So my daring little Lucy just turned 9 weeks.

This is her.

The real issues lie in a mistake on my part, someone was selling puppies that they wanted gone that night kicker is they were only 5 weeks.

I've never actually had a puppy and I figured it the lady was selling them then they must be old enough, found out a couple days later that they weren't and after that she would not answer her phone.

Anyways, because she missed out on the stage where her mom and other puppies would basically teach her not to bite hard she is now a little monster.

Adorable but still a monster.

I guess my question is what would you recommend to stop her biting?

Lucy looks simply adorable. Now on to the point what exactly is she biting the most? If it's primarily furniture then pat stores sell good products that will give the objects a bitter taste where she will eventually stop biting it.

If it's people in general that Lucy is biting then I recommend that you immediately teach her some basic training commands, that way you can tell her who is the boss and when the boss isn't to fond of things a shape up is in order. Submissive commands are usually the best in these cases and I'm sure you can find details on em and basic training through Google. Having her spayed will reduce the amounts of hormones in her body which may help the situation .

What worked best for us with nippy puppies is simply taking the hand (or whatever body part) away and giving a very firm, loud no. Sometimes with a flick on the nose. It doesn't hurt any more than getting flicked on the nose yourself. Make sure any one interacting with her knows the rules for dealing with it.

- I would not recommend hurting your dog in any way as she is only a baby. She might end up being fearful of you and the biting could take a turn for the worst. You should never need to really SHOUT at an animal or use pain to make them do what you want. They are really smart and do not need to associate pain with an action in order to know it is wrong. (Dogs noses are VERY sensitive).

Puppies are often mouthy when they are little so it could just be normal behavior. Although I get that it is unwanted -_-

When mine were little and chewing on everything and everyone the only thing that worked was distraction. When she gets a bit over the top and starts biting you should give her something she is allowed to chew on like a toy. Then give her positive praise for chewing on the toy instead of you. This can be a long process (like any dog training) and will take good timing and patience for it to work in the long run.

Perhaps even try using food that she likes? Although mine started to get really into the food aspect and would not listen to me unless I had food. So that created another problem in itself hahaha.

Although about teaching the dog the acceptable amount of pressure to put on when biting (if there is one) would be to ignore her when she crosses the line you set. She will learn that by doing that to a person she will no longer get what she wants, attention.

Teaching a dog 'wait', 'sit' and 'leave' is really handy for future handing as well c:

Oh I forgot to say that she is a really beautiful dog!

Here is a friendly, helpful and active website that has a lot of good advice/forum: http://www.dogsey.com/dog-forums.php

, ,

Thanks guys! We've started on sit but it's a process.

She's not really biting furniture, just people. I think I'm going to try the toy substitute thing.

She's going to be spayed as soon as she's old enough, that's for sure.

- Ah yes someone suggested that and it should help c:

Fenris calmed a lot of his crazy aggression after he was neutered.

You might want to look up Cesar Millan, the dog whisperer, just to see if there's anything out there that he's done to stop biting. Basic commands are a good start too, as well as setting boundaries; punishing bad behaviour and rewarding good behaviour. Puppies tend to be nippy anyway but definitely get her some toys to chew on. I'm assuming it's not aggressive biting, just playing a little too rough? Either way, if she's biting your hand make a fist so she can't get your fingers and give her a loud, sharp 'no'. Dogs learn best when you take control and exercise your authority over them, so don't be afraid to be a little stern with her!

I've managed to get a few mouthy/nippy dogs to stop biting me. It really depends on the dog, one thing might not work for another. A common way to stop them is to stop /everything/ when they bite, yelp, a firm 'no' and ignoring them when they bite/nip, and then playing once they've calmed down.

If they persist, another way that I've had many trainers suggest and recommend for persistent dogs, is when they nip/bite, gently push down under the tongue. It's not really something comfortable, (Doesn't hurt the dog in /any/ way, just really annoying/irritating), and the dog quickly learns biting/nipping = irritating/annoying problem. It's not making the dog fearful, or scared, just another way to make them not get anything good from biting.

Also, train her as much as you can from now. Basic commands for an hour or two a day, and keep rules and limits. Make sure she knows that you're the boss, and make the rules.

A kong is a good toy if you want to redirect her to bite/chew on another toy, and will help a lot when she is teething/growing her adult teeth.

These are all things I used to raise my dog, and he doesn't go to bite or mouth at anything or anyone, and he's a really, really happy dog. :3

Just never use something like a spray bottle, never use physical punishment (flicks, a hit on the butt), or even spray bottles. They don't usually work from my own experiences and from the dog trainers I know.

Figure out what works best for your girl, and see how she responds. :)