Hi, im fairly new here but have been reading the boards for a few weeks for tips etc. We have a 14 week gsd pup who is gorgeous and maybe umm spoilt! She can sit, doesnt chew furniture or shoes, walks on lead fine, loves attention from strangers and loves playing with my 2 children. However! She has started biting when she gets over excited, this only ever happens when the kids are at home and its hard for the kids to carry through what i am asking. I have told them to walk away and ignore her (after yelping with pain) and if she follows to walk out of the room for 1 minute. This usually works and she has a little wimper and calms down near my feet when we enter the room. It is hard for my 8 year old daughter to walk away though when puppy keeps nipping at her ankles as she is walking, and my daughter usually ends up crying in the garden telling me she hates the dogs. Obviously i want them to have a good relationship. They are not left alone together, if my daughter is out playing and pup wakes up she starts getting over excited in and out of the house and will just bound outside and play fight with my daughter. Should I carry on the ignoring treatment and it will work? Or should i try the dreaded rolled up newspaper. I dont like the idea of this but if it will work quicker then i suppose i could try.

The other worry/concern i have is that puppy usually sleeps through the day when the kids are at school, ive tried to start training her when she wakes for water or after toilet but she just flops and wants to sleep. As soon as the kids come home however she will stay awake for ages, even when its obvious she is tired, but she wont give in. If i try and sit and calm her she bites me, if we ignore her she jumps on the sofa, the only way is when we all walk out of the room and she feels sorry for herself. Is it normal for puppies of 14 weeks to sleep nearly constantly from 9 am to 3.15pm??? I do still fit in training, when the kids are quietly eating dinner etc.. but it would be better if i could fit in a few more sessions during the school day! Any advice help appreciated.

Ilona

http://www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/berner1/bitestop.htm

You can just isolate puppy for up to 3 mins for some time out.

Do you have a crate so that she can escape the children and vice versa?

This would be helpful.

Rolled up newspapers should be reserved for hitting yourself over the head with when you do something silly.  Using it on a dog can make it hand shy or, depending on its character, come back at you, probably not a good idea..........

hi tohme

Yeah I have a crate, used mainly for sleeping and if i go out to get shopping etc.. the timeout (us leaving the room) works short term as she calms down, but the incident repeats everyday. I think i have spoilt her by being here too much for her, if i put her in the crate during the day she will bark constantly if i leave the room. if i stay in the room she will wimper for a bit then fall asleep. When i leave the house she is crying but usually is quiet when we return. I have refrained from putting her in the crate when she is over excited because i didnt want her to think i was punishing her in 'her' bed/safe area. i suppose i dont put her in the crate too much in the day because i dont want to upset the neighbours with the barking!

Hi
I have a 16wk old GSD, fortunately he stopped "Play biting" about 4 wks ago. I have 4 grandchildren who popped round all the time when I got the puppy, but my little granddaughter was so upset when she thought the puppy was attacking her, the more she ran away the more the puppy would chase, he just thought it was a game.  I stopped him by shouting "Aaargh" quite loudly, fortunately this stopped him in his tracks ......And the grandchildren!! it soon worked and he doesnt do it at all now.By the way he still sleeps a lot, he goes all night from about 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. in his crate and has loads of naps on and off all day.

My 11 week old GSD puppy play bites to excess. She used to just play bite hands, and we taught her to do it 'gently' so it got to the point where she would gently mouth your hand, and now she will go to do it, and stop and bite on something else (a toy for example), however, when she gets really 'wired' and excited to excess this goes out of the window. She has now started biting legs, and this hurts - today she even ripped my partner's shorts as she was grabbing at his legs. We will say 'ouch' loudly and get up and turn our back on her, but I am seriously considering putting her in another room for a few minutes to stop this in its tracks. I am praying for the day she grows out of this!

Give her time - she'll get there! Learning self-control is very difficult for everyone! :)

Thanks for the replies everyone. I was just concerned i was taking the wrong approach, but it seems like i should just stick with it and she will be fine. She is extremley well behaved unless over excited, I think she taught herself a lesson today when she tried to jump up onto the kitchen table, obviously missed and fell stunned to the floor, she couldnt work out what had happened bless her.

You could try buying your daughter some of those fab new wellies for her to wear while puppy is going through the mouthing stage, they offer a little more protection & they seem to be trendy so daughter might like them ?
Stick with it, please dont do the news paper idea. I'd also be starting to leave her for a few mins at a time & build it up or you could end up with seperation problems big time. You could try giving her activity toys in her crate to keep her occupied & also for a time out.

Sleeping is fine - dont worry about it. As long as she's active when awake then all is well! Good Luck!

I agree, I have never wanted to use the rolled up newspaper, an ex of my told me how a well this works and i had a blazing row over how she would then be fearful of me and may retaliate one day. I suppose i asked because i had read a previous thread where a 'wop'?? was used so i thought maybe i had been wrong. We still all walk out the room ignoring her for a minute but now im also trying to not let it get to that stage in the first place. The first sign of over excitement and the lead is on for a brief walk down the road, always calms down and falls asleep when we return. Thanks for putting my mind at rest everyone.