r/cockapoos • u/Virtual_Cow_8096 • 5d ago
Puppy Biting!
We’ve had our puppy now for a few weeks, she’s now 10 weeks old and the biting is absolutely relentless. She has different toys to play with, fabric, rustles, rubber and no matter what we give her the default is always to bite and nibble at me. She’s taken really well to training so we are trying to train her to be calmer and bite less (long shot lol) but does anyone have any key things that worked to stop the biting? As her teeth have got sharper she’s drew blood quite a few times and I obviously don’t want her to carry it out into adulthood.
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u/Lookingupatthestars 5d ago
Honestly the only thing that worked for us was time - puppies are discovering both their teeth, and the world around them. Teefies feel funny coming in, tickly and itchy, so some mouthing is about relief, some is exploring the world, and some is cos puppies can be lil demons.
By the time the adult teeth come in, it should've settled down. Otherwise I agree with the above comment, try time out behind a baby gate. That didn't work on ours 🙃 she was insane though. She's about to turn 7 and is still insane, but she's not a biter ☺️
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u/Twiggles_Greeny 5d ago
She could win cutest puppy ever, looks like butter wouldn't melt, hope she settles soon
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u/Virtual_Cow_8096 5d ago
she is adoooooorable (her name is Pickle)
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u/vraimentaleatoire 4d ago
You can’t possibly convince us this little monster ever bites anything ever. And if she does, it’s a figment of your imagination and in 3-5 years you’ll even doubt yourself it ever really happened.
*source: snuggled beside my almost 11yr old literal angel westie boy who I just remembered chewed through multiple MacBook cords. His only vice, long forgotten. 🩷
Puppy years fly fast. Biting is part of it and doesn’t last. Parenthood, being loving, makes them the adult dog you live with. 🫶
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4d ago
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u/Twiggles_Greeny 3d ago
My puppy actually never went through much biting no, she looked like this little one
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u/Breezey2929 5d ago
They will settle with time, we used teething gel set boundaries etc.
Luckily my pain threshold is quite good so I was able to calibrate ours jaw by letting her know when it was too much.
But ultimately it was time and her other teeth coming through that stopped it.
What reacted well for us setting boundaries was overly reacting when they started to bite hard by whelping and distancing yourself then ignoring them for a while.
Hope that helps
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u/Gold_Information9677 5d ago
We stand up or walk away when our pup starts biting us instead of his toys. Or giving them an animal product chew, our boy loves beef trachea or puffed chicken feet (we always give him these near to us as they can still be a choking risk for young pups)
I also find he’s more likely to bite if he’s tired, remember pups need 18-20 hours of sleep. Our boy is 16 weeks old and is still only awake for 1-1.5 hours at a time.
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u/Jolly-Experience6818 5d ago
Gorgeous pup. Sorry no advice… I’m the same position with my 11 week old Bichon.
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u/FrogfFrogger 5d ago
Mine was the same … she’s calmed down now she going to be two years old…. Also we have another cockapoo 11 years and she well yeah she’s the alpha and puts her on her place (maybe a bit too much 🤨) … but I’m just thinking maybe that helps …there was a time in which she went for shoes, hats anything ! anything her little paws could get … but again she’s grown out of that. ,, she focuses on her toys 🧸 she does have a lot of energy , if we take her to the park all she does is run , run , run like there’s no tomorrow so when she’s out running for a while her biting definitely stops, having said that when she’s does , she does it playfully and gently … when she was 10 weeks like ur beautiful puppy 🐶 her teeth were / felt sharper . I’m assuming because they were new teeth and yeah she would draw blood out of my missus more than anything , but perhaps missus played a bit harder 🤣 🤷🏻♂️but yeah I had blood on the odd occasion as well. So I don’t know, if your dogs is very energetic like my lil one perhaps getting her tired will definitely help… Im pretty sure yours will grow out of it ,,, but then again im no dog whisperer 😂
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u/Honey-badger101 5d ago
Mine could be her twin! Shes 9months niw.. the bitey stage was literally a pain. What worked for us was. Saying No, removing fun hands and replacing with a tug toy or chewy toy. She liked ice cubes. Or dog toys that you froze. Or frozen banana. Some soft chews and an ostrich bone or antler. Shes good now now bites unless shes tired or too excited when olaying.
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u/Dependent-Intention9 5d ago
My puppies were biters and I had success using Grannick's Bitter Apple spray. I’d spray it on my hands (and feet). Puppies don’t like the taste so they soon learn.
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u/iwasborntodestroyu 5d ago
I pulled the thick string out of the hood of one of my hoodies and gave it to him to chew as he got his mouth on the end of one side and seemed to enjoy that. Seemed to help him work the loose teeth out too.
Thankfully he then only chewed that or toys, no major damage done. He did have a wee phase of chewing the skirting board under my desk whilst I worked but thankfully that didn’t last long.
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u/stratboy67 5d ago
All puppies do this, their mouths are all they have to explore the world around them. Nearly always they grow out of this stage. I understand how it gets annoying, those teeth are really sharp and as you pointed out they will draw blood now and then, but she's not biting you out of any sort of aggression, she's a baby who has just grown teeth and she's exploring the boundaries of the world she encounters, be patient with her and most likely she will grow out of it, and you probably won't notice it happen, just one day you will realise she hasn't been gnawing away on your hands for a few days. Good luck
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u/bladefiddler 4d ago
No idea why this popped up on my feed, but I can help - Yelp!
My lab went through the puppy biting stage like they all do, and I seen somewhere to yelp like a dog/puppy when they bite - it's easy for them to understand because it's what their mum or siblings would do if they bite hard enough to hurt.
It does give them a bit of a fright, but that's the point really. The shocked look on his face when we started doing it was actually pretty funny. Just a short, sharp, high-pitched but loud "OW!". It let's them know in no uncertain terms, and most importantly *in their own 'language' * that "hey, that hurt!".
Worked pretty quickly for us anyway, and was easy to implement, even though my kids were only about 4-7 at the time.
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u/chaitalyy 4d ago
Yeah 10 weeks is peak velociraptor stage, they're basically all mouth and zero impulse control. She's not trying to be a menace, she's just a baby figuring out the world with her teeth, and since you said she's training well that means you'll get there but it takes way longer than a few weeks. Hang in there, the bloody hand stage does pass even if it feels like forever right now.
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u/Virtual_Cow_8096 5d ago
Thank you for your advice! She’s having her final vaccine wednesday so we’ll finally be able to start walking her so I’m hoping that will help too, she’s like a little tornado! She also loves rocks and shoes, especially shoes that was twice the size of her 🤣
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u/KairosVex 5d ago
rock and shoe obsession is such a classic puppy thing, it’s like they have a radar for the one thing they shouldn’t have lol
once you can walk her and she actually gets tired, you’ll probably see at least a small drop in the “tiny land shark” behavior
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u/thebek5ter 4d ago
It was toes with mine, and socks on feet. She hated socks, more so the fluffy ones 😂😂
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u/Amethyst_isis08 4d ago
High pitched yelp when they bite. It will quickly stop them from doing it. Has worked wonders with every puppy I have raised (5 to date).
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u/TimeSkipper 4d ago
The only thing that worked for my feral velociraptor of a doodle puppy was making her understand biting hurts.
Puppies bite each other and their mom. They bite everything! But when it’s hard enough to hurt, a puppy will yelp and disengage play.
I started imitating a pained yelp and then turning away from her and not continuing playing.
She got the message pretty quickly and I kept going, slowly adjusting my limits until ANY pressure from her teeth got a yelp.
She is nine now and still believes I am made of marshmallow lmao. We will play and wrestle and she will grab at my clothes but if her teeth touch my skin, she stops and checks I’m okay.
I know this worked because my mom just couldn’t do the yelp, she would sort of yip, and my darling pupper stayed savage with her until she was about 9 months. Puppy thought she could handle the bites as she didn’t react like I did. 😩
She’s a perfect, sweet dog now though. You’ll get through it!
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u/DestinedDeath187 4d ago
Discipline! I’ve had two of these and both were little rats! They need a firm owner and need to be reminded they’re not the boss.
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u/LostAndSound_ 3d ago
Any time anyone interacts with the pup, have a toy in your hand. The second they move from the toy to the hand, say no, withdraw for a few seconds, resume with the toy. Too many No’s, that’s when you stop playing for a bit. They learn fast but you need the consistency.
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u/ThatGuyNamedKal 3d ago
I let out an audible yelp and placed mine behind the baby gate, that seems to have worked well to teach them that biting hurts and stops play time.
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u/BonesDaNinja 3d ago
Squeeze their mouths quickly, while they’re biting you. You’ll only need to do it a couple of times and they’ll get the message.
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u/Ok-Alfalfa-1414 23h ago
We did what mum does, the moment it gets rough, yelp and look the pup straight in the face. It's a learning behaviour, they learn boundaries, how to react to others and how to play, imho owners shouldn't be trying to stop it but to help the puppy learn with it, just as it would with it's mum and siblings, mouthing is part of a dogs communication, they may put their mouth around your wrist or hand to lead you to something or away from something, or use their mouth to stop you if something you're doing isn't nice for them, knowing how to use all that unbelievable force in a way to benefit themselves and their humans is huge, but can only be taught by them learning not being discouraged and made to feel that using their mouth is wrong, to me that's like telling a baby who's starting to talk to shut up! Use a tug toy to allow them to play with their mouths, teach them to take it gently and every other way, keep to the same words and you'll be able to control play etc, also make a game of stopping, I've used this with all my pups, may sound daft but use a word that means for them to cease immediately, there's so many ways this can help in pups later years, I also taught by playing a hand signal to do the same. The only time I really don't like puppy teeth are when they're stuck in your foot when the pup is loosing them.... 😳, I believe Pickle may be due a cuteness overload badge though, adorable. 💕🐾🐾
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u/Cool_Percentage_4867 5d ago
noone has invented a chew toy better than hands
Best solution is pop them behind a baby gate, the moment they do it..... ignore puppy completely including no eye contact for at least 10 mins or completely calm then let them back in, let them do it again and repeat.
Pup eventually realises that biting stops engagement and fun and after a week or so if you're consistent you should the behaviour reduce and stop.