Stop Biting Me!

[littcoheat]

We have had a wonderful first week with our new baby, Hooligan. He is amost 9 weeks old. I know that nipping is par for the course, but in the last few days he has had "crazy hour" where he goes insane biting the kids and our feet and anything he can get to.

If he nips my clothes I distract him with a good chew toy, and if he gets the skin I say OW! loudly and ignore him, and that seems to curb the biting a LITTLE, but he really hurts the kids. It's really stressing me out because it just feels like I spend the day yanking him off of the kids and saying OW! to him. It feels so negative, but I cannot let him think it's okay to bite the little skin kids especially.
Does anyone have advice for me? When does the people biting start to slow down?
HELP!
Hoolie's mom

 

[Kirby Kirb]

It's all part of being a puppy!! It will get better, but once his teeth are done. Lots of chew toys, ice cubes, and things to keep him occupied. I dont' have kids so I cant really help there, but his behaviour is normal. He is probably in some discomfort with his gums, just be patient, and firm, and you will get through it!

 

[pmari3]

How old are your kids?

I can just speak from my experience thus far. Winston is 13 weeks and we are already seeing a little improvement. Try redirecting him to a toy when he starts to bite. Winston, unfortunately, doesn't seem to enjoy toys, but it seems most other boxers do - just my luck!

If your kids are old enough, they can enforce the "ow and ignore" rule as well. My 7 1/2 year old does it. If Winston bites him, he screeches and then leaves the room for a couple of minutes. My 3 1/2 year old usually stays up higher than him so she isn't quite as appealing to him and he has actually been a little better with her over the past week.

I know it seems like it isn't going to end, I wonder myself sometimes :rolleyes: but just be consistent and he will get the message eventually. Good Luck!

 

[littcoheat]

My kids are 6 and 4, and I babysit a 1 year old on Thursdays. We're trying to work with them too, but there's not much I can do with the one year old except stand in as an eternal guard and referee! Ah, well, I know we'll get through this.
BTW- your fawn pup looks a lot like our Hooligan!

Thanks for the advice.

 

[littcoheat]

It's all part of being a puppy!! It will get better, but once his teeth are done. Lots of chew toys, ice cubes, and things to keep him occupied. I dont' have kids so I cant really help there, but his behaviour is normal. He is probably in some discomfort with his gums, just be patient, and firm, and you will get through it!

I never thought about ice cubes- that might be an interesting diversion!

 

[mybubbieroo]

He will stop!

I have just went through this with my Bubbie. He is 11 months old and there is no more biting now. Thank goodness! I guess he must have been about six months old before we really got a handle on the biting. I know that seems like a long time and it was too. I sure hated those little razor teeth. It does all end after a while. Just be patient and keep putting toys in his mouth when he goes for the wrong things. Good luck with the little guy!

 

[dsmcculley]

Same Problem!

Sasha is 9 weeks now and still biting. It seems to be getting worse, not better. She loves ice cubes, but after a few per day, she is not interested in them anymore. We have some kong toys that we put treats in...little milk bones and peanut butter. She loves those, but they of course only deter her for 5 or 10 minutes. I found a chilly bone toy that you put in the freezer. She loves it, but chewed the seam through and stuffing started coming out. I tossed it and plan to buy another. She doesn't care for the puppy nylabone or toys that are too soft/rubbery. She prefers something hard to knaw at - like the greenie bones or the older puppy nylabones (even though the package says she's too young for them...we only give them to her when she's monitored. Anyway, if we can keep her entertained with different toys that she likes constantly then she's less likely to chew on us. I read somewhere that if you busy them with basic training and exercise this will also deter biting. But my gosh...I don't have that much energy to change the pace or the toy every 10 minutes ALL DAY LONG!!! So I guess she will just bite us until she grows out of it!!

 

[ssi_rhonda]

suggestion for the kids

I have explained to mine that he is going through a biting phase just like they did and that for right now if they are going to play with him they need to keep a toy in their hand that has a little length to it (such as a rope bone, about a 7" fleece bone, or we have a stuffed jack that works out well. When Wyatt comes towards them with his mouth open, they gently put the toy in his mouth, this usually turns into a game of tug of war.

My back-up if this doesn't work is a toy I ordered called a "chilly bone" it is bone shaped, covered in canvas and has some sort of sponge inside that holds water, put it in its' plastic bag, freeze it and wow! Wyatt likes to put it back towards where molars are and seems to relax as he just gnaws away. It reminds me of the frozen teething rings I use to give my kids. You can tell from the way he responds that it has got to feel good.

 

[kpowell]

Stella didn't stop biting until she was about 4 1/2 mos. old. When she was closer to your pup's age, she would bite and draw blood (mostly because her little teeth were so sharp!) We yelped and hollered as much as possible, and ignored her as best we could when she did bite, and she finally stopped, although it was a gradual stop (she occasionally bites now and she will be 6 mos. old Oct. 6).

Also, she would go through a biting frenzy in the evening right before she was ready to go to bed for the night. It was VERY much like a little kid who is too tired who acts his very worst! Finally I realized what was happening and started putting her to bed when she went into her "wild and crazy" phase. In a matter of minutes she'd be out like a light! She still does that some, but not like she did as a baby!

Good luck!

 

[Bettis'Mommy]

Help with biting

Our baby Boxer is 12 1/2 weeks old now and we've found that the more we get him around other dogs, the less he bites. He plays pretty rough with the older/bigger dogs and it seems that he's learning faster from them to be nice with his biting than from us alone.

Actually, even having a playdate with one of his littermates seems to help a lot. We're fortunate to be good friends with the breeder and the new parents of the pups, but even when he plays with the Golden Retriever down the street he chills out a bit.