Morning all,

Mt four month black lab - who is gorgeous by the way - has always been a biter.  Followed advice given on the site and we have made great progress.  Whilst not cured of the biting it is not half as bad and usually manageable.  However, you know when puppies have a mad run round the room like their bum is on fire ( i think it's normal?!) she will then proceed to jump up at us and growl, bark and attempt to really bite whichever limb is within reach with her heckles(sp?) raised and she looks really fierce.  Is this just a game that we should ignore in the usual manner - walking away - or should i be worried about potential aggression issues?
Distracting her with a toy can sometimes work but inevitably you have to use your hands to throw the toy and that makes it an easy target for the bite!  Her teeth have been bothering her the last few days and we have had to hand feed her meal a couple of times - could it all be related?

Many thanks in advance

S

IMO it is all part of the shear joy of living and in the end they do stop the unmanageable exuberance.

Oh, right thanks Jackie.  Just let her get on with it then!  may be buy some thicker jumpers for her to latch onto!
S

Could try a snarl as you walk away, but when they are going mad like that any response seems to make matters worse.

Got to agree with Jackie..sounds like a typical puppy play session. I love it when they do this(the scooting round not the biting!!) ...they just seem to be so happy that they just can't contain themselves!
Archer

You should hear the noise our 10yr old westie makes when she is playing with the puppy so I would agree its just a playing thing

Jean

I think Jackie is right it's the sheer joy of living...we call it a mad 10 minutes Sal still does it at 16 months and my two cats still do it at 21. They run through the house in the garden if they can get out the door the cat flap doesn't count for moments like these. Then round the back of the sofa and who  ever is sitting on it eventually coming to rest - at some point.  We have just learnt through time to put any cups of glasses down :)

Karen

We call it 'mad dogs' and for as long as i have known dogs, they all do it, however old! I love it, they get their bums all underthemselves and skedaddle! its so adorable. I'm sure the biting thing will die down, but try to ignore it and cross your  arms and walk away.

We call it the After Dinner Mince, because it seems to be connected with having been fed.

yep sounds like lots of fun to me!!!

Our puppy was very mouthy and would bite us too.  She is an English Pointer.  I was so surprised to have this issue.  All my research indicated this is a very gentle breed.  It is true they are gentle, but ground rules must be established  She is a much much better now at 11 months.  But, it was a big issue for me.  I take your posting seriously.  The first thing that helped us was dog obedience classes which helped us to learn how to react when the pup nipped us with those tiny needle like teeth.  Also, the trainer helped us understand some things like a dog sort of sees the family like a dog pack.  Who is going to be top dog, so to speak?  We changed the way we fed her.  We too were guilty of hand feeding the pup because we were worried she was not eating enough.  We quickly stopped that as we learned that alpha dog eats first.  I have read many postings on the best way to feed the pups...hold the full food dish, command the dog to sit, only after the dog sits set the food bowl down, make the dog stay, until you give the command to eat.You may want to look up other postings on this.  It may sound silly.  I initally did not see the relationship, but it really helped our pup.  Now, I also realize that our pup was not getting enough exercise!  Also, I had read that puppies are growing so quickly one should be careful how you play, sometimes they are going for the toy you have and simply miss and catch your hand?  Now, I am no expert on dog behavior or training by any means, but these things helped us.  We still are fighting the issue of pulling stuff off the kitchen counter and not jumping up to greet people. 

If you accept all the alpha thing that is fine but this is normal puppy joy of life and IMO should not be curbed. It is not a threat to your standing as the provider of food and comfort so it is best not to disrupt it. Just MO you are free to continue as you see fit.

We call it the zoomies! Best thing we do is to run quickly and open the back door and let her run it off, we shout loud whoops to encourage her, extremely funny!!
Better than in the house as she breaks anything within tail reach :)

Quote <<Our puppy was very mouthy and would bite us too.  She is an English Pointer.  I was so surprised to have this issue>>

But puppies bite - all puppies do it!  I'd be worried if a puppy didn't bite. 

Personally i would think this is normal excitable behaviour and yes, pups often do this "wall of death" thing in the evening, my sister's JRT would do her "mad figure of 8" and my girl would do her mad charging and then running up and lunging with devilment! If you react they are so "high" they tend to (usually) in my experience get worse. I would maybe keep her (under observation always) on a house line so you can control her and take her out for a few minutes for her to calm down....

Lindsay

I am curious.  Most of the replies to the posting feel this is just playful.  I would tend to agree.  My pup at 11 months still hops around and barks, but there is no longer attempts to bite.  I assumed it was due to some of the actions I took in earlier months. 

BUT, I am curious though...what is recommend about the attempting to bite at any limb the writer identifies?  Should the writer ignore these attempts?  If not, how should it be addressed?

It's MO that a puppy bites you because he wants attention or it wants to play so the best thing to do is to let it be known that the biting will get the pup neither attention nor a playmate. Withdraw your hands or yourself from the puppy in silence, that gives no reward to the pup and soon becomes boring, to shout or yell or smack or touch the pup in anyway is a reward so the pup will continue to do it.

Your pups barking is much the same thing it is demanding attention so try not to give it any just walk in the other direction or turn your back. Some breeds are persistent barkers and if yours is one of those you may never stop it all together but at least you will not encourage it.