Hi i have a 7 week old GSD puppy.The problem being when my twin boys aged 8 get home from school,the puppy jumps up at them then starts to bite at their clothing.I know the puppy is excited to see them as she plays lovely with them in the garden.However she doesn`t stop when they tell her "NO".When she tries it on with me and my wife she stop`s after a firm "NO".Has anyone got any advice please?

I had this problem and a dog sees children as part of the pack as they are in similar hieght he did grow out of it though but i just carried on with the firm no and believe me it takes patience i also told him no and held a choc drop in my hand so that when he did stop if even for a second i gave him the tidbit and fussed him ect telling him he was a good boy but rest assured they do stop hope this helps everyone has different advice by the way  it ake it your a fellow gooner ? or am i wrong there if so come on the gunners

I don't expect your sons have deep adult voices. Children's voices are much higher in pitch than an adult's and excite dogs more. She's playing with them as she would the other pups in her litter - in her mind your boys are the same. The best thing (though not easy) is to make sure your boys don't play exciting games with her.

I agree with you there its very hard to get the dog to calm down when the kids are excited my dog is now two and he still cant resist a little nibble on your ear stopped the rest though (ha ha )

Is it bettr to turn and walk away from a puppy if it bites.The breeder told me to curl her top lip round so she bites that.Up the gunners

Please note we do say "NO" then stop playing with her.The latter seems a bit cruel

max did this with my children i think he thought they were either his litter mates or he was a kid but gradually the kids got more confident with him and he kind of stopped doing it. it kind of happened gradually and then we noticed he wasnt doing it. he is 6 months now

My 14 week old puppy also bites peoples clothes all the time - not in an agressive way but to "chew" i suppose (oh and people's long hiar too!). He won't learn "no" on this subject even though he will stop other bad behaviours when told off. There are no children involved here..so do you think he will just grow out of this?

Have you got a copy of "The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey? I think you'll find it invaluable. Puppies generally don't just 'grow out' of things - they need to trained.
:)

Just say ouch, and remove yourself from the vicinity and provide the puppy with something else to bite!

Hi there,
I don't know if you saw the post I placed a few weeks back, but I had a problem with my 6 month old GSD biting/mouthing etc.  I received some really good advice from some of the other members of the forum and spoke to a behaviourist. Apollo would not stop for love nor money no matter how many times you said "No" and I think he felt like we were nagging him all the time.  We tried a substance called Bitter Apple with a firm "No" command and it has worked a treat.  Its comes as a spray or a cream and dogs loathe the taste, so when they grab onto your hands/arm/trousers etc they will let go if they can taste it. Along with the "No" command Apollo has made the association of "Biting = nasty taste, therefore do not bite."

We had tried saying "Ouch" which only seemed to make him more excited and more eager to bite, and also trying to ignore him with "time-outs" but with only slight improvement.  We were really at our wits end and thought we had a Devil Dog, but the support from the members here encouraged us to stick with it and gave us untold support.

It is by no means a quick and easy solution and like with all dog training takes time and patience.  It is essential that all members of the family are consistant with their approach, otherwise you could end up with one confused pooch.  One thing the behaviourist said to me was that one of the main problems is that not everyone will have the same tolerance threshold. In my case my husband would let Apollo bite/mouth a fair bit before he would say "No" whereas I would say "No" instantly so Apollo just thought "Right, I'll try it on with them."  Someone else has said that it is not easy and that a lot of patience is required.  As a first time owner, I was a little naive and thought everything would click into place within a matter of days.... Oh how wrong was I! Persevere and your efforts will pay off.

After having used the Bitter Apple for the past 2 weeks, the improvement in his behaviour has been remarkable.  He still mouths and bites, but only slightly. Whereas before he used to just grab you whenever a hand was placed on him he will now just gently touch with his nose or lick, although every so often he will just check to see if we still taste bad! 

I'm only a novice to being a "Doggy" mum, but I hope this may help or let you know you're not alone.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Lu

Hi Lu thanx for your post.Our puppy is only 7 week`s old so we`ve still got along way to go yet.I`ts reassuring to hear of other people experiencing similar problems,and getting over them.I must admit i`ve been a bit worried about the biting, as last night she kept jumping up and biting my trousers and her bites seem to be getting harder.Like yourself we tried the "ouch" exercise but she seem`s to get more excited.We will keep trying with the "time out".Would you be able to tell me where i can get the spray from please.We`ve only had her a week now so it is early day`s yet.However as for toilet training and settling down at night she`s been brilliant.
Thanx Andy

You would think that Bitter Apple would be available at pet shops, and I'm sure it is.... but not in East London! The following company does it:
http://www.hubint.com/
I also found that it is generally located under "Grooming aids" and "Ferret Products."

Apollo was such a little bugger with his biting, we collected him at about 7 weeks of age and he was a big bundle of fur who looked like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.  One post I received back with my query was that some breeding lines are particularly "bitey" maybe this is could be a contributing factor?

He was very easy to toilet train and had mastered it within the week, he also settled down very well in the evening with only a few little whines.  Recently he has started to bark a little in the middle of the night (he sleeps in a crate), however this has improved with a night light and Classic FM!

For me the biting seemed to take over my whole life at one point, if I wasn't worrying about it I was trying to stop it and I thought I had a killer dog!  I also have a young niece (aged 4 and also a little madam) and my concern for her "safety" was always at the back of my mind.  Its all very well having a pup who will bite/mouth you but on a child the sensation it is obviously 50 fold.  You then have the worry that other parents will think your dog is "dangerous" and that you'll be thrown in the cells!  Supervision with playful young puppies and young children is absolutely paramount, not only to protect the child, but to also protect your dog.  What one party might regard as play the other my consider an act of aggression (apologies if I sound really patronising).  With GSDs being a large breed they can easily knock over a child and Apollo seems to manage knocking me over in his mad half hour quite easily.... ok perhaps thats a slight exaggeration.....

I'm sure you won't have any problems as yours is only 7 weeks old but believe me I understand your touch of anxiety.  

Take care and good luck
Lu

Hi thanx for the recomendation for the bitter apple spray,got my bottle today.I must say my puppy hasn`t bit or chewed anything with it on including anyone`s hands.Thanx Lu.

Just to add to the previous post really - when we got our lab puppy the first couple of months felt like hell due to his noin-stop biting of clothes. We just weren't prepared, as he was our first pup, for the 'difficult' bits of having a dog. Now he's 12 months and lovely it seems weird looking back and remembering how close we came to getting rid of him - the 'ouch' thing certainly didn't work, moving away helped a bit (if you could get away when he had his teeth locked into your trouser leg...) but at times it really felt impossible to cope with and we felt at our wits' end. If you feel like that now, all I can say is it WILL get better - and loads of other people have it worse than you!! Just search under 'puppy biting' or 'mouthing' on Champdogs and you'll find tons of threads about it. We just suddenly realised he wasn't biting quite as much and we just kept up the firm 'no's and walking away when we could. Persistence and patience (both of which sound easy but are very very difficult at times) will eventually get you a lovely family pet. Good luck!

Thanx Chris for your post.I have searched the old message boards they certainly do help.As a new member i now know where to look for info
Thanx Andy

Hi -Sorry didn't see this earlier - we've recently got a new puppy and I'd forgotton about the biting of the pants , the attacking of the toes etc lol - a firm 'NO'  usually works well -our pup is about 16 weeks now and we still get the toes attackes in the mornings but the noses and the reat of us are pretty safe now lol -funny thing is ..you'll miss it when it's gone ;)

Also you could try an indoor plant water spray. They don't particularly like it, and even if they learn to like it (as my GSD cross does), it stops them in their tracks.

I found this method was the only one that worked on my fullsizeed returned 8 month pup who found mouthing very rewarding and was not easily put off.  Any physical attempts to get her to stop she just saw as part of her game.

She would come at me and I would go squirt squirt in ehr face, so she would try to get around it behind it, but I would always stil get her in the face.  She would then sit down sopping wet and look at me as f to say you are such a spoil sport.

I would then very quietly call her over, get her to sit and pet her very gently and with slow movements so as not to excite her again.  ~At other times she would get a biscuit.  Over time she realised that as soon as I said enough, that she must stop, and would get some form of reward.

I was then able to take this claming method thtough to over exuberance in other situations such as playing with other dogs.  She is often itching to be naighty and bouncy as that is how she is, but she has learnt some self contorl, or should I saylearnt to control herself when I say.

Hi, I had similar problems with my GSD's and others when they were puppies. Kids seem a great target for nibbles from dogs and it is a habit that you really must get on top of when your pup is young and impressionable. Get your kids to carry a few treats in their pockets so that when they come in from school, they tell the pup to sit, and reward with a treat. The pup will soon learn that end of school homecoming means treats!!  This will replace the domineering litter behaviour that your pup is showing, Your dog has to learn that your kids are above it in the pack pecking order!! Getting your kids involved in the training aspect of the puppy is also a great way of encouraging them to be more responsible, and also gives them a great boost when they can get the pup to do things that other people can't.

I cured Willis of chasing my son and nipping very easily.

When Willis went to chase him I jumped out and rattled a can with coins in right behind him. He sat down with such a shock which completely stopped him in his tracks. He got up to have another halfhearted attempt and got the same treatment. He then decided that the unpleasantness of the noise wasn't worth the nipping and chasing of zack and never, ever did it again :)

I had this with my puppy dobe (he is now 10 months) and it eventually stopped.  My sister has a beagle and he is now 7 months, he would bite and nip more than my dobe, but he has stopped now.  All the puppies seem to go through this, if you see a litter of pups together they are all rough and tumbling and biting each other.  We did the "no" etc. but my dobe would just carry on. Also my friends puppy staff, (well he is still a baby and he is biting and nipping).  I was told so many different things to do and I must admit "champdogs" is so helpful and I tried all the things I was told.  Also I bought a book recently its called "The Dog Listener" I can't remember who it is by now, but I only bought it about 6 weeks ago and I wish I had bought it sooner, it has been very helpful.