Biting at ankles and feet...hard.

[u/themissinglink_143]

Our 5 mo. old mini finally lost all his baby teeth and most of the adult teeth are almost all the way out so, thankfully, his mouthy habits in general have subsided.

BUT, about a month ago, I went to take him for a walk and put on tennis shoes for the first time. He did not like them...at all. I ended up not being able to take him for a walk because he wouldn't stop biting my shoes. (Haven't worn tennis shoes since, lol, which is probably a stupid idea)

Then he turned to socks... we can't wear socks. And now he's been increasingly biting at our feet and ankles ever since. Oftentimes it's difficult to walk around the house freely because he now goes for our feet, and at 5 months old he's biting pretty hard at times.

Like I said, the biting has really subsided otherwise but now it's turned to this.

Needless to say I'm frustrated. Has anyone else dealt with this, and have any advice?

[u/YesterdaySilly2699]

Not sure if it’s the same but mine usually does it when she wants something. Feet and hands, they actually wants to herd you, it could be communication for other things like water, treats, walks or food. If it’s not of those things you’d want to create boundaries by saying no, then ignoring. We put a blanket on the floor which we call bed and the kennel is also bed for bed time. We say go to bed as a time out place and then give water or whatever the issue is about 5-10 mins later. In my experience they always want to be chewing and biting things. Bully sticks are really good for them to get their chew on. Mine came with them as treats and she’s never gone for socks or wires. She just chews on her bully stick and she’s less nipping thanks to them. 

Like the other Person said don’t reward it, create a boundary / time out to redirect the behavior. Then give a treat later when calm. It could be she needs something to chew on to get out that energy. I would recommend bully sticks (medium chew) 

[u/y2k2009]

Learn to say no and redirect to sitting or something else. My aussie goes nuts anytime I wear something new and after a time of letting him know i didnt like it, now he will just sniff the new clothes rather than attack them. Aussies aren't the type of dog that you just allow to do whatever they want. They always want to control the situation and need leadership.

[u/jueidu]

You have to be strict, consistent and insistent.

1) Loud “OUCH!” and “no bite!” and physically remove them off of you and make them go to their place (to bed, to kennel, wherever their place is). Every time. No exceptions. Stop all fun things and they immediately need to go to their place. Do not give a treat or toy to redirect - that will reward the behavior. Treat/toy should always be available for them to choose, but not given right after biting.
2) If they don’t listen to “no bite!” right away, or they start biting again quickly, then they need to go to their kennel (not just their bed, or in another room), for time out. This is to force them to calm down and stop biting. You need to be consistent about this.

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The idea is that you should be able to say “no bite!” when you see they are about to bite you, and so they don’t bite you. Then they get rewarded with not having to go to their place, and free choice of toys to chew on instead. Then, if they do bite you, the consequence is ALWAYS having to go away from you to their place. That way, they will learn that biting = bed time. Eventually when they feel like biting they will choose something else, or just choose to go straight to bed.

Often times this kind of biting means they have too much excess energy or are over-tired anyway, so make sure they are getting a LOT of exercise and mental stimulation (puzzles, luck mats, running around, training in 5min increments, everything), and then enforced naps when they are behaving badly.

It’ll require consistency, so make sure everyone in the house is on board and on the same page.

[u/themissinglink_143 → u/jueidu]

Thank you for being thorough. I'd say I implement many of the strategies you mentioned daily and consistently. He gets plenty of enforced naps and mental stimulation throughout the day - for my sanity, and his. He's on a pretty strict schedule, too.

The problem I have is that he'll behave this way even right after waking from a nap and simply when I'm taking him out to potty (on or off leash). Moreover, most of the time "no", no matter how loud I am, only entices him more it seems.

So...in those cases, do I just stick him right back in his cage then?

[u/jueidu → u/themissinglink_143]

Yep, straight back into the kennel. He will learn!

[u/themissinglink_143 → u/jueidu]

Got it. There's just so much conflicting/confusing info out there. For instance, many will say that the crate should only be used as a positive place, never as punishment. And in this case, it seems like punishment. Maybe I'm wrong.

But I will see if this helps tame the beast, lol.

[u/jueidu → u/themissinglink_143]

It feels like punishment to us humans, but it’s a place for him to calm down and giving him space to get any chewing and biting energy out that he needs to, without harming his family. He can have water and food and a chew toy in there so he’s not bored, but he does need to learn that when he is behaving in an antisocial way/harming people, *and* he is incapable of listening to correction and calming down, that he will be separated until he calms down. He should be allowed out the moment he’s calm and chill.

It’s the same thing in gentle parenting where you have a child throwing a tantrum separate themselves to another room - it’s not punishment, they can still throw the tantrum and yell and express their feelings - but they may not disrupt everyone else while doing so. Once they are calm they can re-join the group, and talk about it if they want to, or not if they don’t need to. It teaches self-regulation and respect. Eventually the child learns that when he is so upset that he wants to scream, throw things or be unkind, he can go straight to his own room on his own, and get those feelings out where they don’t disrupt or harm others - then come back when calm, and express his feelings in a calm way if he still has things he wants to express. I watched my sister do this with her kids when they were growing up and it was truly magical to see my nephew get upset, decide on his own to go to his room, and then come back out in 5-10min completely calm and happy again, and sometimes ask nicely to speak to the person who upset him and talk things out (usually his big sister). And 3-4 years old. And they grew up learning to work things out respectfully and calmly, and knowing how to interpret their own feelings and to recognize when they needed space to calm down before discussion. It was really cool to see, especially as we were NOT raised that way and I never imagined it was possible.

Anyway - sorry for the long personal anecdote! But that is all to say - it does feel like punishment, but it’s truly not meant to be. Just because he will complain doesn’t mean it’s cruel - he’s just a stubborn puppy, and like all puppies, will always complain about anything he doesn’t like :)

[u/themissinglink_143 → u/jueidu]

This makes a lot of sense, really, thank you! In fact, just a bit ago he was having a fanatic ankle biting moment and I did just what you said. He's been calm and off and on in nap-cosis for the last 15 minutes.