# Increasingly hurting bites



## ZeusTheGSD (Jun 14, 2012)

Hello,

I have a 9 week old german shepherd puppy whos been bitting progressively more and more harder.whenever we pet or touch his toys or anytime we get too close to him. We never pet him when he's biting us and we just ignore him, no praise of course. When he's good we always love and care for him.

The only way to stop him is distracting him with a toy or feeding him treats which is not fixing the problem just a temporary solution. 

His biting has gone to the point where it's actually made my father bleed(Not in pain dying, but he bit enough for blood to spill) and hes made a scratch on my foot. 

we've been told by some alpha roll is good, alpha roll is bad.

We've been told yelling in his ear NO, or OUCH is good and bad because it startles him but he loses trust in you.

We are running out of options and we are afraid he will be come insane when he's older.

Does he need to be out of the house with other dogs or with children? Even when we see other MUCH LARGER dogs, he barks at them and when they get close he chickens out he'll even go as far as attacking them with his paw( Not sure if he's attacking or playing, but he's definitely being aggressive) 

I need help please.

Thank you!


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

When Shasta was at her worst, biting, biting, biting all the freaking time, we would tell her, "No bites, just kisses" and stuff a chew toy in her mouth. I don't know if that helped or not, but she did outgrow it by 5 months. Maybe not what you wanted to hear. But by way of encouragement, she has awesome bite inhibition now. She'll put her mouth on you in play, but she never bites down.

Sometimes I feel like having a German Shepherd contest is an endurance test...How much can you endure before your puppy outgrows a particular behavior.


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## ZeusTheGSD (Jun 14, 2012)

paulag1955 said:


> When Shasta was at her worst, biting, biting, biting all the freaking time, we would tell her, "No bites, just kisses" and stuff a chew toy in her mouth. I don't know if that helped or not, but she did outgrow it by 5 months. Maybe not what you wanted to hear. But by way of encouragement, she has awesome bite inhibition now. She'll put her mouth on you in play, but she never bites down.
> 
> Sometimes I feel like having a German Shepherd contest is an endurance test...How much can you endure before your puppy outgrows a particular behavior.


They grow out of this? How long are we usually looking at here? And I appreciate the comment on the endurance game, maybe he's just testing my limits.


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## Twyla (Sep 18, 2011)

Welcome to the World of German Sharks 

Your pup sounds very normal. They do grow out of the nipping, some sooner then others. I always kept toys in every room and carried one on me. Whenever the nipping started, would stuff a toy in his mouth if redirecting to play didn't work. And yes, those shark teeth would still connect occasionally.

No alpha rolling. Don't yell in his ear.

If he really gets worked up and you just can't get him to redirect, it really is ok for him to spend a few minutes in his crate until you and he have calmed down.


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Heh, heh. 

Got a normal Fuzzygator, have you?

He will be like this until he is about 6 months. We have all gone through it. Read the threads in the puppy forum, including this one.
http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/training-our-puppy-basic/134407-teaching-bite-inhibition.html
The command I use is "No teeth!" then I give a toy and say, "Good toy teeth."

Works better as they get older. Yelling ouch only ramped mine up, but it works for some. 
You will be able to pet him calmly, after he is 5 months old


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## Bear L (Feb 9, 2012)

I don't think he's testing your limits. He's just being a normal shepherd puppy. I bled a lot during that phase and still have some scars left that may never go away. My wrists looked suicidal at that time, so many slashes. There were times all my puppy wanted was my flesh. All the pants I wore at home were ripped. It was hard walking around her. I've asked the same questions you're now asking. What ultimately worked is passage of time. Haha. Past month 5 my puppy stopped on her own. She still mouths occasionally when she plays and we're working on that, but it's nothing like before and her mouthing doesn't draw blood anymore. One thing I had in my favor was she was in the landshark phase during the winter so I was in long sleeves and pants. I think it's tougher to go thru this in summer. I feel you, but am glad I'm not there anymore... hahah.


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## zyppi (Jun 2, 2006)

What Twyla said, but need to add, sounds like pup needs more exercise and direction.

Take him outside and throw a ball for him. Have treats ready and when you call him to you trade treat for ball. He'll soon be fetching.

Once he finds out how much fun this is, you can get a second ball and when he returns, throw the second when he releases the first.

He learns, gets to use his teeth productively and will be well exercised.

Like theY say, a tired puppy is a good puppy!


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## Ken Clean-Air System (Feb 27, 2012)

Another thing that will help, and I didn't see mentioned, is to find a puppy class or a friend or family member that has a puppy, young adult, or even an adult dog that is tolerant with puppies. Let them play so your pup will learn bite inhibition. They need to be taught how hard they can bite without hurting and one of the best ways for a puppy to learn this is to play with other puppies or older dogs who will tolerate a puppy (not all adult dogs will). 

Our pup grew out of her land shark phase around six months, but even at seven and half months now she still gets a little bitey at times when she is amped up. Mostly though, even when playing now, she is very gentle with her mouth and will never bite down when she gets a hand, arm, or other body part in her mouth.


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## jimj (May 30, 2012)

Ours at 10 /12 weeks has been doing the same thing since we got her at 6 weeks. My and my wife's arms look like we're drug addicts with all the punctures. We've taught bite inhibition ok but the one thing you or the puppy can't change is how sharp their puppy teeth are or how out of control they get when excited. Heck, we'd swear ours gets possessed at times. What we've started doing when the biting can't be redirected is one of two things. Either take her for a walk to calm her down or outside and play ball for a bit.
Either way, welcome to the club! Just watch out for the sharp parts and keep bandaids handy, you'll need 'em eventually.


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## Twyla (Sep 18, 2011)

zyppi said:


> What Twyla said, but need to add, sounds like pup needs more exercise and direction.
> 
> Take him outside and throw a ball for him. Have treats ready and when you call him to you trade treat for ball. He'll soon be fetching.
> 
> ...


LOL thanks for adding the exercise. I was sitting here looking at my arms kinda giggling and completely forgot to add that. 

I will add though, to avoid tennis balls, they wear the teeth down.


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## ZeusTheGSD (Jun 14, 2012)

Sounds like it's normal to be going through this, makes me feel a lot better to know I just need a little bit of time to pass and perhaps some new toys and chews to re-direct him on and of course I'd love to be able to teach him fetch even I'd enjoy a little bit of that.

Thanks guys!

p.s If I take him around other dogs I've noticed he barks until they get close (big dogs) and sniff him while he's scared to death or when he mans up a bit he'll start pawing at them while the big dog is completely friendly.


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

Ken Clean-Air System said:


> Another thing that will help, and I didn't see mentioned, is to find a puppy class or a friend or family member that has a puppy, young adult, or even an adult dog that is tolerant with puppies. Let them play so your pup will learn bite inhibition. They need to be taught how hard they can bite without hurting and one of the best ways for a puppy to learn this is to play with other puppies or older dogs who will tolerate a puppy (not all adult dogs will).


This is probably why mine never bit any of us. She tried the first couple days, but all it took was for me to say "no biting, kisses" for her to learn. My two other dogs took to her right away and they have been playing with her and teaching her since day 1. Not to mention that I have every nyla bone and kong available all over the house Puppy class is a great idea too, mine started at 13 weeks, one week after I got her.


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

Although the "older dog teaches them" isn't fool proof. Shasta seems to be completely incompetent at teaching Thor bite inhibition. He is merciless with her.


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## dylano (Jul 6, 2012)

Hey, our 10 week old pup(kai) bites too..ive learned a quick/load 'yelp' or 'ow' helps allot.

When he bites or nibbles on my finger i yell 'owww' and continue doing that for as long as he bites. 
I then noticed that the pressure he uses to bit me decreased with every 'oww' 
The funny thing is when i yell 'oww' he looks at me. i pretend to be sad and he licks me where he was biting me :hug:

Also doing that^ the pup(kai) still has the erge to bite so we make him interested in a raw hide bone. Once hes interested in that he lays down with it biting it for hours. 

good luck


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