My pup is a 9 month golden retriever and he always bites! It hurts a lot, how old is the average dog when he stops barking?? I've tried everything! I tried bitter apple, screaming ow! gently holding his mouth...ect. I really dont know what to do! If anybody has any suggestions please help!!! thanks a lot!

When does your puppy bite you and what do you do?

He bites basicly whenever i touch him! and it really it hurts

And what do you do

i eaither scream ow! then walk away or spray bitter apple on my hands

Please give us as much info as you can Lisc949 because what you have is not "Normal". The usual puppy biting would normally be finished by the time the adult teeth are through although I have known the occasional Labrador persist for a little longer. Is it an aggressive biting? Dominant but not aggressive (persuasive)? Or is it just plain play biting? And as Jackie asked, what do you do when it happens?

Regards, John

thankyou for helping! He bites everyone in our family except for my dad. he is usually aggressive when he bites but ocasionally i find that its play. I've tooken him to puppy classes and it didnt work. Yes, i have many scars on my hand from the biting. Sometimes when he gets too agressive i put him in his kennel for a short time out, but that is also where he sleeps so i dont want him to think its a punishment whenever i put him in at night.

Is he breaking the skin/drawing blood?  Are you the only person he does it to?

Can you explained in detail what is happening, it seems that you are unable to touch your pup without being bitten. Is this so? Is it only you or does everyone get the same treatment. Can you take things away? What if it is food? Can you groom? What about putting the collar on? Lets have a full and detailed report and if we feel it is safe to try and help without seeing the situation for ourselves, we will, if not we will suggest what action you should consider.

Yes everyone gets bitten except for my dad.  For instance today a cable worker came over and my pup (winky) started to bite him so i took him away and put him in is kennel. most of the time he bites but when he is tired he usually wont. If i take his food away he wont bite, he dosnt mind grooming and he's biten me a couple of times when i put his collar on. The only time he does bite is when someone comes in contact with him. Maybe he thinks its a game, i dont know. but i want it to stop

if anybody could leave suggestions that would be more than great!

Personally I think it would be irresponsible to advise any further on this one on the 'net - you really need to contact a behaviourist, preferably via a referral from your vet following a fully medical check up to ensure there is not a medical issue.  If your pup is insured you should be able to claim the expense of a consultation with the behaviourist from the insurance company.  I am assuming the puppy is being fed a proper diet of appropriate amounts BTW, as this can often be a cause of biting in a pup.......

I agree with Digger, get expert help.
Has he ever bitten your dad and what did he do?

Jo

I agree too, because i am not really clear about how aggressive the biting is, and it is strange as John said for a pup of 9 months.

If for example the dog does bite aggressively, the man he bit recently would have had something to say about it! We really have much too little information.

Lindsay

John, sorry for sounding so thick, but could you explain what this actually means....

"Is it an aggressive biting? Dominant but not aggressive (persuasive)? Or is it just plain play biting? "

The reason I asked is that I`ve just had my 5 month lab assessed by a dog behaviour / psychologist with regards to her biting.

Thanks Hilary

Hi,
There are many different ways a dog uses its mouth, and we have come to learn that they tend to all be classified as 'biting'. All puppies use their mouths to investigate the world (even human babies do, and they have hands as well), and need to learn that they must do this gently. Many people call this normal behaviour 'biting' and think they have an aggressive dog.

Labradors and other retriever breeds have been bred over hundreds of generations to enjoy having things in their mouths (hard to retrieve game if they aren't keen on holding it!) so it is only to be expected that this will happen whether they are worked or not.

It is only by asking questions about the type of 'biting' that people are concerned about can we advise on the correct course of action, and whether the person is correct to be concerned.
:)

Hi Jeangenie, I meant, I didn`t know what ....    Dominant but not aggressive (persuasive) biting meant.

I wasn`t for one minute critising a question that anyone was asking. I`ve been told that my pup has dominent biting towards us which is why I grasped at the " Dominent but non aggressive part" of Johns question!!!

Thanks

Hilary

Hi Hilary,

Some dominant dogs (of whom there are very few genuine examples) will use their mouths to physically control their family group (including people). The use of the mouth in these instances tends, however, to be very controlled - the dog is not biting to injure, but control, and direct the owners' behaviour.

Sorry if that's not very clear - there are so very many different reasons a dog may bite (and so many definitions of the word 'bite') that, without seeing the behaviour at first hand, it is foolish to try to advise. The wrong 'treatment' can make things worse.
:)

ok thanks, I understand a bit better now.
We have a program to follow from the behaviourist which she said should last for at least 7 weeks. She said she isn`t a DOMINENT dog (bitch) She`s only nearly 6 months old but is displaying some dominent behaviours towards us with this biting which she agrees isn`t the usual "puppy biting". She experienced it first hand when she tried to take something off her in the garden!!! Which was really good for us because up to this point she`d been on her best behaviour. And she is also coming up to adolescence so she will be challenging us behaviour wise even if she didn`t have this problem.

Thanks for explaining this to me.

Hilary

I'm surprised an experienced behaviourist allowed herslef to get bitten!  Didn't she see the warning signs?

Hi Hilary. Jeangenie pretty well summed up what I was trying to ask.

Play Biting:- Something just about all puppies do. It is just their way of playing. War games played by puppies equips them for the future, defending themselves and catching food.

Dominant but not Aggressive biting:- An attempt to control which could progress as far as biting if the dog does not get it's way. Possibly it has been allowed to assume control of the family pack in one or more way. The owner decides to take over control and the dog feels forced to escalate it's attempts at control.

Aggressive biting. A form of rage. I'm not talking about "Rage Syndrome" but a temper tantrum, Psychological problem, fear, maybe a possessive thing (Although I would tent to put possessive aggression into the Dominant but not Aggressive group under some circumstances.

When we see a post, "My dog is biting" for example, we really know nothing. We cannot see the dog. We have no idea what if any training has been done. We know nothing about the poster's experience with dogs. All we can do is ask questions. I'm an engineer. I'm picking up lumps of metal all day. My hands are hard. A bite from a puppy would have to be hard for me to really feel it but for example it could very easily fetch blood on a 12 year old girl. Is it more serious for that? Of course not! The puppy knows no difference and in the wild it is the biting and being bitten by litter mates which teach the puppy how hard is "Hard"

I personally would say that we on this board could help the first two types of aggression, as long as we are capable of using the written word to explain and providing the owner is able to understand and act on our words. The third kind of aggression, in my opinion is beyond help without seeing the dog and the circumstances that the dog is kept in. An aggressive dog kept by an experienced adult with no children is a totally different proposition to the same dog kept by a novice with a young family.

Hope this explains where the questions come from.

Regards, John

Thank you John, You explained that really well and I understood it. Surprisingly enough for me !!

Hilary