# Biting - SOS!



## Havamom10 (Apr 10, 2021)

Our 9 week old munchkin is a little shark! We have had him for exactly a week as of today and have grown to love him so dearly. 
But this little boy lovessss to bite! He doesnt even have all his teeth yet, but his bites hurt. Based on suggestions on this forum, I've been trying the loud 'ouch' followed by the 'no bite' command and turning your back to him. It doesnt seem to make any difference at all.

Is he too young to understand the 'no bite' command?
Do I need to allow a lot more time before he can learn not to bite?
Are there any other suggestions to address biting?


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

If he's doing it while being over-stimulated I would suggest a timeout in his expen until he can calm down and then bring him back out.


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## morriscsps (Aug 17, 2010)

Piranha puppies go on timeouts. All puppies are terrors of teeth.
You can try distraction with a chew toy but I did the high squeaky yip. Then if I was still being attacked, it is time for puppy prison.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

No, he hasn’t got a CLUE what “no bite” means. And it is MUCH more difficult to teach a dog NOT to do something than it is to teach them TO do something. So what you need to do at this point has several parts. Most of it is protecting yourself while waiting for him to grow up a bit. The rest is teaching him self-control.

1. Do NOT play games that rile the puppy up. At all. No matter how much fun it seems. To little puppies, biting is part of the game. They do not understand how fragile human skin is. Teach everyone who interacts with him that all interactions must be calm and quiet.

2. Give him appropriate things to bite on. When you DO play with him, ALWAYS have a toy in your hand to put between yourself and the bitey part if he gets riled up. Tell him he is a good boy when he bites the toy!

3. When he gets bitey and you can’t settle him down, gently pick him up, bitey parts away from you (make sure an adult does this) and gently place him in his ex-pen until he calms down. This is not a “punishment”. It is a chance for him to get his short-circuiting brain back to where he can calmly think again. Then you can take him out again.

This will take MANY repetitions. You need to be patient snd persistent. He’s a baby, and you’ve got the bigger brain! 😉


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## morriscsps (Aug 17, 2010)

What Karen said! 

Sometime they get so tired, they can't stop moving and biting or they will pass out right where they are. The crate/ex-pen is a quiet spot to calm their little brains. 

Gotta love the little piranhas...


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## NotAMuggle (Dec 4, 2020)

At this stage of her life I don't play with Piper without multiple toys at the ready. When she's really nippy and insisting on going after my feet/hands (she has good bite inhibition so it's not particularly painful, just annoying) and not taking any toy redirection, it's usually indicative of her needing to be popped in the ex-pen for a nap


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## Wulfin (May 3, 2019)

Karen said it perfectly. The “ouch” thing never worked for me. My puppies were always excited that they could turn mom into a squeaker toy. So it was 100% redirection and timeouts (Timeouts are good for them as Karen said but in truth they were mostly for me as the longer the land shark phase went on, the more frustrated I got.. and being frustrated at a puppy is normal, but not logical - they are young). so as soon as teeth touched skin, it was redirect and stop playing and/or timeout.

Also, get in the habit of enforcing naps. If they are getting super bitey, chances are they are overstimulated, but also overtired. Ensuring they have naps will change your life (I lived for Denver to have that 1hr nap every morning and 3hr nap every afternoon when he was young).

The 16 week mark seems to have always been our magic number for when biting stopped. But it will feel like forever.

Now if we play and accidentally they nibble on us instead of the toy, they stop on their own for a second as an “oops! Sorry!”


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## Havamom10 (Apr 10, 2021)

Thank you for the very helpful suggestions. A few things I noticed after reading these notes:

Simba does seem to get more nippy when he is tired/ready for a nap. I did not realize this before.
When I pick him up after a timeout for biting, he seems to smother me with kisses (as an apology maybe?)

I'm going to continue working on his nipping as everyone here has suggested and hopefully the magic 16 week mark will make it go away


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## Melissa Brill (Feb 22, 2017)

Havamom10 said:


> Thank you for the very helpful suggestions. A few things I noticed after reading these notes:
> 
> Simba does seem to get more nippy when he is tired/ready for a nap. I did not realize this before.
> When I pick him up after a timeout for biting, he seems to smother me with kisses (as an apology maybe?)
> ...


I'm not sure their brain is wired to connect things like apologies (though nice to think of it that way)... it's more likely "oh my god I haven't seen you in FOREVER" (you - 'it's been 10 minutes') - Them: "I've missed you so much".

I know that if I put Perry in his crate and leave the room for more than 10 minutes, when I let him out he acts like I've been gone for 3 days. Perry, however, does NOT give kisses/ never has. Instead he desperately needs to smell your breath and your head to reassure himself.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Havamom10 said:


> Thank you for the very helpful suggestions. A few things I noticed after reading these notes:
> 
> Simba does seem to get more nippy when he is tired/ready for a nap. I did not realize this before.
> When I pick him up after a timeout for biting, he seems to smother me with kisses (as an apology maybe?)
> ...


Not really an apology... Dogs don't think that way. He's just REALLY glad to be with you again! And that's great all by itself!


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## Havamom10 (Apr 10, 2021)

Hello all
I wanted to report back on this thread to say that we are seeing a lot of improvement in the biting habit after following the 'no bite' cue and the time out. Simba now stops biting when we say no bite. Thank you for your suggestions! You have really helped this amateur dog mom a lot!  Loveee this forum!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

Havamom10 said:


> Hello all
> I wanted to report back on this thread to say that we are seeing a lot of improvement in the biting habit after following the 'no bite' cue and the time out. Simba now stops biting when we say no bite. Thank you for your suggestions! You have really helped this amateur dog mom a lot!  Loveee this forum!


Got to point out, though, that the cue is really the least of it. If THAT is working, it is all the other thingsyou are doing to curb the behavior. 😉. Good work!


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