Biting Newfoundland Puppy

I have a 9 week old puppy and he has been completely well behaved except for biting. I feel like I've tried everything. I've tried saying 'ow' or 'no' firmly and it doesn't seem to phase him one bit. I've tried "yelping" and putting him in puppy timeout and it doesn't seem to work or phase him. I try to say ow and he comes at me harder. I know he's a puppy but I would like to get him to stop biting our clothes, hair and skin. Especially so it doesn't get worse. I don't want to it to last longer than it needs to. I've tried redirecting his attention to a toy and he just grabs my clothes instead and pulls on them, or my fingers, or my hair. Hes also started growling and barking at me as well. I'm just confused as to what to do. He's stubborn and nothing seems to phase him. If anyone has tips please let me know!
 

R Taft

Active member
This has been dealt with quite a bit and there are many answers.... Puppies learn a lot from their littermates in the last few weeks as to their biting and what hurts...bite inhibition... but that said i have a puppy that had no littermates and we are teaching her.... I use the "off" method... I always carry treats at present, my puppy is i think about 13 weeks old. So I have them on me ... When she goes to bite, I take a treat and I lure her off... as soon as she lets go I also say "off"... Now we only say "off" and she does not even bite. She was quite terrible, we called her the shark. When we say off now she sits in fron of us and looks. I do not like to pull, push or do anything physical to stop biting and I have found yelping can exite some, it did her, and they bite even more. Also ignoring sometimes does not work as she got more attention seeking.... the yelping and such works well in puppies that have had some good training in their litters from 8-10 weeks from littermates as that is the way they learn. Early puppies that have left their litter very early or singletons like mine, you start from scratch. I also like a mothyness on mine, so I allow biting or mouthing and if it is soft I stroke the puppy. I say off as soon as it turns into a firm bite.... i find the "off" and lured treat initially works really well for mine.... As I said Urshie is really good now, she hardly bites and if she has anything in her mouth, even objects, I say "off" and she lets go. it is also great training for the tugging games we have in the future and also the water training we do, though we change that to "thank you" when we ask for items, sound more polite.we reward good behaviour heavily. I do have time outs if she really is over the top, just a short period aways from all the other dogs and us, she hates that.... wetake her out , say nothing and when we let her back in we kinda ignore her too. She has got the hang of it all. I let my older dogs do what they have to do to keep her from being naughty withthem. they do help the training, especially my three older girls. The boys are a bit soft on her, but they do a great ignore.... Good luck training
 
Thank you very much for your help! I will for sure be trying this! What treats do you use? Both of the ones I've tried, his tummy doesn't seem to like them.
 

wrknnwf

Active member
Ronnies advice is great. Also try trading your hand, clothing, etc. for a toy and then teach your pup to "take" that toy when they are biting you. You soon have a pup that will take any object from your hand. I had a pup that was horrible about biting, jumping, body slamming and such, so I decided to develop those traits and turn them into something potentially useful. That pup quickly learned to "work" with me. She'd pick up anything I dropped and deliver it to my hand (great for water work). She was also a needy pup that wanted a lot of physical contact, so I used her bad habit of jumping on me as a way of soothing her by teaching her to put her paws on my shoulders (on the "UP" command) when she seemed to be getting anxious. The random jumping quickly stopped once she learned to be invited first.

What I'm suggesting is that you look at bad behaviors in a positive way and try to figure out how you can turn them into good, useful ones instead of just being angry or frustrated. Then give that behavior a name (command) and reward when the dog uses it correctly. A reward normally starts with a treat and praise, but is quickly faded into just praise. Make the praise worth working for.
 

R Taft

Active member
oops.... I forgot Jane's bit... I also carry toys, mine are mini bumpers as it is always about water training.

And like Jane if we have a problem , we train the problem. Like barking and jumping, on command and also ask for the opposite....

I use just soft treat... I make my own. I microwave a lambs liver for 12 minutes in a covered dish, rinse and dry in the oven on low for about 3 hours after I have cut it up in small bits (depending on which dog is getting the treats)... they are sof but fairly dry.

I also use a organic none preservative/food colouring and non grain kibble that i have in just about every pocket I have ... not good when washed :)
 
Thank you all for your answers! The off followed by a treat for letting go is a life saver! He's still not perfect yet, of course, but it has helped A LOT. He is finally figuring out the concept that toys are for play, not fingers, clothes or hair! He has come a long way since I've used this method!
 

wrknnwf

Active member
One other thought. Remember that every time a dog gets away with a bad behavior, he is getting more practice at being naughty. Just like every thing else, practicing a bad habit reinforces it. Practice makes "perfect" so they say.

So try to prevent unwanted behaviors before they happen. If the pup never gets to do something wrong, it increases the likelihood that he won't attempt it later. Think countersurfing, chewing on inappropriate objects, jumping, etc. Try to anticipate and distract him before he makes a mistake. Puppies should always be crated when you can't give them your undivided attention.
 
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