Advice on puppy biting feet - biting harder!

[Neon]

Still not making much progress with this.  Misty seems to get worse on an evening after her last meal.  She never wants to rest after eating but after 8:00pm she seems easily frustrated when playing and would rather bite my feet ,tonight she bit my toe (should have had my wellies on  ) and drew blood.  I don't seem to be winning, how soon did your pups grow out of this stage? I'm hoping that when we can go walking on Tuesday more exercise will calm her, although given how short walks need to be at her age I'm not hopeful.

I'm having EXACTLY the same as you and it drives me nuts - it hurts so much.  Toby made me trip up a step last night because he was hanging on to my shoe.    He is still teething but I think he has most of them now but he still has those four long needle sharp teeth (the dracula ones as I call them  ) so I'm praying things get better when he loses these (oh pleeeze God!!!   )

[Misty Roan]

Soo glad I'm not alone. I have to walk in the house quite often with a cocker attached to my foot.     Love the description of shouting seaangler, have tried yelping but seems to momentarily stop her then encourage another go.    

[seaangler]

Soo glad I'm not alone. I have to walk in the house quite often with a cocker attached to my foot.     Love the description of shouting seaangler, have tried yelping but seems to momentarily stop her then encourage another go.  

Well that what it says in the book..Perhaps MY wife has a louder yelping voice than your self   not saying much more than that..

[pennylopey]

Oh we tried the yelping thing too, it just sent him crazy! He'd bark, growl and try even harder to have a chomp, so we stopped that pretty quickly...

[Snoo]

For what it's worth, I found that Clover bites more when she is getting, or has got, tired/overtired - maybe that is why you find the problem worse as the day goes on?  If you have a crate she is used to going in, you could try popping her in with a small treat and a toy or two (so it is not construed by her as a punishment) when she is getting out of hand, then close the door and leave her promptly, and you might find she falls asleep pretty quickly! Clover does! 
Also, I found that yelping or shrieking loudly when bitten didn't help the situation - but I get a better result if I make a small, 'I'm hurt', sort of noise, a bit like Clover when she whines, really, and she immediately stops and looks contrite and busies herself with the nearest toy - failing that she suddenly finds the need to groom herself as a distraction from the sound of the hurt she has caused me! Might be worth sounding like a bitten puppy yourself and see if it makes any difference! Once you make the sound, don't look her in the eye or say anything to her, rather, look at your wounded finger, foot, whatever.  I bet she will find something better to do than carry on biting you.....

[Misty Roan]

Thanks Snoo, will try that tonight.   

[Snoo]

Good luck, and let us know if it works - or not, lol! 

[pennylopey]

I'll have a go too, thanks Snoo!

Will cross my (hopefully unwounded!) fingers that it works!

Penny

[Neon]

Thanks Snoo, great advice.  Toby is at his worst in the evenings when he comes in the sitting room with us.  He has a bed in there but refuses to settle in it and runs, jumps and bites.  I'll try to whimper instead of shouting and swearing like a fish wife from now on 

[Snoo]

@Penny: will be interested to see if Alfie reacts like Clover - you don't need to make it a loud noise at all, more a brief, sorrowful, crying, whimpering sort of noise, like a wounded puppy! It's actually quite amusing to watch Clover when I do it - but I think you should only do it when the pup is REALLY hurting you - or it would lose its efficacy if you did it every 5 mins., I reckon!

[Snoo]

@Neon: It does seem to point towards over excitement and tiredness, as Clover can go for a good walk (bearing in mind that is a very short one as she is only 14 weeks old!) and come back pretty hyper - she sometimes can't settle, but you can tell she really needs to, so I pop her out for a wee, and then into her crate - we do get a bit if whingeing, sometimes, and then suddenly she is fast asleep! Only thing is, that revives her and off we go again, lol!!! 

[siam]

Alfie used to have what I call his 'croc mode' time every night after tea when he would snap at my legs, feet, ankles, or any body bit that moved near him. I dreaded the evenings when my son was working as I had to try and fend off the onslaught myself. I found that the best way to survive these 'attacks' was to get down on the floor with him and fend him off with a Papa Travis dog toy. My previous cocker wasn't bothered about it but it was tops for 'defending' against Alfie's teeth and it turned into a game then. 'Papa Travis'  is a good sized flexible cuddly with a deep pitched squeakie inside. You can still get him on Amazon for £5.99.One review says the stuffing came out of hers, but I was amazed that our Papa stayed intact given the onslaughts he was subjected to.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Happy-Doggyworth-Papa-Travis-Gold/dp/B0002ARVRS

Any other sturdy cuddly you have would be worth trying as your defence. Good luck!!

   

[Snoo]

Argh, that's too cute for dogs - I'll order one for myself!!!   

[JulieM]

Florence used to be terrible at this- but it does pass I promise!

During her evening biting frenzy we used to do time out for a few minutes and it did help to calm her down and understand that we didn't appreciate it and it did seem to work.

Keep sane 

[Toni-UK]

Oh we tried the yelping thing too, it just sent him crazy! He'd bark, growl and try even harder to have a chomp, so we stopped that pretty quickly...

Same here,it would whip her into a frenzy if we yelped.The ONLY things that worked for us was time out behind a baby gate in the kitchen or distraction with a toy.Behind the gate she could hear us but couldn't see us and with nothing to sink her fangs into would quite often put herself to bed for a little nap  it was peace at last......while it lasted 

I can actually remember being reduced to tears with Ruby,i thought she was going to grow up to be nasty 
but she has fantastic bite inhibition and is sweet natured and gentle,so anyone who has a land shark,hang on in there it will get better.