My puppy won t stop biting! What do I do?

Question

My puppy is a 3 months old german shepherd/lab.She can be rather affectionate to who she wants to. However, she is also very aggressive. She keeps biting people and mouthing after them when they try to pet her. On her best days, I am an exception. She s a really lovely dog, with her own strange personality. I tried socializing her with my friend s dogs since there aren t any dog parks in my area. They are shihtzus.She tried to eat them in short. Evidently, she started learning to stop biting but they don t allow her to play with they dogs anymore.
Sometimes, she jumps to attack and growls, but I usually push her off. If you aren t careful she ll jump into the sofa and try to bite my parents. Sometimes she becomes aggressive to a scary extent. I ve tried giving her toys when she bites, but she ignores the toy and bites me instead. I ve socialized her, and I have tried yelping when she bites. Clicker training has seemed to have no effect.
My parents want to put her down at six months. I can t handle that. I love her and she needs to stop biting to stay alive. What do I do?

Answer 1

FGS !!! "My parents want to put her down at six months" REALLY !!!! because a puppy is acting totally normal for a puppy. How extremely ignorant.



It is called 'mouthing' as you quite rightly say and although it can look quite aggressive, the pup is only doing what most puppies do of any breed. They are trying to interact with you but you have to teach them how. Go onto kikopup on youtube and start teaching LOTS of obedience work. Once you start working his mind far more he will stop the mouthing.

Answer 2

Biting - or mouthing which is all this, hopefully, is, is just another thing you have to train a puppy not to do. If she is truly aggressive, then you have a problem but much as only BYBs produce mix-bred puppies and only for money so they don't care about things like temperament (or as in the case potentially, of this mix, Hip or Elbow Dysplasia), it's unlikely this is anything other than a puppy who hasn't been taught not to bite or mouth humans. This puppy would have done this to her siblings who, unless they were equally as dominant as her, would have turned away, ending the contact (or nipped back!). So what you do is firstly try not to let her get that worked up, and if she does, END THE CONTACT. Immediately. Stand up, say No Biting!, take her outside to empty and back to her be (which should preferably be a crate for now) with a few biscuits so she doesn't associate her crate with punishment. She may well complain a bit but as puppies sleep a lot, should settle down for a nap. If you want to avoid her turning into a juvenile hooligan, she must learn that there will be consequences for actions, some good, some bad.



As long as the puppy has had all her shots now, find a good training class and get her there - to help you to learn how to handle this puppy, as much as her to learn her boundaries.



She doesn't need other dogs - she needs to respond to you at least, and as a family dog, others in the family too. She doesn't need to be grabbed by her muzzle or 'kneed' and certainly NOT in the stomach area. There is a chain of thought that suggests lifting the knee (yours) to catch the dog in the CHEST as it jumps up, but again this isn't the way to deal with a puppy fgs.



Why in the world would your parents be talking about 'putting her down at 6 months'? Why at 6 months, and WHY in any case???????????? If this is their attitude now, take her straight back to whoever bred her. She's a square peg in a round hole right now, and unless somebody steps up to the plate to sort her out NOW, this is only going to get worse.

Answer 3

At 3 months old, it's highly unlikely that she is being aggressive. She is playing. Puppies use their teeth and growl when they play.



Since it's apparent that no one in the household knows much, if anything, about how to raise a puppy, I suggest finding a dog trainer to work with. And do it soon, before the puppy becomes a badly-behaved large dog.

Answer 4

GSD are NOT for novices (only experienced dog owners) but you got one anyway, or a mix thereof. Since you and your parents know NOTHING of dog training or how to teach a puppy NOT to bite, I agree that you need to hire a dog trainer to come TO your home and teach ALL of you, HOW to manage the dog. Long before it is enrolled in outside obedience classes.

Answer 5

Unfortunately it's a family dog, parents house, their rules, their decision, live with it or move out with the dog.



It's the entire families responsibility to train the pup, teething/mouthing is the lazy owners excuse for lack of training.



There is no shame in seeking professional help for the entire family on how to train a dog properly, before she injures someone/something, and the family is sued and the pup is euthanized.



Stop rewarding her (toys) for this poor behavior.

Answer 6

When a pup bites or mouthy with its mother the momma will grab his muzzle with her own. When your pup bites grab his muzzle in your hand, hold firmly, look in his eyes and say "NO!" In your meanest voice. Do this EVERY time, at first he will try to its more at you but he'll learn quickly. At this age he isn't being aggressive he's just playing. When he jumps up when your standing knee him sharply in the stomachs not enough to be cruel but u want it to sting a little. That pup is going to get big and CANT be jumping up. I suggest you just don't allow him on furniture at all, so push him off and tell him "NO!" when he does jump up. If he's really out of control keep him on leash all the time, this will also teach him to follow u around the house, which will be nice when he gets older. Most importantly get him out on a leash at a regular park around other dogs and people. If you have any friends who are experienced with dogs go to them for help And please go to a library and get somebooks

Answer 7

● "My puppy won t stop biting! What do I do?"



Bleed, of course.

It would also help if you learnt how to type apostrophes.



● "I tried socializing her with my friend s dogs since there aren t any dog parks in my area."



A dog park is NO PLACE FOR A WEE PUPPY.

Big uncontrollable pooches are let loose there to terrify smaller animals.

Unvaccinated animals piddle-poo there, depositing "wild" viruses to infect other unvaccinated animals.



"Socialising" is an immensely misunderstood term. I decline to use it. It has NOTHING to do with "partying" with strange dogs or strange people.

What I urge is that as soon as a pup likes & trusts the new owner, it is given safe-&-fun familiarisation-&-confidence-building experiences of every movement, scent, sight, sound & texture in the district - on the fenced home property until 2 weeks after the 8 weeks vaccination has been given, and then extending to areas where dogs do NOT roam off-lead, do NOT piddle-poo-vomit. That period ends at 13 weeks old UNLESS the experiences have been well-managed prior to that age.

You have NOT managed your pup's experiences well.



● "I ve tried giving her toys when she bites, but she ignores the toy and bites me instead."



What do you mean by "giving her toys when she bites"?

Toys are boringly USELESS unless the human joins in the play. Nowhere have you mentioned PLAYING with her - ball-chase, tug-o'-war, anything. You don't even mention how long you've had her.



● "I ve socialized her"



Like HELL you have! Socialisation produces a calm, well-mannered child or puppy that knows to NOT bite in play. My litters chew the vet's shoelaces while waiting their turn to be vaccinated, but by 6-to-6½ weeks old they don't bite people - however, when I want to control their speed & direction (so a friend can observe whether they are firm & sound while moving) they happily grip the fingers I offer to them and follow where I lead - they don't BITE.



● "I have tried yelping when she bites."



Brilliant (NOT...) - pups find high-pitched sounds EXCITING! Everyone - and females more so - uses a high-pitched voice when yelping. Learn to get as close to a basso GROWL as your voice can manage, When you join a training class your first task is to use two VERY different voices - a deep one for growling/rebuking, a happy high-pitched one for attracting/praising.



● "Clicker training has seemed to have no effect."



Presumably because you think that the clicker does the training. I can't be bothered with clickers - my voice. my hands, the leash are much more convenient signals & rewards.



● "My parents want to put her down at six months."



Why not NOW? Or why not put you down now and start training the pup themselves?



● "What do I do?"



Start some serious thinking & training.



▫ How long have you had her?

▫ How old are you? - I suspect primary school age.

▫ What - if ANY - play activities does Pup enjoy with you?

▫ What does she regard as suitable rewards?

▫ What does she recognise as a "DON'T YOU DARE!" signal?

▫ Have you managed to train her to come to you when you call "Come ▫ on!" or "Come here!!" and do such as slap your leg?

▫ Have you managed to get her to chase a ball that is slowly bounce-rolling away? If so, are you being interesting & rewarding enough for her to be delighted to be invited to "Bring it, girl" or "Fetch the ball"?



As a minimum, you need to be able to walk with her on-lead and following scent trails without trying to pull you off your feet. And you need to be booked in to a weekly or bi-weekly training class (NOT one run by a low-paid slave at a pet-shot, or by an over-worked vet trying to improve her clients' awareness) so that there will be a gap for an EXPERIENCED instructor to observe your attempts & your pet's reactions then start COACHING you, beginning when pup is 18-to-22 weeks old. Expect to be there for at least a year.



Meantime, you and your household are to use the "make it BORING" response to each & every attempt Pup makes to bite:

https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20140421200259AAnJxLC



Add

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/The_GSD_Source/info

to your browser, so that you can easily look up all sorts of information about dogs, especially GSDs. "Thanks to" Yahoo's /neo/-nut programmer, the settings have been changed from "Open" to "Restricted", so you'll need to apply to Join by sending an e-mail to

the_gsd_source-subscribe @yahoogroups.com

(WITHOUT the gap before the @ ) then following through.

Then click

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/The_GSD_Source/links/all/Vaccination_001199872827

and read the experts about vaccination - and donate to the Rabies Challenge Fund if you are in a rabies area.



To discuss GSDs, join some groups such as

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/GSD_Friendly/info

The people in them KNOW about GSDs. Plus you can include actual photos in your posts.

To find other groups or breeds, type the breed-name into the top field of

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/dir

then choose a couple of groups to Join.



King Les The Lofty - first pup in 1950; GSD breeder & trainer as of 1968

Answer 8

Bite it back. (Im jk)