What Age Do They Stop Being A Landshark?

[Subverto]

Nala is now 19 weeks old, and she is still going through her landshark phase. She will roam around our apt looking for things to bite, and if my girlfriend happens to move while Nala is roaming, she will zero in on her pant legs/shoes/skirt/towel/etc. At this point I think Nala has put a tear in pretty much every piece of clothing worn below the waist that my girlfriend owns. She will on occasion zero in on me, but a firm "No" in an angry voice conveys that I am not a toy, and she leaves me alone. But no matter what my girlfriend tries, Nala is relentless until I intervene.

For my girlfriend's sake, I am just curious how long the landshark stage typically lasts with Newfs. Is it going to be over any time soon?

Here's a picture of the little landshark during one of her breaks (when she isn't biting everything in sight).

 

[Angela]

Owain is just 12months and it has finally stopped!!

 

[lmfoltyn]

I think they will stop when it is no longer fun...Jake stopped when he was about a year also...they do go through some fun stages, lol...Jake still thinks its funny to take my slippers every chance he can and runs away with them. He brings them to me when I tell him too but he still finds it fun to do...Nala is adorable by the way...hopefully your girlfriend finds her adorable in spite of the holes in her clothes!

 

[lacey9875]

Well, Maggie just turned four. Every once in a while I look at her and say, "Are you BITING the Mama??" and she'll start licking my hand. :lol:

So, I don't know. But it does sound like she knows your girlfriend is a bit of a push over. She needs to be firm-even if that means using a super deep NO when Nala starts biting. She is young, so it is prime Landshark age, but it needs to be corrected every time, the same way.

 

[padkins]

Sounds just like kids that know that they don't have to listen to Mom because dad is the one that disciplines. Your girlfriends needs to work with her and train her that this is not acceptable. We started training classes very early and the most useful command was "Leave It". "Leave it" applies to anything that they should not touch, chase, pick up, bite, smell, etc. Give a firm command "Leave It" the first time she evens acts like or does bite. The second time you use a correction sound like "Ack" and then repeat the command. Make sure that your commands and your girlfriends commands are consistent. If one of you uses a different command it can be confusing. Good luck, and just remember that this will pass.

 

[ajcooksey]

Sounds just like kids that know that they don't have to listen to Mom because dad is the one that disciplines. Your girlfriends needs to work with her and train her that this is not acceptable. We started training classes very early and the most useful command was "Leave It". "Leave it" applies to anything that they should not touch, chase, pick up, bite, smell, etc. Give a firm command "Leave It" the first time she evens acts like or does bite. The second time you use a correction sound like "Ack" and then repeat the command. Make sure that your commands and your girlfriends commands are consistent. If one of you uses a different command it can be confusing. Good luck, and just remember that this will pass.

I LOVE the "Leave It" command it is a lifesaver. Also the "Ack" noise works too bc it gets their attention sometimes better than "No" does. We were very fortunate and didn't get land sharks with these two but when they were in their puppy phase and bit our feet or hands we would say no and give them a toy and reward the toy. That really worked for us and stopped the biting completely in about two weeks I would say and they were between 2-3 months when we did that.

 

[nowhavethreebears]

With Gabriel it was about two and a half years....:uhoh2: I lost pants and shirts too. He destroyed so many shirts of mine grabbing at the hem I can't even count.

 

[YorkvilleNewfie]

The height of Mila's Land Shark phase was between 4-6 months, although in fairness, it stretched from 3 months and tapered of until it completely disappeared at 7-8 months. Absolutely nothing worked for us except for time-outs. Whenever her mouhth made inappropriate contact with flesh, pajama pants, etc., she was immediately, wordlessly and emotionlessly put into "timeout". That, for us, was her baby-gated laundry room and lasted for only a couple of minutes. If she plopped over and started flailing/flopping/pawing, I would leave her wherever she was and put myself in timeout by either going inside the house (if she was outside when this happened) or into the bathroom (if we were inside at the time). Lather, rinse and repeat.

 

[OodlesOfNoodles]

At this point I think Nala has put a tear in pretty much every piece of clothing worn below the waist that my girlfriend owns.

I'd say until a month or 2 ago I rotated wearing 3 pairs of old sweatpants whenever I was home or walking the dog for this very reason haha - they're covered in holes, for sure, as ours had (hopefully past tense) a love for jumping up and grabbing while out on walks. Those sharp little puppy teeth did quite a number on my legs a few times.

We're at 9 months now, and he's much less grabby...although he would LOVE to have my arm in his mouth at all times if he could. While it's cute at times, we discovered that when we let him mouth during play time, he got worse at doing it at other, inappropriate times. We therefore had to disallow all mouthing, at all times. Does your girlfriend let Nala chew on her at other times? There could be some confusion with that if there is. I will say, I'm undoubtedly more often the target for his antics than my husband is; I think he senses that he has a better chance of physically getting away with something with me than he does with my husband, so he tries to test his luck on occasion. Note that I'm the one who's home with him most and I do the majority of his training every day, so it's not for lack of discipline on my part that he tries it with me. During really bad phases I carried a spray bottle on walks so that if he started trying to jump and chew, I was able to correct him instantly and in a manner that he disliked. We also have a few spray bottles placed around the house, on different floors even, so that we can be consistent with the correction technique we use (if I talk to him at all during one of his 'moments', he tends to get even more excited. But if I show him the spray bottle and say 'no bite', he instantly stops. Go figure.). It seems like consistency and being more stubborn than they are are key to these fluffy little monsters!

 

[Subverto]

I'd say until a month or 2 ago I rotated wearing 3 pairs of old sweatpants whenever I was home or walking the dog for this very reason haha - they're covered in holes, for sure, as ours had (hopefully past tense) a love for jumping up and grabbing while out on walks. Those sharp little puppy teeth did quite a number on my legs a few times.

We're at 9 months now, and he's much less grabby...although he would LOVE to have my arm in his mouth at all times if he could. While it's cute at times, we discovered that when we let him mouth during play time, he got worse at doing it at other, inappropriate times. We therefore had to disallow all mouthing, at all times. Does your girlfriend let Nala chew on her at other times? There could be some confusion with that if there is. I will say, I'm undoubtedly more often the target for his antics than my husband is; I think he senses that he has a better chance of physically getting away with something with me than he does with my husband, so he tries to test his luck on occasion. Note that I'm the one who's home with him most and I do the majority of his training every day, so it's not for lack of discipline on my part that he tries it with me. During really bad phases I carried a spray bottle on walks so that if he started trying to jump and chew, I was able to correct him instantly and in a manner that he disliked. We also have a few spray bottles placed around the house, on different floors even, so that we can be consistent with the correction technique we use (if I talk to him at all during one of his 'moments', he tends to get even more excited. But if I show him the spray bottle and say 'no bite', he instantly stops. Go figure.). It seems like consistency and being more stubborn than they are are key to these fluffy little monsters!

That's exactly what happens with Nala and my girlfriend. If I say 'NO' she will stop, but if my girlfriend says 'NO', Nala thinks it's a game and attacks her pants/dress/socks/etc even more! When not going crazy Nala has no problem listening to my girlfriend. We have her sit for everything (before going through a closed door, before getting her food, before giving her a toy, etc), and she always listens. My girlfriend has also helped in training Nala, and attended most of her training classes. I am really thinking my GF just doesn't have the big scary deep voice I have, so Nala thinks she can get away with stuff with her. I think a spray bottle might be a good thing to try.

 

[estacey]

Warning, Newfs love water. I repeat, Newfs love water.

 

[OodlesOfNoodles]

Warning, Newfs love water. I repeat, Newfs love water.

I should clarify - there's the tiniest amount of vinegar in our spray bottles to give it a yucky smell and make it less fun than normal water :lol:

 

[shellyk]

If the vinegar doesn't work - try bitter apple - not diluted. We used it only a few times and our pup would stop if we just picked up the bottle.

 

[R Taft]

The height of Mila's Land Shark phase was between 4-6 months, although in fairness, it stretched from 3 months and tapered of until it completely disappeared at 7-8 months. Absolutely nothing worked for us except for time-outs. Whenever her mouhth made inappropriate contact with flesh, pajama pants, etc., she was immediately, wordlessly and emotionlessly put into "timeout". That, for us, was her baby-gated laundry room and lasted for only a couple of minutes. If she plopped over and started flailing/flopping/pawing, I would leave her wherever she was and put myself in timeout by either going inside the house (if she was outside when this happened) or into the bathroom (if we were inside at the time). Lather, rinse and repeat.

I do this too....But also we like our dogs to be mouthy, so we put something else in the mouth all the time and make them work for us with stuff to do that involves the mouth. So we put something in the "busy" mouth and say "carry" or "hold". I am very wary of saying "no" or telling off for mouthing, because if you ever want to do water training that will bite you in the butt.......When we have puppies we carry stuff, so that we can give them something to carry or hold and when that happens we praise heavily and reward. So turn something negative in a positive

 

[NinaA]

Your girlfriend needs to get a big voice. She needs to stop, get in Nala's face and grab each side of it. Give her a bit of a shake and a good, loud, strong, No, or Ah-Ah, or Ack or something like that. Leave it should be for things that are picked up and shouldn't be, but no dog should be allowed to get away with grabbing or biting people. Not even a puppy.

 

[hhunter]

I'm new to the Newf world, and brand new to this forum, and hoping to learn from all of you.

But I HAVE fostered my share of mouthy puppies (and mounthy adults!), and this is what has worked for me: any tooth contact on human skin, even accidental gets a sharp "ow!" and I pull away. Strike Two, and I immediately end the play (eg turn around and ignore them for 30 seconds - how boring for pup). Third strike, they might get a time out for a few minutes (never in the crate - the crate is always a positive thing). Meanwhile, I redirect to something more appropriate to play with (a toy), and yay, fun times abound when they're biting that instead!!

My understanding is that this is how siblings correct each other (and learn bite inhibition): if you bite too hard, your play mate yelps, and pretty soon wont want to play with you at all. Which is exact opposite of what the pup wants. They learn that if they want to play, it has to be appropriate to whomever they're playing with. In the case of human, the dog thinks they must be VERY sensitive, because any contact with teeth at all is too much and generates the opposite of what they were looking for - boo.

My philosophy on training is always this: reward behaviour your like by giving them exactly what they want in those circumstances (eg walking at my side, ok we keep walking!; pulling on lead and I come to a dead stop). And punish behaviour you don't like by doing exactly the opposite of what they want (jumping around while I prepare your meal, I immediately stop preparing it and do something else... oh hey you sat patiently, look at that, I'm making your dinner again).