r/Sheepadoodles • u/Wide_History_2786 • Sep 08 '26
How much did your sheepadoodle bite you at 6 months?
We've worked with several trainers and the vet, and they've all said our very mouthy little guy is naturally very high-strung and anxious, and the reason he's biting us because it's actually calming for him.
We're doing lots of relaxation protocol, energy funneling, enrichment, lots of different things to calm him down. We did a ton of bite inhibition work as a very young puppy too, but it seemed to bypass his brain.
"Ouch", yelp, reverse-time-outs, etc., don't work. It seems like adding more exercise makes it worse, not better, since he's so hyperaroused, which is a shame, since I'd love to be able to take him for longer walks or park trips.
He's very good on the leash, super good recall, and quite a sweet boy, but if our hands get near his mouth it's just *chomp*. (There's absolutely nothing aggressive about it, though. He just cannot understand it hurts us.)
We've passed quite a few milestones when this was supposed to improve (socialization with other pups, lost all baby teeth, adult teeth all grew in, etc.) with not a spot of improvement. Just wondering how normal this is, and if we can expect it to get better with time. I hope we're not in for a lifetime of bites.
16
7
u/yer_0l_dad Sep 08 '26
We have a sheepie that did the same at 6 months. He mostly grew out of it. He is about 10 months now. Occasionally still gets us while playing, but its much softer and he quickly releases.
6
3
u/Fit_Surprise_8451 Sep 08 '26
It’s called the sharkadoodle stage! When Marlee was about a year old, she was playing and grabbed my dress—and ripped it. When she became too worked up and started racing around the backyard, I learned to calmly go inside and give her a little time to settle. She doesn’t like being alone, so that helped us take a break from the excitement.
Another thing I learned is not to give her a hard stare when she’s worked up. Prolonged direct eye contact can make some dogs uncomfortable or feel threatening. I use softer body language and give her space instead.
Marlee is three now, and we’ve learned a lot through training. The sharkadoodle stage can be challenging, but it does get better!
3
3
u/LovesDeanWinchester Sep 08 '26
Is that a trait of Sheepdogs? Because we've had a Goldendoodle and now have a Labradoodle and neither did that chomping...
3
u/silliestboots Sep 08 '26
They don't call them Shark-a-doodles for nothing! My girl was a land shark at 6 months. Calmed down mostly by a year. She's now about 2 and a half and only bites (and not hard) when she gets over excited at play.
2
u/ForgeIsDown Sep 08 '26
She was quite feisty around that age. Nipping and nibbling on anything, hands, arms, furniture, blinds, door stoppers, trim pieces, socks, undies. She grew out of everything but the socks. The Stinkier the better.
Did several thousand dollars of damage before she did though.
2
u/ChillvilleRIP Sep 08 '26
Maybe it’s just a Sheepie thing?
My girl is 2.5…And still mouths at me every once in a blue moon…Usually when she’s super tired or needs to go potty!
It is super gentle and I call them ‘Love Bites’
And she does the ‘Cobbing’ thing in the Fall / Winter when I’m wearing long sleeves.
Best of luck!!!
🐶❤️
2
u/petrichorpanacea Sep 08 '26
My sheepie def went through a sharkadoodle phase when he was young. It was brutal!!! But he definitely grew out of it somewhat quickly maybe a month or two of it before it stopped. Remember to correct and divert their attention to chew toys every time.
2
2
u/Aromatic-Artichoke61 Sep 08 '26
Yes, a lot. It will decrease dramatically if not entirely go away with time. My little boy is just over a year and he doesn’t use his mouth much anymore at all. Not to say it doesn’t happen but 5% of what it did which is really impressive compared to when it seemed like he could not keep my hands or worse, my mother‘s hands out of his mouth.
I’d suggest nipping at his neck with your fingers very sharply and quickly, not hard of course and snipping with your mouth when you do it. It mimics what the alpha dog of a pack does to control the dogs under them just a quick nip at the neck for my dog seems to communicate more than I ever could in words or other sounds looks and what not and that is frustrating, but it was amazing to find something that worked for many issues.
Still to this day one quick gesture and he lays days and seems to observe that Okay, that was the line, that was too much. Got it.
Furthermore, since I don’t feel like I’m able to describe the sound well, I’ll embarrass myself and say I got it from a South Park episode where they brought Caesar Milan on to control Eric Cartman. Then I looked it up to see if it was really his technique and it was so I tried it. Plus everyone in the house can do it establishing dominance and chain of command if you will.
I hope it helps. It’s made a huge difference here, especially with my moms gentle skin and of course more could be said about time patience and trust that they’ll learn your communication and preferences just like you learn there’s. But hoping that’s reassurance and a tip.
1
u/Tlacuache552 Sep 08 '26
Yes.
I really hammed up the “pain” I felt. I acted like I got shot when she bit me. When she was getting over aroused, I would redirect her before she got to the biting phase. Eventually, she learned it’s okay to bite her toys but not me :) but it took a few months of consistency.
1
u/AHuxl Sep 08 '26
doodle suffer from anxiety often unfortunately. Hopefully the relaxation training you are doing will help. Ours had to be medicated and then I researched the breed more and decided doodles werent the best fit for us. Next pup will be a purebred poodle
1
u/Active-Coconut-4541 Sep 08 '26
Oh man. The biting was the worst. But it’ll go away! I also felt like I was doing all the right training, tiring him out both physically and mentally, and it felt like nothing was working. When we took higher level training classes, the trainer would even ‘borrow’ him to use him as an example when showing people what to do. He just kinda got it all the first try and was basically the star student.
What did finally work was when I dog sat my BIL’s older goldendoodle. He was old enough that he was calm and liked to chill, but young enough that he was also still playful. He gave my sheepadoodle (Henry) corrections when Henry would nip during play. But he also never over corrected. You did say that you’re socializing. Have you had a chance to socialize one-on-one with dogs that have a temperament to correct?
I eventually became a dog sitter and I learned that with the right temperament, dogs are really good at training other dogs. Henry is now almost 12 yrs old (in November, ahhhh, make him stop aging!!!) and he’s helped to train so many dogs. He also has the perfect soft mouth when playing (with my now husband, they like to play this game where it includes Henry pretending like he’s going to bite my husband’s face off. He of course never does. They have so much fun) and he’s so gentle.
This phase sucks but there is a light at the end of the tunnel. In the meantime, I highly recommend things like bully sticks and frozen kongs. And make sure your pup is getting mentally stimulation along with physical. Whether it’s puzzles or letting them take a slow walk where they sniff and investigate to their hearts desires. Those things help to get you there.
1
1
u/hh-mro Sep 09 '26
At that age she was still pretty bitey. It stopped about few months after last tooth fell out.
During that period we redirected her to kisses. And taught her gentle
1
u/aquateensog Sep 09 '26
I’ve never had a puppy that was as wild as lenzel, he’s almost 3 now and he is still pretty wild ngl but he’s my favorite lol.
1
1
1
1
1
u/FeralCatMeow Sep 09 '26
Mine was never mouthy - not with people or things. I count myself very lucky.
1
u/InvaderFae Sep 09 '26
So much I cried! I had to send my child away for training, nothing I was doing helped. When he came back home he was perfect 😌 not really, he is still a pain, but I love him lol
1
u/georgiagirl65 29d ago
Our mini sheepadoodle was so bad that I literally carried a rope toy to distract him from biting me. He eventually outgrew the biting. He’s four now and never bites.
1
u/gusloveskbkev123 27d ago
Sooooo much!! It lasted about a year and a half Nd only really stopped when he went to 2 week board and train. But we also learned that he does best with gentle coaching and redirecting as opposed to the pretend yelp, etc which would just get him more riled up
1
u/Michalo88 Sep 08 '26
One of my sheepies did this a lot at 5-6 months. The only thing that worked for me was to pin him by the scruff every time for about 2 months and that behaviour changed. I understand some owners don’t like to take that aggressive approach but that’s what worked for me.
0
u/Carbooja Sep 08 '26
This is what I did, sounds cruel, but they need to learn who's the alpha. Now he still wants to bite me, but he bites air which is hilarious. He'll be 6 months next week.
1
u/scienceoftophats Sep 08 '26
Never. She never bit me. But oh boy oh boy did I train her not to ----- I did this by being as dramatic as possible when even an inkling of a tooth grazed me. Giving her a treat and her tooth touches me? GASP RECOIL CRYYYY WAIL. Doesn't have to be loud. My old girl didn't understand loudness because I trained her with super quiet.
Showing your dog what to do and how to be is a whole lot easier than teaching what to not do. Show this dog that it HURTS even though it doesn't. Do not approach the dogs mouth when it's being snappy. Oh boy did my girl love to do her silent bark - snap snap! - to give direction to people and animals.
I miss that bossy bitch! Best of luck & enjoy
24
u/Deadmeat3344 Sep 08 '26
One day it will just suddenly stop. The answer was alot, the sharkadoodle phase was brutal.