# Stop biting!!



## Serene Hajjar (Feb 2, 2017)

20 week old GSD female pup still bites here and there ... hasn't drawn blood yet but worried once her adult teeth come in! She's generally very obedient, doesn't bark, sits, stays, lies down, fetches, responds to her name and shakes .. it's just the word NO she doesn't listen to!! I think she's just being cheeky... I've tried the method of leaving her alone as soon as she bites and then coming back but she will still do it! I know she's playing but I'm worried she will hurt someone by accident once she's bigger ... what's the best way? She's been to puppy school but it was quite basic ... not much about biting at all


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

This is normal for a GSD pup. They are called Land Sharks and Velociraptor in Fur for good reason. Have a rag ready to play with. Shake it around and have the pup play and tug with you and the rag. We also played with our pups wearing old leather gloves. But be careful because when they get bigger they can crunch your hand. We had good luck with this : https://www.chewy.com/kong-wubba-classic-dog-toy-x-large/dp/38584. You play with the pup and then put it away, it is not a chew toy. Crunchy carrots might be good for teething. 
I also moved in toward my pups. If they were getting a bit obnoxious I'd fold my arms and stand tall like a super hero and move toward them with my hips. When they backed up a bit, I'd relax. If they came forward, I moved forward. Never in anger. 
Keep in mind your pup may be telling you something. When my boy really needed to go out to potty, sometimes he would grab our pant leg or sock. We thought he was trying to play but then, oops, time to clean up the puddle.


Just remember these two things. (1) for every No follow with a yes. No, you cannot bite me. Yes, we can play tug with this. (2) it will get better once teething is over and your pup gets a bit more mature. I still remember the day I realized I didn't have to put on a fresh band-aid after getting my first GSD pup.


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## CEMC (May 2, 2020)

Mine will be 15 weeks old tomorrow & he's getting better about not biting hard but still reaches for the hand every time we pet him or try to put the leash on his collar. My wife & especially me, have had our hands & forearms scratched by those sharp little razors since we brought him home 7 weeks ago. We looked like a couple of drug junkies but he's gradually doing more licking & less biting & the bloodshed appears to be reducing little by little. 
No doesn't work well for us either. What appears to work is No followed by stopping petting or play. He seems to be able to associate the stopping of something he likes with the biting so he lets go or eases up on the pressure wanting us to return to whatever we were doing. A few times he's gotten quite rough & it so I've had to give him a good tug on the leash or collar to get his attention. 
Like you, we anxiously await for the day when he gets out of this phase before both of us look like Frankensteins. 
I'll start the No followed by a Yes when he quits the biting. Hopefully that will help speed up the process.


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## iBite (Jun 24, 2020)

I get up, without saying a word and leave without any further interaction, eye contact or reaction. That is the ultimate punishment for a puppy. Puppies do everything that they do for what they consider a reward. If you keep talking to them, give them a different command or try to distract them with something else, they see it as a reward, like you’re still playing with them. If they bite and the fun instantly ends, they put the two together really fast. They’ll try it a few more times to figure out if that’s what it was, once they realize it’s the biting that makes the fun stop, they can control themselves very well.


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## Blu_and_Redd (Oct 7, 2019)

Re-direct, re-direct, re-direct. Have a chew toy handy and when your girl bites, tell her "no" and give her the chew toy instead. It takes patience, but she will get the point eventually.


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