We’re just over two weeks into having our new puppy, and he’s added a lot of personality to our lives. As of this week, he can finally go on pavement walks , so we’re really looking forward to getting outside with him and burning off some energy. We’re very much in the “land shark” phase. He is naturally quite bitey, although he has improved—he can now go through periods where he happily sits and chews his toys. That said, when the zoomies hit or he’s overtired, he can become very hyper-focused on biting you and only you. Thankfully, he rarely gets to that point, but when he does, it can feel quite overwhelming—especially for my wife and son, who are both relatively sensitive to anything biting them. For me, it’s something I’m comfortable handling. I either calmly walk away to show him that biting = the fun stopping, or, if he’s getting really out of hand, I’ll put him in the pen to decompress and realise he may have gone too far. We know the ultimate solution is to avoid letting him get overtired, but sometimes it just sneaks up on you, or his sleep isn’t quite as long as it should be. As a result, both my wife and son can feel a bit fearful of that phase. That said, we fully understand he’s still very young—this is normal puppy behaviour, and there’s no malice in it. He’s just figuring out boundaries, and we’re fully prepared to work through it. I’d be really interested to hear about others’ experiences with the biting phase—what helped, whether there were any chews or toys that really worked and hit the spot, and when you started to notice it tailing off or improving. I just want to make sure I’m not setting unrealistic expectations for them both....
I had to check with Laura but it seems her dog never did this, frankly I didn't know it was a thing but having read up on it it seems it's very common! I guess you treat it like anything else, as soon as there's a bite make it clear that the fun has stopped, whether you're giving a firm "No", turning your back on them or putting them out of the room / into their pen? What's the breed?
Cocker Spaniel, 10 weeks old now and loves to investigate with his mouth in particular! I've started to find the firm "No!" does seem to work, either that or I'm going mental... the other night I was doing it and as he was going the bites got gradually softer after every firm no until he just stopped. It did almost feel like he was doing a "Okay, but how about now?" which is what I've been reading on some puppy training. I've been talking to someone at work who experienced the same and he simply said one day you'll realise he hasn't bitten at all and that will be it. Could be 12 weeks could be 16 weeks but he'll just not see you as that appealing.
Far better than the poodle land shark phase, where they try to hump everything. You can get into a habit of using a 'playtime voice' when you give him attention. When it shuts off and goes serious, they pick up on that. -Although puppies really don't have an off switch...
For my Jack Russell what worked was hand round the snoot holding her jaws closed combined with a firm no. It mostly worked and stopped her going nom on strangers. However terriers being terriers she kept randomly biting me and the cat her entire life.
