New puppy biting

[Chestnut_Mare1]

I’ve had a few dogs (adopted as adults) and this is my first puppy. She is a 7 week old small breed. I know puppies have a strong urge to chew, but she literally nips/bites the entire time she is awake. She bites down hard on fingers and especially clothing and does not let go easily. When we try to redirect her attention with a chew toy she jumps up and grabs on to your hand and chomps down. She is looking for skin and will try to push the chew toy out of the way.

She ripped my daughter’s t-shirt and now my daughter is scared. How do you all handle the puppy madness?

[Sswor]

How long have you had the puppy? Where did you get puppers?

This is why the prevailing wisdom is to not separate a puppy younger then 8 weeks from it’s litter mates and dam. Play with siblings and momma’s influence teaches pups social skills and how to play without hurting your playmate.

Is returning the puppy to it’s littermates for a week or two an option?

[Chestnut_Mare1]

I’ve had pup for a week and a half and got her from a breeder - I can definitely see how staying with mom & siblings longer would have been good. There is no chance of returning puppy to her litter mates - they have all gone to their homes. I’m taking her to weekly puppy socialization classes…

[S1969]

Yikes, the breeder let them go at 5.5 weeks? That’s pretty unusual and not recommended.

At this point, it might not help to return it to littermates, even if they were available. You are the litter now, and that means teaching her. You obviously can’t bite her back but you can make it a little scary for her if she bites by yelling - loudly - OUCH! - if she bites you.

Redirect or ignore bitey puppies, and be consistent about this - do you have a puppy playpen so you can plop her in it if she won’t behave?

Chewing and biting aren’t the same behavior. Biting has to be addressed firmly…the more you can do to keep her mind busy the better, but at 7 weeks she’s pretty young to expect much from.

What breed?

[Sswor]

Also-how old is your daughter?

S1969 gave good advice, I forgot about the loud OUCH! Any high pitched and sudden vocalization upon biting–you’re trying to startle the pup but not scare her. I had excellent advice using a zerbert noise, you know, the thsbbbb sound you make when you stick your tongue between your lips and blow, when I had a puppy who was a fierce corn cobber kisser. He loved to cob my bottom lip instead of give kisses. Ouch. Seriously, ouch.

You don’t want to frighten the puppy, just startle her. Being too assertive in attempt to stop the cobbing with my puppy resulted in frantic attempts to cob furiously even more. It was clearly some weird infant submissive behavior. The zerbert sound did the trick. Startled him and made him go “eww” and reduced him to proper tongue kisses instead. Success with an odd, and tricky habit. I know it’s not quite the same proble as you are having, just an example of getting creative and having good results. I’d be willing to bet most of his littermates didn’t fare as well, as the whole litter were cobbers and it was most unpleasent to get a face full of that.

Good luck with puppy.

[D_BaldStockings]

Buy some Oinkies chews from Bi-mart and be sure the pup always has one in their area.

If pup bites you (daughter should not be playing with pup for awhile) use the OW! startle. If pup doesn’t release, take scruff of neck skin between thumb and forefinger and pinch. Pup will say OW! and let go.

Immediately offer chew/ good pup and stroke pup on neck if pup is frightened.

If pup isn’t frightened and repeats the biting, repeat the pinch/release and put the pup in a short time out - about a minute.

Praise licking, not biting. So sad this pup missed out on good socialization, but you will have to deal with what you have.

Don’t let anyone roughhouse or wrestle with this pup with their hands.
Eventually begin using a tug (knotted socks are good) to play with and reward this pup for good behavior (grab this not people).
A nose tap when biting may work, but may also inspire pup to grab for whatever is tapping the nose. This is why the neck skin pinch is a better choice.
If the pup grabs an item you want to retrieve before it is demolished, grab the pup by the scruff skin say OUT and pinch, don’t try to grab the item or pup will likely bite you or learn it is better at tug than you are.

If you can find someone with a similar age pup of similar size and turn them in loose together for a few hours (not minutes on leash) that would be your ideal situation.

Good luck!

[shayaalliard]

I squeal a high pitched squeak when orphans nip too hard. Helps them make up the lessons they miss. And YIKES not a responsible breeder. It is even against the law here (OH) to send puppies home before 8 weeks- and I always held mine until ten weeks- better for their development mentally and physically.

[Nezzy]

YES, puppies all BITE. they go thru that and you need to reprimand them and they learn not to bite. agree that 5.5 weeks is WAY too young to remove from mother and littermates. that is how they learn socialization.

[Where_sMyWhite]

5 1/2 weeks :eek:

Yes on, IMO, to young to separate from litter. 8 weeks was the youngest I ever got and often 10-12 weeks.

Yes on the loud OWWWW. No on daughter until pup is a bit more well mannered. As well, daughter also needs to learn how to correctly interact with pup.

IMO, no to knotted socks as “toys”. How is the pup supposed to know which socks are toys and which are not?

Yes on no rough housing or any other “rough” play until pup learns a bit better mouth “control”.

Consistency is key.

[jetsmom]

Google bite inhibition.
Fwiw, no reputable breeder will let puppies go at 5.5 weeks. Sounds like a byb. Your puppy didn’t have the chance to learn bite inhibition. You need to teach it.

[corgif]

Yes, puppies bite. They don’t have hands, so their mouth is how they explore their world. They CAN learn bite inhibition, but it takes time and patience.

If you’ve ever watched a litter of puppies playing, it typically goes like this. Puppies are playing and having fun - rolling around, running, chasing, and naturally lots and lots of play-biting. As their excitement builds, eventually one of them gets carried away and bites another puppy too hard. That bitten puppy yelps and ends the game. Biting puppy no longer has a playmate, and just learned one tiny lesson about appropriate play and not biting too hard. (It will take many many many more such lessons though, and those MUST continue with the puppy’s human family.) Among dogs, play-biting is normal, they just have to learn what the boundaries are.

With humans, the puppy must learn that any teeth on skin is a no-no, but that is the END goal, not the beginning goal. It’s going to take patience and consistent training to get to that point. You can’t expect perfection, and you must shape the progress. It’s up to you to set the puppy up for success. Don’t let him get into situations where he becomes over-stimulated. If he bites too hard, give a yelp, and walk away and ignore puppy for a few minutes. Then come back and play some more. Praise puppy when he is good. As soon as the biting starts, yelp, and walk away, and so on. Puppies have very short attention spans and short memories. Punishment only confuses them. As long as you’re consistent, eventually the puppy will learn that biting humans means that all fun games stop.

At the same time, it is important to provide the puppy with ample toys that he CAN bite on. This is an important part of his development. Puppies NEED to bite and chew, just not on humans or human property. Don’t just leave toys scattered around though. Give him a toy and supervise what he is doing. You don’t have to always actively play with him, just keep an eye out. Never let him chew/play with toys unsupervised. Also do NOT leave things around (shoes, furniture, etc.) that puppy shouldn’t play with. That means removing valuables from the room or confining the puppy to a specific area. If puppy chews up something when you weren’t looking, that’s YOUR fault, not the puppy’s.

It’s just like when you hear kids playing, and the laughter keeps building and building until BOOM! Now some kid is crying and another kid is getting into trouble. It takes YEARS for kids to learn how to behave. The good news is it won’t take a puppy as long as it does with kids. A puppy’s success in learning how to behave has more to do with the owners than it does with the puppy itself.

[DrBeckett]

Not only is is not recommended to take a puppy at 5 1/2 weeks, in my state, it’s illegal. They have to be 8 weeks old to be sold.

[Sswor]

To be clear, it is illegal to sell puppies younger then 8 weeks, but not illegal to buy or take a puppy home younger then 8 weeks. OP didn’t break the law, the breeder may have.

But what’s done is done and OP doing the right thing by seeking advice for raising her young pup into a well adjusted dog.

[Chestnut_Mare1]

What’s done is done and she is in a wonderful forever home. The puppy had most of her teeth and was eating hard kibble already when I got her. At 8 weeks today, she walks on leash (to and from potty area), sits on command and comes when called by name. The nipping is not good though and I took her to puppy socialization class last week. Yesterday she started coughing and sneezing so we are off to the vet today. No more puppy class until after her 2nd shots.

[Nezzy]

The thing is, she may end up with behavioral issues down the road, that are BC she was taken from the litter at such a young age. the reason you leave the litter intact until 8-12 weeks is for them to learn how to be a dog and how to act with other dogs.

[Pep_n_Ann]

My parents have a dog that was taken from the litter at 5 weeks. He isn’t any more crazy than their last dog that was taken from the litter at 10 weeks. With proper raising and training, the puppy will be just fine!

I agree that 5 weeks is to early, but that ship has sailed for this dog.

[D_BaldStockings]

@Chestnut_Mare

What’s done is done and she is in a wonderful forever home. The puppy had most of her teeth and was eating hard kibble already when I got her. At 8 weeks today, she walks on leash (to and from potty area), sits on command and comes when called by name. The nipping is not good though and I took her to puppy socialization class last week. Yesterday she started coughing and sneezing so we are off to the vet today. No more puppy class until after her 2nd shots.

Be sure pup is on a regular worming schedule - re: the coughing and sneezing can be due to parasite migration.

Appreciate the updates on pup.

[jetsmom]

One of the reasons you don’t remove puppy that young is due to their immune sys. They have antibodies to some illnesses that they get from their mom until about 7 weeks. Vaccinating too early is ineffective because of that. Taking them in to a new environment too young exposes them to illnesses they aren’t protected from. I agree that’s what’s done is done, and posted more to educate someone that may be reading this thinking of getting a young puppy.
Op good luck with your new puppy.

[Magicboy]

Our family has had quite a parade of Corgi puppies through the years and the advice here is great: use a startle noise to stop the biting and make sure the puppy has something special that’s okay to chew. Sounds like a great puppy!

[sisu27]

Yikes. So many reasons that you set a dog up for failure both behaviorally and health wise by taking them away from mum and litter mates at that age. Your breeder is an a$$hole. I am picking up my pup this week at 10 weeks. I believe in Switzerland the law is 10 or 12 weeks.

Anyways not your fault but I would be diligent about teaching your pup the lessons it has missed out on. And I would avoid taking that pup out to dog parks or places like that until much older.

Good advice here. Establish firmly that you are the boss…no screaming and yelling or alpha rolling nonsense. For biting like everyone has said…startle and offer up a suitable alternative (toy). Not sure what breed your dog is but with my Dobe pups sometimes they just go MENTAL and its like a land piranha attack. That’s when I give a time out in the play pen with a suitable toy.

We took a very young Dobe pup from a bad situation once. My mum carried her around in her housecoat pocket for a week or 2. She was spoiled from day one because she was such a sick little thing when we got her. Well Dobe puppies are insane on a good day and this one turned into the puppy from hell lol. She also turned into a very demanding dog and was even more needy than your average Dobe. She was such a brilliant dog but she was never easy and that was largely due to her poor start in life. Do it right now and you can avoid so much trouble later.

Congrats on your new pup! They are work but so fun