks on and now, at 6 months old, even though she is well past the biting stage, if she gets a little overly mouthy when she's excited, all I have to do it make a fist, and she sits for a treat. Whew!
Secondly, every morning after breakfast, I taught Ellie to come into the kitchen and get her "treat", which was a small dab of something smeared onto my palm (peanut butter-which I wouldn't recommend in amounts over 1/4 tsp, as it is VERY high in fat, a little non fat greek yogurt, or low fat cream cheese) and let her lick it off. It conditioned her to lick my hands instead of biting them and I added the command "Kisses". Eventually, because Ellie was a face/nose biter, I transitioned "kisses" to my chin to get her to lick my chin instead of lunging to bite it. You'll see the cognitive lights come on as he ages. Just remember, he is a baby dog and knows absolutely nothing. If I didn't remind myself of this every day (and I *still* do), I would have given up!
Jollymolly (03-18-2015), Scoutpout (03-17-2015), sparky (03-16-2015)
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