10-week old yellow lab pup - male

[sleepyjoeyt]

I realize that all young dogs tend to nip and bite, just a natural thing.

Are there things people have done to limit this? Obviously I'd like to get this behavior changed before he is full size but so far I've been unsuccessful.

Ideas?

[PokerGoblin]

get him toys and make sure he knows that the toys are the only thing he's allowed to bite.

He'll grow out of it.

Or you could bite him back.

PG

[Shajen]

[ QUOTE ]
Or you could bite him back.

PG

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep. You gotta show the little guy who the boss is. He'll figure it out.

This worked for me. I have a friend who is a vet and she concurs but make sure you ask your own vet.

Link (http://www.ehow.com/how_18746_stop-puppy-biting.html)

[jnalpak]

[ QUOTE ]
Are there things people have done to limit this?

Ideas?

[/ QUOTE ]

remove all "chewable" human things from his view. Also go purchase the hard rubber NYLABONES not those crappy soft rubbery ones.

Start teaching him fetch with the ball

Also, you MUST become the ALPHA male/female in your relationship with the dog. The moment you allow him to think he/she is the LEADER of the surrounding domain is when you will lose all control forever.

At least with Jack Russel's its whats recommended and they are little al qaeda operatives always plotting your doom.

[phil_ivey_fan]

[ QUOTE ]

Also, you MUST become the ALPHA male/female in your relationship with the dog. The moment you allow him to think he/she is the LEADER of the surrounding domain is when you will lose all control forever.


[/ QUOTE ]

This is very true. Here are some tips...
1) never let him win a starring contest
2) When he has done something bad...
a) you must catch it within the first 10seconds or so
b) change your tone of voice deeper and meaner
c) pop his snout (not hard) and say NO!
d) have spot or bet for him to go when he is being punished
example: <pop on snout> NO! Bad dog. Go to your bed!

3) when playing with toys and get in a tug of war situation, *never* let him win.




Other than that you should take him to dog classes (something one a week or bi weekly) and buy a book.

[MrTrik]

My suggestion:

1. Come up with a one word command you can use to tell the dog no biting. It should be short and not a command you use to tell the dog anything else. The word I've used is Teeth. You also want a visual hand gesture of some sort that always gets issued when the verbal command is given. Again, something you would not do for any other reason.

2. When the behavior occurs ... firmly issue the command/gesture and give the dog no more attention on the issue once the biting/nipping stops. Giving even negative attention is attention. Also, praising a dog for stopping is not a good idea here. There are many places that positive praise helps, but not here because the dog will learn to get attention by biting, then stopping, then getting positive attention.

3. For the new command to work, you must be 100% consistent in your behavior. No deviating ever. Even if whatever he/she is doing is cute or funny.

[vulturesrow]

[ QUOTE ]
...and buy a book.

[/ QUOTE ]

What sort of book should a puppy read to limit his nipping?

[IndieMatty]

Picture? A puppy picture would be sorta nice right now.

[Shajen]

not the op but:

http://www.gotpetsonline.com/pictures-gallery/dog-pictures-breeders-puppies-rescue/golden-retriever-pictures-breeders-puppies-rescue/pictures/golden-retriever-0089.jpg

1. Im a fan of alpha rolling the dog as punishment, although some people say this is bad to do.

2. Labs are easy to train; they are very eager to please, and I doubt you'll have much trouble as you might with a Jack Russell or a more stubborn breed.

[JackWilson]

My experience with labs is that they totally outgrow any sort of biting behaviour. None of the labs I've seen or had have ever been known to bite anything besides their food after reaching adulthood.

[BradleyT]

[ QUOTE ]


c) pop his snout (not hard) and say NO!
d) have spot or bet for him to go when he is being punished
example: <pop on snout> NO! Bad dog. Go to your bed!



[/ QUOTE ]
Hitting the dog on the nose is horrible advice. Where do most little kids put their hands when they go to pet a dog?

[djoyce003]

[ QUOTE ]
I realize that all young dogs tend to nip and bite, just a natural thing.

Are there things people have done to limit this? Obviously I'd like to get this behavior changed before he is full size but so far I've been unsuccessful.

Ideas?

[/ QUOTE ]

I've got an 8.5 week old yellow lab female and i've read all the books etc because mine is going to go to work duck hunting. All puppies nip and bite because this is how they feel things. Don't let her bite you period...when she does it move your hand away and refuse to pet or love on her if she's chewing on you.

If you don't mind as long as it is gentle, whenever she does it hard scream OW really loud and make a really big production out of how bad it hurt...they'll generally lay down and pout because they feel bad.

Whenever they are chewing on things they aren't supposed to firmly tell them no and hold up your finger and give them something they ARE allowed to chew on and give them positive reinforcement....they'll eventually get it.

[rusty JEDI]

[ QUOTE ]


I've got an 8.5 week old yellow lab female and i've read all the books etc because mine is going to go to work duck hunting. All puppies nip and bite because this is how they feel things. Don't let her bite you period...when she does it move your hand away and refuse to pet or love on her if she's chewing on you.

If you don't mind as long as it is gentle, whenever she does it hard scream OW really loud and make a really big production out of how bad it hurt...they'll generally lay down and pout because they feel bad.

Whenever they are chewing on things they aren't supposed to firmly tell them no and hold up your finger and give them something they ARE allowed to chew on and give them positive reinforcement....they'll eventually get it.

[/ QUOTE ]

What?

You mean hitting them isnt the best?
How about rubbing their nose in their own crap?


I cant stand people who dont have the patience or take the time or care enough about something (pets and kids included) to do things the right way. Positive enforcement is by far the healthiest way to raise something.

rJ

[Georgia Avenue]

[ QUOTE ]
This worked for me. I have a friend who is a vet and she concurs but make sure you ask your own vet.

Link (http://www.ehow.com/how_18746_stop-puppy-biting.html)

[/ QUOTE ]

This is all good advice (I have a two yr old golden so similar problems...)

Two overlooked pieces of advice..

1. Encourage biting of acceptable things...but...
2. DON'T play tug of war. (its ok for many dogs but not retrievers)
3. Encourage licking. A lot of the time the puppy just wants to taste you (knaw mean! omgrollo!!11@) so if you make a big to-do over hand licking instead ( And say the same thing every time: Licking is good, good dog!) they'll make the change form bite to lick on command.

[Jeebus]

I got a big dog and liked/still like to wrestle with her. Rather than teach her not to bite people I taught her what quit means. To do that, I would get her riled up and then just grab her snout and keep her mouth closed while telling her to quit. If she didn't quit I repeated and got alittle more forceful in my grip. In about a week she was at the point where she would respond to that and you could make her stop at any time.
But by that point i was firmly established as the alpha male and so she was much more likely to liten to me.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
1. Im a fan of alpha rolling the dog as punishment, although some people say this is bad to do.

2. Labs are easy to train; they are very eager to please, and I doubt you'll have much trouble as you might with a Jack Russell or a more stubborn breed.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is one of the things I was going to suggest.

The standard, and very workable thing, is to give him a rap on the nose and say a firm NO(it doesn't have to be loud, just very firm, with a direct stare).

But rolling a dog over onto its back and getting on your knees right over it works very well with dogs too. Stare until they break the stare first. That's their hard-wired doggie understanding of submission and dominance.

Don't think you're being mean or anything; that's how dogs operate. If you don't establish clear dominance with a dog, then you're establishing submission. You don't need your life run by a dog.

Why there would be anything negative about that I can't imagine. It doesn't even involve so much as a light smack, but gets the idea across very, very easily and flawlessly.

Putting the dog outdoors when he does something often works very well too. Heck, they often like being out in the back yard or balcony, but they get the meaning very well when you put them out there. A little whining and such from them to get back in is not a bad thing here, but confirms to them that they're out there for a reason. Dogs can definitely feel lonely and guilty, and just chucking them outdoors for a bit can be a very low-impact way to get the point across powerfully.

One thing about biting -- it is extremely hard to train it out of a puppy you have trained it into. Though puppies naturally like to bite stuff, don't do some of those fun biting games with them that everyone likes to do, like having them tug on the end of a sock or leap for it while you make it jump around in the air. Dogs that learn biting games when young will have biting extremely strongly psychologically imprinted into them as acceptable or even desirable behavior. Do not get your dog thinking that his teeth are a cool way to have fun and respond to the world. BIG MISTAKE. It can be hard not to play these fun games with puppies, but I've never seen a dog this has been done with even a little that was not much harder to train into submissiveness and safety later. And I've trained countless dogs.

[Blarg]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


I've got an 8.5 week old yellow lab female and i've read all the books etc because mine is going to go to work duck hunting. All puppies nip and bite because this is how they feel things. Don't let her bite you period...when she does it move your hand away and refuse to pet or love on her if she's chewing on you.

If you don't mind as long as it is gentle, whenever she does it hard scream OW really loud and make a really big production out of how bad it hurt...they'll generally lay down and pout because they feel bad.

Whenever they are chewing on things they aren't supposed to firmly tell them no and hold up your finger and give them something they ARE allowed to chew on and give them positive reinforcement....they'll eventually get it.

[/ QUOTE ]

What?

You mean hitting them isnt the best?
How about rubbing their nose in their own crap?


I cant stand people who dont have the patience or take the time or care enough about something (pets and kids included) to do things the right way. Positive enforcement is by far the healthiest way to raise something.

rJ

[/ QUOTE ]

Philosphies or not, these methods work great and have been working great for thousands of years.

Next time your puppy starts biting and nipping, shoot it in the head. This will stop the biting and it's what the 2nd amendment is for.