I've currently got a ten week old puppy. He's a very good pup and has got house training more or less mastered but one problem I'm having with him is his biting and chewing! I know it's normal for a puppy to bite and chew but I've tried loads of things to make him stop. Anti-chew spray (tried two different types and he seems to like it more than anything!), he's got loads of different toys to chew (hard chewy toy, rubber bone, a few big cuddly toys, string toys, hide chew, blanket) but he just seems to want to bite jeans, feet and any skin that is on show. Even when we do the 'toy swap' and try and play with him by tugging, throwing balls, squeaking his toy he always goes straight for us and it really hurts. Saying 'ouch' in a squeaky voice doesn't bother him at all and he just carries on, if we give him another toy he takes notice of it for about twenty seconds and then back to chewing us! It usually happens when he is tired so we then put him to bed in his crate for a while and when he wakes up he's not interested in chewing us.. until he gets tired again. But we don't always want to have to put him to bed when he gets tired, we want him to be in the living room/kitchen with us and settle down. We just don't know how to actually stop him from biting us all the time, I feel like I've read every single book and done everything they recommend but it isn't working. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as it's really getting to my 16 year old daughter when he's behaving like this and upsetting her, she knows it's normal but when he hurts her she gets quite upset about it. Thanks.

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It sounds to me that you are doing things right, I have found with my 18 week old the biting particularly around feet hands clothing etc has got better over the weeks and yours is very little.
Have you got him booked in for training classes ? Training will help divert his mind as well but nmake sure he has things to chew that will help his painful gums.
Someone suggested a teatowel that is frozen also I give my pup a raw frozen bone to chew  (must be raw), not so big she will break her teeth but big enough not to swallow
Reassure your daughter that like children pups have to be told time and time again before they get the hang of it and it wont always be like this

You have discovered it gets worse when he is tired so I would use that as the cue for bed. Definitley do the ouch and ignore him also swop for other things. he is very young and it is amazing that he is doing so well with his housetraining so obviously a bright young man 
i am sure others will be on here so with more help

Have a read of this article - The Bite Stops Here.

The other thing to remember with the swap idea is to remember to rotate the toys.  Pups get bored quite easily and what they like today they may ignore tomorrow!
Try tying a few toys together - my youngest dog much preferred his toys this way and he liked the bucket I stored them in most of all...

Edited to say: ditto FF - I took too long to type!

:) oh yes Brooke like sthe storage bucket too

Thanks I'll have a look at both of them. His house training is amazing actually, he's not once messed in his crate. And has only pee'd inside a handful of times when he couldn't make it to the door or we haven't opened the door quickly enough. And never messed inside which is brilliant :) Except it does mean that whenever he cries he usually wants to go out, so we then always end up giving him attention when he cries. I don't know if that's better than him peeing inside or not?

It's frustrating that he just likes our hands and feet so much and because saying 'no!' or 'ouch' just doesn't seem to be working our only solution to make him stop at the moment is to put him to bed. All the books say they won't grow out of it we just have to train them not to, but it's just not working for us at the moment!

Hi! My puppy is now 15 weeks, and we're just noticing we're starting to get kisses more often than bites (although we still think that she might just be tenderising us before the assault!). We found that a loud "No, that hurts" and leaving her sometimes worked, shoving a chew toy in her mouth helped a bit; but making sure she didn't get over-tired was the most important. If she got over-hyped she was a little hellion, all teeth! When that happened only putting her in her bed with a bone to chew calmed her down (and the bones also blunted those horrid needle-teeth).

Being able to go out for walks helped as well because she didn't get so bored, which was another factor in her biting. She's very much calmer now.

It does get better, honestly!

If he cries and you think he could want to go out take him out but just so he can do what a dog needs to do :) After that be boring dont play when he is going out for weeing or pooing

Deffinitly dont give that up Brooke is still learning lol

Yes over tiredness is often when the mad moments occur and bed, with a frozen stuffed Kong, is a great way to help your pup wind down til he nods off.  You can also pop him on a lead and encourage him to settle on a bit of fleece by your side if you don't want to put him in his crate every time.

Another way to help prevent the maniac moments is to do a bit of indoor training - don't try this if he's already overtired though.  I used to do a short session after dinner and before we wanted to sit down for a bit as it helped settle him for the evening.  A few sit, stand, waits then some retrieves and a bit of lead training all helped to focus the mind and remind the puppy that good behaviour gets rewards!!

>Except it does mean that whenever he cries he usually wants to go out, so we then always end up giving him attention when he cries. I don't know if that's better than him peeing inside or not?

Quite frankly I think you have a very clever puppy there!  I'm not sure that you realise how lucky you are.  When people ask me, I always advise that it takes between 5 and 8 months to housetrain a puppy, depending on breed.

At 16 your daughter isn't a child, and perhaps she could read up on some of the advised articles, to help her understand her puppy, as opposed to getting upset.  A good book for beginners is "The Perfect Puppy" which you can buy quite cheaply on amazon (instead of paying full price at PAH!)  :-)

Please don't be impatient with him, it is very early days at 10 weeks.  Liken him to having a baby, which he is.

We have got a kong so we'll try that :)
I just feel as though he spends a lot of time in bed! But I suppose he does get tired, he's always in a much better mood after being in bed for a while.
At the moment he's just woken up from a half hour nap and is much happier sitting on her knee chewing his chew.
But give it a while and he will get all noughty again! He's also learnt sit this week which is good :)

Sitting on her knee lol hope she doesn't mind that when he grows up. Yep they sleep lots at that age mine still has days when she sleeps loads I use it to get things done

>But give it a while and he will get all noughty again

I'm sorry, but I have read and re-read this thread, wondering all the while if this is a genuine request for help, or that someone is looking for the easy way out.

Puppies are not easy.  But your puppy is NOT naughty.  He is just a puppy.  A point that you appear to be oblivious of.

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Oh, and squeaky toys definitely make the bitey stage last longer; something I've long suspected and now learned to my cost.

I just feel as though he spends a lot of time in bed! But I suppose he does get tired, he's always in a much better mood after being in bed for a while.

Most owners don't realise just how much sleep a young puppy needs, and I would go as far as to say that many puppies don't get enough sleep and are therefore often more difficult to handle and train because of it.

But putting him to bed when he is too wound up has two very useful purposes (provided it's not done in an angry way!!!): provide enough sleep for the puppy and teach the puppy to settle and switch off! All very important for a young puppy. Building an off-switch into a puppy/young dog is extremely important. :-)

> I just feel as though he spends a lot of time in bed!

Yes they do but adult dogs often spend a lot of time sleeping too but the difference is that you don't have to put them to bed they just konk out wherever they feel like it!

There used to be a very good advert for Pedigree which had a picture of a sleeping puppy with the caption:  Sshh I'm growing.  I loved that and it accurately presents just what happens every time your pup goes to bed - his brain and body are developing at a really fast rate...

The trick with puppies (if there is such a thing!) is to really concentrate on them when they are awake and learn their routines.  Playing with a pup when it's over tired is a recipe for disaster but get him when he is at his optimum time and you'll find he learns so much faster and you both have more fun.  Same with bed: NEVER put a very awake puppy into a crate - you'll only teach him to yell.  Work, play or otherwise interact with him until he's ready for a sleep and he'll settle much faster.  If you think he's being naughty then you are are probably just out of sync (or have unreasonable expectations?).  And don't worry you won't need to stay on his timetable forever, he'll gradually adapt to yours :)

I have a 14wks old pup.. he is the worst nipper I have ever had ..some puppies can be worse than others.
The 'ouch' also with him seems to fire him up so I do not use this anymore, I use the off and ignore method and also find if I stop dead in my tracks if he is after my feet or has a grip on my hands ..he will let go..I actually picked this up from one of my older bitches I noticed when he jumped at her and grabbed she stood completely still and looked away from him he would let go and walk off, most of the time the dogs know how to deal with situations with pups better than us :).

I also had a chat to a friend who is a brilliant  behaviourist,  he  gave me a little task to try out on him which seems to have worked very well.
Its hard to explain really but here goes.. in one hand have some smelly tasty treats put one inbetween the fingers so he can see it slightly and smell it which will encourage him to try to take it ,put your hand into a tight fist, in the other hand have just one treat sit him in front of you and let him mouth the hand when you say 'no' the moment he stops and looks at you open the other hand and give the treat. You have to be spot on with the timing.
You also have to make sure when you give a toy to stop the biting that its not looking to him as a reward for the behaviour.. you need to be able to see just before the nipping begins ( I can see the change in the eye) and replace your hand with the toy ..once he has nipped ignore him walk out the room for a minute or two if it is safe to do so, then return and ignore.
I also agree that the behaviour is worse when its nearing time for a sleep so I have more of a timetable which I try to adhere to so that he gets plenty of rest ..I also do little bits of training and some ringcraft at some point during the day not forgetting his little walk to release some of the energy, which has been really difficult with this awful rain.