# 10 week old - biting



## spalmer (Sep 17, 2017)

Our first german shepherd, and from what i have read in these threads it is completely normal for them to be biting (land shark makes total sense now!!) She starts to bite and we try to correct it by putting a toy in her mouth or distracting her (we have also tried "NO!!", barking at her, grabbing the top of her head like her mother would do, and yelping or "ouch"... none of which works lol...) PLEASE, HELP. My arms look like i was mauled by a baby tiger lol! She just gets more aggressive when we yell no or give her a little smack on the nose (tried it only once and realized it definitely was not the route to go with her). She snarls and shows her teeth in an aggressive manner. I just don't know what to do at this point! Maybe she's still too young and it just takes more repetition??? 

Any help is greatly appreciated!


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

So, you didn't say how old your puppy is, or how long you've had her with you. But, with any GSD puppy the biting thing is normal. What's important is communication on her level. Some people, myself included, don't mind a bit of biting. Others seem to want their puppy to never bite them. You can achieve both, or I should say either, over time. But you have to understand that your puppy was born to bite. They need to be taught what is and is not an appropriate target of that biting. 

I just played roughly with my 9 month old, and came away without a scratch, though she bit me 
frequently!

When your puppy bites, give her an appropriate outlet and praise her. Imagine being her. You tell her no, but she's got to bite something, so she doesn't really understand no. What virtually all trainers have said to me is that, when you stipulate that a particular behavior is not good, it's important to also show them a behavior that is good- cause they still have the urge. Make sense? 

So the most effective way I know of is to redirect their bitey behavior, don't try to distinguish it...it won't work! Give her something she can chew on, and praise her when she does. A toy or tug works wall usually.

So there's that...and I suggest that you carry paper towels to sop up the blood she is going to draw from you whether she gets what you're saying or not -- the truth is they're little devil's, and will end up biting you sometimes, no matter what you do!

They don't call them LandSharks for nothing...


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## scarfish (Apr 9, 2013)

just pull your arm away and don't like it chew on your arm. your arm shouldn't look mauled.


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## KaiserAus (Dec 16, 2016)

10 week old gsd puppies bite a lot. They draw blood with their tiny sharp teeth. They don't understand how frail human skin is. Keep redirecting with a toy, if it gets too much put your puppy away in his crate, or shut yourself in another room for a few minutes. Just a few more weeks and it shall pass.

My arms and hands were the same as you describe, it does get better soon!


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## Azws6 (Sep 16, 2017)

My personal opinion is they need to learn how strong thier bite is. I believe they are just play biting but you need to show them when it is too much. For some behaviors punishing is good some wont do anything. With biting from my personal experience is when he bites hard (depends on your defenition of hard) just make an "ouch" and ignore dont play for a minute and then go ahead and try again. Just keep trying dont do something that is not working. Some dogs are more responsive to ignoring them than coorecting them. Good luck.


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## car2ner (Apr 9, 2014)

Also, when you use the toy or tug to give an allowable chomp and chew, don't just shove it into their mouth. My boy used to get so annoyed with that. It was rude! He wanted to chew on us, not that Thing! So you have to make the toy behave like prey, something interesting to try and catch. Tug a little and let them win. Then they'll learn that the game is to play with you and the toy. You may still get some injury as they grow fast and have to learn how to target, adjust pressure, etc. And once teething is over it does slow down.


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## spalmer (Sep 17, 2017)

I've started the standing up and stop playing with her! Hoping this works, it typically does when we are playing with her and she does it! The biting is mainly when she is doing something like chewing the rug and i tell her "No!" she gets angry at me and tries to bite me lol! They are sassy little things!!


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## spalmer (Sep 17, 2017)

It says 10 weeks in the title part! We have had her for 2.5 weeks  I get biting to an extent, and I typically don't mind when we are playing a little bit of biting, but it is more when i attempt to discipline her (i.e. chewing the corner of the rugs)... she is not happy when we tell her no and pick her up to move her away from it with a toy. She starts biting arms/legs/anything she can get a hold of lol! Is there a certain way you suggest teaching them the 'soft' biting? I try and let her do it when i rub her belly...


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## spalmer (Sep 17, 2017)

Good to know it gets better lol!! I just started where I get up and ignore her, so far it seems to be working. Hoping it stays this way. Thank you!!


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