# 9 Month-Old Pup Likes to Bite...HELP!



## DallasWinston (Apr 29, 2014)

Hi! I have 9-month-old male golden retriever puppy. He is already neutered and apparently currently on his "teenage years." He is very smart, but has a little bit of an attitude. Anytime he wants to play he starts it out by trying to bite you (not nibble). He also does this to get your attention. He already went through obedience training and knows his commands, but in this current phase anytime he does something wrong (and he knows it) and you give him the proper command (i.e. "leave it" or "no"), he snaps back by trying to bite. You can't ignore him because he follows you and tries to bite you too. He is not aggressive at all, he just seems to think it's all play or pushing your buttons to see how far he can take it. 

We are trying to figure out where we went wrong. Most people tell us it's just a phase, but we are now afraid of having him around other people because he might bite them. Any suggestions are welcomed before we take him to behavioral counseling. We are willing to try anything!


----------



## Bosn'sMom (Feb 11, 2013)

I used the "doggy time out" anytime we had some teenage behavior we did not like. Playing in great, but as soon as the bite starts and "no" doesnt work I would go into a room and shut the door behind me. For example.. playing in the living room.. behavior starts and "no" does not work.. i would go into the bathroom off the living room and shut the door. It left the dog in the room and essentially took me away from the situation. He learned that the bad behavior meant I would go away- and thus his fun would go away too. I would only stay in the bathroom about 30 seconds and would have to repeat this a few times at first.. but after a few days he got the idea of it.

just an idea!


----------



## carol23m (Jun 13, 2014)

Hi DallasWinston, 

I'm going through the same thing, probably worse than you, though. My golden male is 9 months old and he is jumping and biting very hard at us. He does not listen to any commands. When we go on walks, he grabs the leash and wont' let go. Then he proceeds to jump at my hand and grabs and bites it aggressively. This goes on and on and does not stop. He bites my hands, arms, back, and any body part he jumps at.

It is impossible to ignore, because he is literally "attacking" me and hurts very much. My arms are black and blue from all the bruises he leaves on me and he does draw blood at times. 

I've tried dropping the leash and stepping on it. When he finally gets tired of tugging on the leash, he proceeds to jump at me and bite me. Turning my back does not work, he just jumps at my back and bites my back or grabs my hair. I am so frustrated I don't know what to do any more. This happens at ALL times. Going for a walk, going to potty, inside the house, during fetch play. I just don't know what to do anymore.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I have also tried "time out", and that works at times, but I have to repeat it about 3 times before he "gets" it. This is also very hard to accomplish when we are down the block during a walk.

I'm running out of hope.... please help!


----------



## JeffC (Sep 30, 2014)

My pup is only 12 weeks but she was biting a lot and I got a squirt gun and tell her "NO BITE" assertively and if she keeps at it I give her a squirt in the face. Usually she looks at me like "What just happened???" lol but it works good so far.


----------



## WineALot (Jan 29, 2014)

I have a 9 month old that is absolutely going through his teenage years as well. He's been play biting a lot too. He hasn't been this mouthy since he was 15/16 weeks old, and it's resurfacing again. Just wanted to let you know you're not alone!


----------



## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

WineALot said:


> I have a 9 month old that is absolutely going through his teenage years as well. He's been play biting a lot too. He hasn't been this mouthy since he was 15/16 weeks old, and it's resurfacing again. Just wanted to let you know you're not alone!


We had that, too. I thought we were past the mouthy part, but it came back at about a year. I guess the early phase was teething/puppy and the later thing was mouthy retriever.

Anyways, maturity, lots of training, lots of exercise, avoiding triggers, ignoring when possible, and redirecting to appropriate toys all helped us with this. The thing that helped us immediately was ignoring him any time he asked for attention. Ignore, leave the room, whatever, it was my choice to pet him, not his. Long term, we increased his training significantly, especially working on stays. 

Now at three, Casper is a dream around the house. That mouthiness turned into being quite a playful dog. We don't do so many Stays, but he knows dozens of tricks and commands. He loves the dog park, where he gets to run as far as he wants in a straight line. He's still nuts at dog school, though.


----------



## Loukia (Sep 20, 2014)

I feel your pain (literally)!

I'm running into this with my 15 week old. We got him at 9 weeks and he started with grabbing our pants, tugging, and biting anything that moves. The first week was tough, but he was tiny and we moved past it, worked through it and his puppy crazy biting subsided... for a few weeks. 

However, something happened this week and he's back to biting and this time, it's hard. I tried yelping because that worked well the first few weeks. Now, any type of yelp or walking away excites him and he'll viper-bite my calf or my pants (he's now ruined three pairs of my pants this week!). He's so quick to strike my pants that he grabs them and jerks back quickly, putting huge holes in even my jeans before I can grab him or command him to sit.

I'm home all day with him, take him for multiple walks, work on training with him, give him time to relax in his crate, take him on field trips to the nature trail, etc. So it's not for lack of exercise, attention or rest time. He also is very random about when he's in these moods (usually at least 3 times a day), so I can't say it's when he's over tired because sometimes he wakes up this way. 

Now, reading these posts above, I'm a little nervous for 9 months and 1 year... thinking this is going to be back, but worse. Does anyone have any suggestions for how I can save my legs and my pants!? (And possibly get this under control so that I'm not in worse shape when he's 9 months old.) 

I like the idea of the "time out" but it's easier said than done when you're dealing with young children at home. When we're getting ready for school we can't all be walking out of the kitchen. And from what I've read, I shouldn't put him in his crate for bad behavior.

I should note that he's currently in puppy preschool and I've signed up for the next level of obedience. I also work with him on his sit, stay and down commands a couple of times a day. He is very good at sit. Stay and down are coming along but certainly not solidified. And I won't even get into his barking... that's probably for another discussion, another day.

All of this considered, when he's not shark biting or barking, he's a loving, sweet, snuggly, playful puppy.


----------



## lowden2020 (Nov 12, 2020)

DallasWinston said:


> Hi! I have 9-month-old male golden retriever puppy. He is already neutered and apparently currently on his "teenage years." He is very smart, but has a little bit of an attitude. Anytime he wants to play he starts it out by trying to bite you (not nibble). He also does this to get your attention. He already went through obedience training and knows his commands, but in this current phase anytime he does something wrong (and he knows it) and you give him the proper command (i.e. "leave it" or "no"), he snaps back by trying to bite. You can't ignore him because he follows you and tries to bite you too. He is not aggressive at all, he just seems to think it's all play or pushing your buttons to see how far he can take it.
> 
> We are trying to figure out where we went wrong. Most people tell us it's just a phase, but we are now afraid of having him around other people because he might bite them. Any suggestions are welcomed before we take him to behavioral counseling. We are willing to try anything!


I know years have gone by but were you ever able to get this figured out? We have a 9 month old golden who exhibits identical behavior. She will bite to get your attention and when you try to correct her by telling her no....it makes it worse and she gets more aggressive. She only does this with me and sometimes my wife. I've had three golden retrievers all who went through nipping stages but nothing quite like this (and all of them stood down when told "no")


----------



## Kooper’s Mom (10 mo ago)

carol23m said:


> Hi DallasWinston,
> 
> I'm going through the same thing, probably worse than you, though. My golden male is 9 months old and he is jumping and biting very hard at us. He does not listen to any commands. When we go on walks, he grabs the leash and wont' let go. Then he proceeds to jump at my hand and grabs and bites it aggressively. This goes on and on and does not stop. He bites my hands, arms, back, and any body part he jumps at.
> 
> ...


----------



## Kooper’s Mom (10 mo ago)

I’m going through the same with Kooper. He can be so sweet one day and vicious the next with the biting… He wants every second of our attention and attacks and bites if he doesn’t get it. Walks have gotten embarrassing…He used to be so good on walks. Now he is 9 mos old…🥺
Hi DallasWinston,

I'm going through the same thing, probably worse than you, though. My golden male is 9 months old and he is jumping and biting very hard at us. He does not listen to any commands. When we go on walks, he grabs the leash and wont' let go. Then he proceeds to jump at my hand and grabs and bites it aggressively. This goes on and on and does not stop. He bites my hands, arms, back, and any body part he jumps at.

It is impossible to ignore, because he is literally "attacking" me and hurts very much. My arms are black and blue from all the bruises he leaves on me and he does draw blood at times. 

I've tried dropping the leash and stepping on it. When he finally gets tired of tugging on the leash, he proceeds to jump at me and bite me. Turning my back does not work, he just jumps at my back and bites my back or grabs my hair. I am so frustrated I don't know what to do any more. This happens at ALL times. Going for a walk, going to potty, inside the house, during fetch play. I just don't know what to do anymore.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I have also tried "time out", and that works at times, but I have to repeat it about 3 times before he "gets" it. This is also very hard to accomplish when we are down the block during a walk.

I'm running out of hope.... please help!
[/QUOTE]


----------



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Kooper’s Mom said:


> I’m going through the same with Kooper. He can be so sweet one day and vicious the next with the biting… He wants every second of our attention and attacks and bites if he doesn’t get it. Walks have gotten embarrassing…He used to be so good on walks. Now he is 9 mos old…🥺


This behavior is completely unacceptable and the answer is training, training, training and exercise plus mental games. Your puppy needs to be enrolled in weekly obedience classes where you take him to class and learn to train him and then practice for 10 or 15 minutes every day. Probably 18 months to 2 years of obedience training and practice to get through the rest of his puppy phase. He does not respect your authority and that's where the obedience training comes in.

The second part of the puzzle is how much aerobic exercise is he getting? He needs 30 minutes minimum off leash that gets him panting and tired every day. Leash walking is nice for him mentally, especially if you go lots of different places - the same trip around the block is not ideal day after day - but it's not exercise for a healthy young sporting breed. He also needs some fun games, learning new tricks, just working with you on things that get him thinking. I hope you will also add up the hours he is crated while you're sleeping at night and working during the day. Just be aware that he sleeps all that time and the rest of the hours of the day he needs to be engaged or he will have a harder time with self control. A good trainer for a few sessions privately can be a huge help, not cheap but worth every penny of investment on getting started with this.

If this were my project, I'd teach him to retrieve (Jackie Mertens Sound Beginnings Dvd is excellent or Bill Hillman videos online) and a book like Control Unleashed Puppy program by Leslie McDevitt. You can use the search feature at the top of this page to find suggestions on others to read. Your puppy needs to be a full time project for the next year or so to make him a great family dog. It's worth it, and it's time before he really hurts someone with his antics.


----------



## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

Kooper’s Mom said:


> Does anyone have any suggestions?


Yes, I do. Nolefan offered some very good advice, I hope you follow it.
As you have learned, ignoring the behavior won't work, turning your back won't work and time outs won't work.
You didn't mention offering treats which is good because they won't work either. All of those things probably have and will continue to make the problem worse.







YBS Media







ybsmedia.com




^^^Link to Jackie Mertens DVD^^^


----------



## green branch (Oct 24, 2020)

You got advice from Nolefan and SRW. Training is really important. You are saying that he knows commands, but he doesn't yet know that he has to respond to them even when he doesn't want to. He is probably doing this because he is excited and wants to play. Try retrieving with him - you got suggestions for the videos. If you have a leash you should be able to stop him from biting you. Also have a toy/bumper to redirect him to bite it instead of your hand. When you work with him make sure to hold the toy/bumper low so that that is the object he is going for instead of holding it high so that you become the object he wants.


----------

