Puppy Biting

[Icaraa]

Our 7 month old Ben is still doing some soft biting when he sits with us. 

 

If we are in the living room on the couch he will come up to us with his toy and chew it against us, which can be annoying. He wants us to throw it for him. 

Hiwever if he doesn’t have a toy he tends to  chew on our hands. He’s not trying to hurt us, and never actually bites. I’d describe it as very soft. He’s never hurt us.

We thought it would stop when he stopped teething, but all of his teeth have been through for a month or so now and he still does it. 

We’ve tried shouting “Ben NO” and pulling our hands away saying ouch, we certainly don’t sit there allowing it. But he tends to just come back for more, and if you really shout at him he shows his teeth a little. I don’t really want a ball shoved in my face when I’m just sitting there and I don’t want my hand chewed on. 

This is clearly undesirable behaviour, any advice on how to stop it? 

 

[jami74]

Does he have a chew toy? We went through a stage not that long ago of having to keep shoving a chew toy in our boys mouth and telling him to chew that instead. It was a pain having to keep getting up to get his toy and pass it to him. Eventually he got it and sometimes now he comes to sit with us and brings a chew toy with him. He seems to really like sitting half on me chewing something. Luckily he only wants to play fetch with a ball, and that now lives out of reach.

What he does like doing, which is annoying, is sniffing faces. I really don't want his nose right by my face.

Editing to add: Sorry just read your post properly and realised you don't want him chewing his toy up against you either. Can you ask him to lie down at your feet with his toy? Or keep on sending him and his toy to where you'd rather chew it? (We have a blanket on the floor away from us).

[Icaraa]

Yes, it’s tricky. I don’t mind him being close to me with his toy, but I don’t really want it right in my face! 

He he tends to annoy my wife with this behaviour more than he does with me! We don’t really know why this is. 

He has a large bed that he brings into the living room from the kitchen. Ideally he’d sit on that and chew his toy. 

[jami74]

Does he do it worse when you are both there? Maybe he's trying to get your/her attention. Our boy can be quite happy on the floor but if one of my teens comes to sit next to me  he'll try and climb up on my lap.

[D'Elle]

Stop the yelling Ben No, it clearly is not working and it won't ever. From what you write, he sees it as a game and you are doing nothing to discourage the game. He may see it as part of the game, and certainly he is getting your attention which reinforces the behavior. Also, never use the dog's name in anger, and please never shout at your dog.

Take up all the toys for now and put them away where he cannot get them on his own. I know, that seems mean but it is temporary. That way he doesn't bring it to you, and you can take a toy out to play when you decide it is playtime.. If he starts the biting behavior, don't say anything at all, or if you really want to, just say a normal-voice "uh-uh" or "ah!" and take him by the collar, gently and not with any anger, and put him out of the room or in a crate. Leave him there for five minutes and then let him out in a very casual way, no excitement whatever. If he starts to bite again, do it again. Do this with 100% consistency even if it takes weeks. He will learn, probably quickly, that if he behaves that way all the fun stops and he cannot be with you any more. 

As for the toys, he can have them when he is in his crate, so he is not entirely deprived. But they cannot be out on the floor for him to bring to you. You must choose the time, place, toy used, and way that you play with him. If he tries to insist that you play when it is not play time, he goes into the crate. 

Do not be concerned about using the crate in this way. As long as you always project neutrality toward him when you put him in, it will not be viewed as punishment and will not make him dislike the crate. Just be very sure you are neutral. Do not get angry. It will not help. This needs to be done as if it were simply a law of nature, like gravity. If you bite, you go in crate, inevitably. This is very simple, but it will absolutely work.  If you never vary from this he will change his behavior.

 

 

 

[urge to herd]

Following up on D'Elle said, somewhere I read that when putting the dog away for this type of reason, the Human learned to say, "You're (fill in the blank w/undesirable behavior)! So you get to go in your crate!" Saying it this way, in an up-beat tone, made the whole process easier for the Human and somehow clearer for the dog.

Give it a try, can't hurt.

Ruth & Gibbs

[Mandy1961]

My nearly 6 month old is still quite nippy, he is fine with me and my husband but my eldest son {26}, who loves him to bits, seems to get the brunt of the nipping despite playing with him before and after he comes home from work. We tell him it is because he lives him and is just a phase, which I hope it is, but out of the blue whilst playing he suddenly jumps up and nips him. He give him time outs but I think he just gets too excited.

[Icaraa]

I wouldn’t descibe what Ben is doing as nipping though. It never hurts. He just wants your hand in his mouth and just lightly squeezes it again and again. He’s never going to hurt anyone doing that, but still. Not good is it? 

 

Nipping I would think of is more using the front, sharp teeth? 

[GentleLake]

What you're describing w/ Ben sounds more like mouthing than biting or nipping and is most likely an affectionate and maybe also playful behavior. I probably wouldn't be too concerned about it myself, but if it bothers or concerns you then just give him a gentle correction and redirect him to a more appropriate chew toy.

If he's showing teeth when you're correcting him I'd say that the correction is too strong and he feels threatened by it. I wouldn't continue with any corrections he responds to like that. You don't want it to escalate. If a milder correction and redirection doesn't work, then move on to times out.

[D'Elle]

45 minutes ago, Icaraa said:

I wouldn’t descibe what Ben is doing as nipping though. It never hurts. He just wants your hand in his mouth and just lightly squeezes it again and again. He’s never going to hurt anyone doing that, but still. Not good is it? 

 

Nipping I would think of is more using the front, sharp teeth? 

Definitely still not good at all, and you need to put an end to it. It may be harmless and cute to you now, but it is a very bad idea to allow a dog of any age to think it is OK to put his or her mouth on a human being.

When the dog is older, he will continue this behavior, and the result may be tragic. If, for instance, he were to "gently squeeze" someone who doesn't know him, that person, and the law, will classify it as a bite.  Even if no harm is meant or done, you and the dog can be in trouble. He does that to a child, and it is even worse. People who do not know dogs well will freak out over this kind of thing. You do not want to go down that road. It may lead to confiscation of your dog and even death. I have known this to happen, when the dog was harmless and had not broken the skin, but had put his mouth on more than one person who was intensely bothered by it and reported it as a bite.

ETA: when I say "dog of any age" of course I am not referring to a baby puppy only a few weeks old. Seven months is still a puppy, but not a baby, and needs to learn not to do that.

[Icaraa]

15 hours ago, GentleLake said:

What you're describing w/ Ben sounds more like mouthing than biting or nipping and is most likely an affectionate and maybe also playful behavior. I probably wouldn't be too concerned about it myself, but if it bothers or concerns you then just give him a gentle correction and redirect him to a more appropriate chew toy.

If he's showing teeth when you're correcting him I'd say that the correction is too strong and he feels threatened by it. I wouldn't continue with any corrections he responds to like that. You don't want it to escalate. If a milder correction and redirection doesn't work, then move on to times out.

Yes, mouthing it is then. I suppose I just didn’t know how to describe it. It’s definitely affectionate and playful yes.

He he had lots of time out last night. Definitely calmed him down.

He had his bed in the living room and if he did any of the mouthing he went in his crate in the kitchen with no aggression shown (on command “come on Ben none of that, get in your crate”). Also if he started putting his chew toy in our faces after I’d repeatedly put it back on his bed the same thing happened. 

[Icaraa]

16 hours ago, D'Elle said:

Definitely still not good at all, and you need to put an end to it. It may be harmless and cute to you now, but it is a very bad idea to allow a dog of any age to think it is OK to put his or her mouth on a human being.

When the dog is older, he will continue this behavior, and the result may be tragic. If, for instance, he were to "gently squeeze" someone who doesn't know him, that person, and the law, will classify it as a bite.  Even if no harm is meant or done, you and the dog can be in trouble. He does that to a child, and it is even worse. People who do not know dogs well will freak out over this kind of thing. You do not want to go down that road. It may lead to confiscation of your dog and even death. I have known this to happen, when the dog was harmless and had not broken the skin, but had put his mouth on more than one person who was intensely bothered by it and reported it as a bite.

ETA: when I say "dog of any age" of course I am not referring to a baby puppy only a few weeks old. Seven months is still a puppy, but not a baby, and needs to learn not to do that.

I know your post is also for the benefit of others. I don’t want the little chap getting himself in trouble and it goes without saying we wouldn’t let this continue. That’s why I’m asking advice on here as a first step! 

[ShellyF]

Merlin has learned not to do this type of mouthing with a ‘leave it’ command. We found it helped to have specific training sessions where we waved our hands in front of him, said ‘leave it’ and in the moment that he hesitated to listen to what we had said we got in a ‘good boy’. After a few of these we said ‘that’ll do’ and Then took him to his treat box for a reward. 

Of course we have had ups and downs. But we’re now at the stage where he gets invited up for a cuddle and he won’t touch us with his mouth. After a while you can see it’s so hard for him to resist lol! He’ll yawn and ‘accidentally on purpose’ close his mouth on our hand. We say ‘leave it’ and he does.  Then he starts what we call ‘flea nibbling’. Again we say ‘leave it’ and he does. 

SOme days he just can’t stop himself (especially when he’s getting his tummy tickled) and he waves his legs in the air and gets mouthy - in which case we say ‘off’ and unceremoniously shove him off the sofa. 

Sometimes he will playfully lunge for my hand and he gets a ‘don’t even think about it’ haha! 

Keep persevering. It all does eventually work! 

[Icaraa]

Exactly what Ben does! When he’s trying not to do it he does the flea nibbling ( as you call it) instead. 

[ShellyF]

1 hour ago, Icaraa said:

Exactly what Ben does! When he’s trying not to do it he does the flea nibbling ( as you call it) instead. 

Hilarious! 

[urge to herd]

I'm actually trying to teach Gibbs the nibble thing. He's 11, has excellent bite inhibition and has been extremely cautious with even beginning to put teeth on me.

Will never allow it on another human, though. Just me.

Ruth & Gibbs