# constant puppy biting at 13 weeks



## Shep21

Our Shepherd puppy is biting us almost every time we pet her. It is getting s that we cant even pet her! I have tried ignoring her when possible (turning around and showing her my back). That is hard because she is running all around us and being excited. 

I ave also tried grabbing her jaw when she does this. She doesn't like this, but seems to take it as more playing and gets even more wound up. 

Grabbing the leash and putting her in a sit stay seems to work best, but she goes right back to it as soon as I stop.

Any help with this, please. We would like to be able to pet our puppy.


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## Jo_in_TX

Well, you could reinforce the behavior like I did.

Teddy - chewing and biting and driving me crazy. :wild:

Me - "Sit. Good girl." Give treat.

Repeat again and again.

UGH

So what if it takes two steps to get a treat (bite and sit), instead of one? No problem for this smart girl - the dog; not me. (Obviously, I don't fit that description.  )

Good luck.


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## llombardo

I'm so glad that my puppy did not go through this......I got her at 12 weeks and within the first week she never bit or mouthed a person again. Maybe I was just lucky but telling them no bite, kisses in a high pitched voice repeating as necessary does work


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## PaddyD

Jo_in_TX said:


> Well, you could reinforce the behavior like I did.
> 
> Teddy - chewing and biting and driving me crazy. :wild:
> 
> Me - "Sit. Good girl." Give treat.
> 
> Repeat again and again.
> 
> UGH
> 
> So what if it takes two steps to get a treat (bite and sit), instead of one? No problem for this smart girl - the dog; not me. (Obviously, I don't fit that description.  )
> 
> Good luck.


How is that working out?


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## llombardo

PaddyD said:


> How is that working out?


She'll let you know after she's done treating all the wounds:shocked:


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## Heidigsd

At 13 weeks Nikki was just getting started with her biting and mouthing :wild:

I would read through this if you haven't done so already: http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/training-our-puppy-basic/134407-teaching-bite-inhibition.html


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## MaggieRoseLee

Heidigsd said:


> At 13 weeks Nikki was just getting started with her biting and mouthing :wild:
> 
> I would read through this if you haven't done so already: http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/training-our-puppy-basic/134407-teaching-bite-inhibition.html


I'm hoping you are reading thru the link included above and realize that for most of us, when we choose to get a GSD puppy, we CHOOSE to get the biting you are suffering thru. Very common in most of our pups and we all have to WORK (not punish) but WORK to teach our pups a less painful way to play with us.

Good luck!


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## fairytalephotog

I am not at all an experienced GS owner but we have a new puppy. When he nips bites we saw no bites and quickly replace our hand with a toy or raw hide. So far it is working for us. While he chews we pet.


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## Shep21

Thank you HeidiGSD for the links. 

I have been working on the issue of mouthing, but would like to get her to stop at this point. 
We already say "ouch" when she mouths us too hard, and she does seem to register a 'soft bite' on people (and never bites around the head or face- which is great!).

However, she doesn't always stop play-biting anymore, so I am making her stop now, while at the same time trying to create a negative association with biting.


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## Freestep

Shep21 said:


> We already say "ouch" when she mouths us too hard, and she does seem to register a 'soft bite' on people (and never bites around the head or face- which is great!).


That IS great! Whether you realize it or not, she is practicing bite-inhibition on you. That is a GOOD thing. 



> However, she doesn't always stop play-biting anymore, so I am making her stop now, while at the same time trying to create a negative association with biting.


What are you doing to "make" her stop? I know it's annoying, but it's absolutely normal for a GSD pup to bite your hands, arms, legs, feet, etc... I couldn't even pet my puppy for about three months.  Thankfully, they grow out of it. The best way to deal with it right now is to redirect. Have a chew toy or rag handy at all times, and when the puppy starts biting you, simply plug the toy into her mouth and PLAY with her! If you play "get the toy" and tug-of-war, she will get that urge to bite satisfied, plus she is learning two important things: One, it's more fun to bite a toy than your hand, and two: YOU are a source of good and happy things, worthy of paying attention to.


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## MaggieRoseLee

Shep21 said:


> However, she doesn't always stop play-biting anymore, *so I am making her stop now, while at the same time trying to create a negative association with biting*.


Please read the links about Bite Inhibition because you are in the midst of training something incorrectly.

You THINK you are teaching your puppy not to bite too hard.

But what you probably are ACTUALLY teaching is that to PLAY with humans is a very very very very very very bad thing. Being too close to humans.. BAD. Playing with humans.... BAD. Wanting to do fun things with humans..... BAD. 

If you 'listen' to nothing else in this thread, please see this:

Puppy biting is PLAY behavior.

So we as INTELLIGENT beings with delicate skins need to use our brains to TEACH the pup a new way to play. Take the time. Make the effort.

TEACH what you want, rather than punish what you do not.


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## achampagne

At that age for mine I got numerous bite marks on my hands and arms. Establishing a gone to far point is very important for me. For me I like to have that interaction of rough play. To establish the gone to far I would say too hard with a firm voice then roll there lips around thier teeth and apply alittle pressure to reinforce the verbal, and No I do not cause any injury what so ever. We go back to the rough play rt away so they don't think its all a bad thing. It usually does take but a couple of days before before they have a good idea of what too hard means. This does not create a soft bite but is does stop them from going to far during rough play. Any input on my approach would be appreciated but this is not my thread and wish not to intrude on the op.


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## paulag1955

Time heals all things. Your puppy will outgrow this biting behavior. It was amazing, really. Around 4 months old, Shasta was biting, biting, biting, just like you're experiencing now. We tried everything to make her stop, but nothing was working. I was afraid we'd made a terrible mistake and that Shasta was too much dog for us as relatively inexperienced owners. Then one day it just...stopped. I'm not sure if anything we did had any affect, but I will say that Shasta has awesome bite inhibition now. She will occasionally get over excited when playing with Daddy and mouth too hard but it couldn't really be called biting. And it appears that there's no way she'll put her mouth on me, no matter how I play with her.

By all means, follow all the suggestions here. Don't expect a quick resolution to the situation, but it will resolve.


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## Heidigsd

> Thank you HeidiGSD for the links


You're welcome! 

Just keep working at it and it will get better. We have all been there, it just takes time.


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## childsplay

I'm in the exact same boat! I know it's tough right now, but hang in there! It won't last forever. We found a few things to be helpful:

ice cubes
bully sticks
tuggy ropes
empty milk jug (must be supervised)
squeaky toy fetch

My kids camp out on top of the back of the sofa when they've had enough of the puppy! Good luck!


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## MaggieRoseLee

childsplay said:


> I'm in the exact same boat! I know it's tough right now, but hang in there! It won't last forever. We found a few things to be helpful:
> 
> ice cubes
> bully sticks
> tuggy ropes
> empty milk jug (must be supervised)
> squeaky toy fetch
> 
> *My kids camp out on top of the back of the sofa when they've had enough of the puppy!* Good luck!


Great recommendations and I love your kids! :wild:


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## Jo_in_TX

Empty milk jugs are great. I once had a collie that would "herd" milk jugs in the back yard. It was the funniest thing. I would throw them out, and go back a few minutes later and they'd all be in one neat little pile!


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## Shep21

Ha! fun suggestions all! Yes, a little more creativity should help remedy the situation. 

She loves bully sticks already. 

Funny, I have noticed her herding the soccer balls around the house, I imaging milk jugs would be fun to her.


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## Shep21

*Update*

Tasha has improved and is biting less (even though she is still teething). 

I make a yelping noise whenever she bites my hand, and then I ignore her completely if she proceeds to bite. that helps, and she is understanding bite control.

Re-directing her biting has been the most helpful tactic. She loved the milk jugs! She has graduated to a basketball, and rolls it around the house trying (and succeeding) in biting it. Fun to watch her play with it, as she is not a whole lot bigger than the ball, but is surprisingly graceful. 

Sometimes I must tell her "no", and make her stop when she is out of control. She gets the 'naught' puppy look, but knows when i say 'no' that she must stop. 

This is my first Shepherd, and love their temperament so much. Our family is pleased with her so far. 

Thanks for the previous comments. Just writing in case anyone ever checks back.


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## hoocli

I'm having a similar issue with an 11w old pup. He isn't to bad if he is calm he mouths abit and I can yelp or say ouch and he will stop. If he is in major play mode any noise I make just seems to amp him up more and bite harder. Unfortunately his bites are almost getting worse if not better... Maybe I have to ignore him better when he gets like this... its hard when you turn your back and then he starts biting your feet.

I think he was teething abit (baby teeth coming in) they seem mostly in now though but he still loves chewing everything. I try to redirect him which helps but sometimes he just prefers to chew on me.


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## guddu

Apart from the usual things, give them ice cubes..


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## jb_pwrstroke

It can be painful my pup just turned 10 weeks and sence he will be a schutzhund dog i let him bite and chew. If i dont like it i slip a toy in front of him instead of my hand or whatever hes biting on.


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## Britmum30

We've been dealing with this too. Meka will be 11 weeks tommorow. With hubby and I we have been moving our hands away from her and replacing then with her chew toys. I've found when she is super chompy the bully sticks or Nyla bones are great, she can really get her chew on with them. We try to really run her energy out and then praise her when she lies quietly and lets us pet her, we also praise when she licks too or just softly bites, the second she gets too hard we just give her a chew toy.

It's been hard with my kids, I just supervise constantly. She's pretty quickly caught on to 'leave it' thanks to the clicker training videos people have posted here. When I see her getting too hyper with the kids I know those teeth are going to come out, I have her sit and calm and the kids give her a treat. She is getting better with 'leave it' when she starts chomping on then, sit then treat. She's a smarter pants and has picked up really quickly that being calm and quiet around the kids means loads of treats 

Louise


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## Shep21

update: 
I had to laugh last night when Tasha popped the Basketball she had been chewing for the last 6 months. We were at dinner and we heard her going at it, and then we heard a pssssshhhh. This last week she had really been trying to get her teeth into it... I thought about this forum post when it happened because she started chewing on it about the time i posted this.

Her biting has really gotten better since then, with a lot of effort (and chew toys) from us. 

She only bites now when she plays (or wants to play) and pretty much only with me (because I am the only one who will play fight with her). She has learned very good bite control this way, and I would say that I trust her around almost anyone not to bite.


Tasha is currently nine months old. Thanks again everybody.


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## boomrang77

my 8 weeks old GSD puppy bites at feet, hands and now his bite has become stronger and hurts. He does not understand NO and just continues biting at things all round. We can't even pet him as he is always looking to gram your hand and bite. What is an effective way to make him learn not to bite.


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## Cassidy's Mom

Read this link, Boomrang77: http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...wner/188549-puppy-biting-hints-tips-help.html


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