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We adopted a puppy from the pound 2 wks. ago today. The Vet estimates that she is approx. 14 wks. old this week. Our problem is that she is continuously biting my husband and I. Saying "no" in a firm voice makes her run away only to run back and bite our hands and feet. I have been giving her hard toys and toy bones in place of my hand but that seems to work for only a couple of moments.
Any help will be really appreciated. Thank you, Kelsie
When Macie was a baby and went through this, we'd actually yelp loudly then turn our back on her and not "play". I'd read to do that because it is how a litter mate would react if bitten too roughly during play.
We adopted a puppy from the pound 2 wks. ago today. The Vet estimates that she is approx. 14 wks. old this week. Our problem is that she is continuously biting my husband and I. Saying "no" in a firm voice makes her run away only to run back and bite our hands and feet. I have been giving her hard toys and toy bones in place of my hand but that seems to work for only a couple of moments.
Any help will be really appreciated. Thank you, Kelsie
This is not really a problem. It's normal. And not to make you feel worse, but the biting and chewing will probably get worse for a few months before it gets better, while she is teething.
Try maciesmom's suggestion. Don't just yelp: shriek as loud as you can and make a big production of ignoring her afterwards. Stay persistent with the "no" and substitution. Your pup has the intellectual capability of a turnip right now, plus her brain and drives are changing by the day. Expecting her to "get" your complex and confusing demands in a mere two weeks is simply unrealistic.
Again. Not a problem. Normal. Be consistent and patient. Trust me, she WILL get it. But it can (and probably will) take much longer than two weeks.
I just finished looking after my son's 5 month old rottie who had a few problems. One of them was biting. I cured her of it this way. She was also such a food hound I called her that old German phrase, a pig dog!!! Anyway what I would do is, I would put a treat in my hand and close my hand up so that just a little tiny bit of the treat was accessable to her. I would have her sit and offer her the treat. When her teeth touched my hand I'd act all surprised, yank my hand and the treat from her and saying loudly, "NO BITE" a few times. Ten minutes later I would do it again and go through the same thing with her. after yelling no bite I would have one of the other dogs come up and I would give him the treat, he would nicely take it from my hand with his lips. I would say it took about ten repeats of this game before she caught on. afterwards when I would play with her and she would nip in the least I would say, no bite and she would know what I ment and stop immediately.
When she came to us she was horrible, out of control and distructive. When my son picked her up after 6 weeks he could barely believe it was the same dog she was soooo good. At his house he had to fight with her to get her into her crate. In my house she loved her crate and thought of it as her refuge. When we went to bed at night she just went right in by herself even though the other dogs slept on pillows on the floor. She peed and pooed on the floor at my sons house and it took us one freakin day to house train her. I'm quite sure he will ruin that good dog and then what????
Our first foster was a puppy, with all the teething issues involved. A hard nylon toy with places for peanut butter works great - so do puppy teething rings - put it in the freezer. Also, during this stage, do not play with the puppy with your hands - use a toy. Then follow the suggestions above about making a lot of noise and owies and ignoring. Your puppy is trying to play with you and puppies bite each other in play. It isn't really a bite, it's a nip and not meant to hurt.
You're just experiencing normal puppy stuff, but here's a guide on how to "help" a pup through this phase.
Puppy Biting:
There are 2 schools of thought here. One philosophy is that a dog's mouth should never touch human flesh (or clothing). If you believe this, then you will put the plan below into action the instant puppy's teeth touch your skin or clothes. The other school of thought is that in order to teach excellent bite inhibition, we must allow puppies to 'mouth' us, as their dog mothers and littermates do, and then provide feedback as to what level of bite is acceptable (i.e. gentle mouthing is fine, a harder bite that hurts or wounds is NOT). If you believe this way (as I do), then you will follow the plan below from the instant the bite goes from gentle and painless to harder and uncomfortable.
The plan is: as soon as the unwanted biting occurs you make a LOUD sound, pause for a second, then offer an appropriate chew item as a substitute for your flesh. If one more bite occurs, make a LOUD sound and completely remove pup's access to you and interaction with you for 20-40 seconds (any longer and it becomes difficult for the pup to understand the connection "I bit = I lost my pack". They have short attention spans at this age.) You can either put pup in a different space or move yourself to a different space where pup does not have access to you. This WILL take time - it is not a one-time-only training quick fix! You must practice this plan consistently, but eventually the pup will catch on and the method is highly effective.
I also find that having pup play with other puppies and dogs is the best way to educate them on inhibiting their bite. Dogs are the best dog trainers.
When my dog was a puppy, her favorite chew toy was MY HAND.
The bad news: we gave her other alternatives but she always came back to the hand.
The good news: she eventually outgrew it and hasn't touched my hand in that way since.
It's normal, you can try to deal with it as best as you can but know she won't act that way forever. Puppies are a lot of work.
Because I do consider bite inhibition to be something I want all my dogs to learn. I do let them play with their mouths with other dogs and even with me at times. By withdrawing play and looking away from them if a bite is too hard they they learn fast not to bite hard or nip me. Chaos and Dazzle were never dogs that liked to bite or nip even little puppy Chaos was not into teething like other puppies I have known. She was really good about chewing on dog chew toys maybe because I had so many and they were always available. She never chewed up any of my stuff . Dazzle was 8 months when I got him so was past chewing on most things and was way past chewing on people.
The only dog that was a hard biter was Jazz as a puppy, she would zoom over and give a hard nip, when I ran she would chase me and give a hard nip to my butt or if I told her no she would nip me ( Cattle dog X border collie) so I did what I said above and with her I even started play where she would use her mouth on my hands sort of wrestle hand to mouth and stop it when I felt it was too rough. Most trainers will tell you not to play that way but with her I wanted to make sure she learned to control her bite and that she did. If I ran and she nipped my butt I would stop then ignore her. As an adult she had great bite inhibition and I really never worried about her biting a person or injuring a dog if she got in a fight. She learned to nose punch me when I ran instead of nip me and as we ran agility she would give me a punch or two The fact she did have such great control over her bite really amazed me and since she spent a lot of time with my 3 then young nephews it was very important to me that she was that way. Those were rough and tumble boys and she would be right in there with them. When they were in the pool she use to grab them and try to pull them out and because she did control her bite they never had a mark on them nor did they cry out like she hurt them.She use to go after the youngest and grab his arm and pull him around,it would freak out people that did not know the two but he would be laughing and she retained control of her mouth.
I am also a person that does not punish or tell my dogs no if they growl as to me growling is a dogs way of saying back off . I would rather have a dog that growls then a flash biter that bites without warning..though there usually is warning people just are not good enough at reading canine body language.
When Macie was a baby and went through this, we'd actually yelp loudly then turn our back on her and not "play". I'd read to do that because it is how a litter mate would react if bitten too roughly during play.]
Because I do consider bite inhibition to be something I want all my dogs to learn. I do let them play with their mouths with other dogs and even with me at times.By withdrawing play and looking away from them if a bite is too hard they they learn fast not to bite hard or nip me. Chaos and Dazzle were never dogs that liked to bite or nip even little puppy Chaos was not into teething like other puppies I have known. She was really good about chewing on dog chew toys maybe because I had so many and they were always available. She never chewed up any of my stuff . Dazzle was 8 months when I got him so was past chewing on most things and was way past chewing on people.
The only dog that was a hard biter was Jazz as a puppy, she would zoom over and give a hard nip, when I ran she would chase me and give a hard nip to my butt or if I told her no she would nip me ( Cattle dog X border collie) so I did what I said above and with her I even started play where she would use her mouth on my hands sort of wrestle hand to mouth and stop it when I felt it was too rough. Most trainers will tell you not to play that way but with her I wanted to make sure she learned to control her bite and that she did. If I ran and she nipped my butt I would stop then ignore her. As an adult she had great bite inhibition and I really never worried about her biting a person or injuring a dog if she got in a fight. She learned to nose punch me when I ran instead of nip me and as we ran agility she would give me a punch or two The fact she did have such great control over her bite really amazed me and since she spent a lot of time with my 3 then young nephews it was very important to me that she was that way. Those were rough and tumble boys and she would be right in there with them. When they were in the pool she use to grab them and try to pull them out and because she did control her bite they never had a mark on them nor did they cry out like she hurt them.She use to go after the youngest and grab his arm and pull him around,it would freak out people that did not know the two but he would be laughing and she retained control of her mouth.
I am also a person that does not punish or tell my dogs no if they growl as to me growling is a dogs way of saying back off . I would rather have a dog that growls then a flash biter that bites without warning..though there usually is warning people just are not good enough at reading canine body language.
What was said in bolded. Bite inhibition is great. Dogs use their mouths like we use our hands.
If you absolutely do not want your dog's mouth on you at all, put some vinegar on your hands. Let them take a taste of that. Won't be coming back to do it again.
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The fact she did have such great control over her bite really amazed me and since she spent a lot of time with my 3 then young nephews it was very important to me that she was that way. Those were rough and tumble boys and she would be right in there with them. When they were in the pool she use to grab them and try to pull them out and because she did control her bite they never had a mark on them nor did they cry out like she hurt them.She use to go after the youngest and grab his arm and pull him around,it would freak out people that did not know the two but he would be laughing and she retained control of her mouth. 
