# 22 weeks old and still biting



## sparkyha (Mar 22, 2012)

Our golden is 22 weeks old and still tries to bite us. We have tried bitter apple and tobasco sauce on paper towels applied to his nose; holding muzzle closed and saying no bite in firm voice; giving him a variety of play toys to chew; holding him by collar and saying sternly no bite, easy to try to calm him; and trying to distract him by having him sit. Nothing seems effective. Does this just eventually run its course and at what age. Any suggestions would be appreciated.


----------



## willows pack (Apr 14, 2012)

If ours gets too bitey and won't listen then she goes for a time out in the crate...just 5 minutes, bring her out if she gets bitey again and won't stop with verbalwarnings back in

The 5 minutes is usually enough to deescalate the behavior...She gets that way usually when she is over tired or over stimulated

You can also put peanutbutter or butter on the back of the hand and say good kisses when he licks instead of bites

We're still dealing with it as well but she is getting better and she knows what no bite means...just sometimes can't resist..we really worked on the no bite from early because she was very bitey with everything


----------



## vcm5 (Apr 20, 2011)

Please do not put tobasco sauce in you dogs nose, how horrid! None of these methods, like holding him down and telling him no bite, are going to be helpful. He doesnt know what that means. Youll only scare him.

Have you tried, when he bites to yelp "ouch" in a super high pitched voice and then get up and turn your back on him? When puppies are young and play with each other and their mom, it is these high pitched "ouch" noises that let them learn when they have bitten down too hard. If they get too rough with the other puppies, they will yelp and not want to play with them anymore, and thus they learn how to be sufficiently gentle. If you yelp and turn away and do not give the puppy any attention or play until they have stopped, they will learn that biting too hard will make play stop.


----------



## baumgartml16 (Jun 19, 2011)

Yes please refrain from anything that might scare him. You don't want him scared of your hands later on in life when you need to do things like brush his teeth, clean his ears..etc.

I agree with the yelp..that only worked for so long with Koda though. Turning our backs and ignoring for a minute worked. As she got older and was a little more persistant we would leave the room and stop play immediately. Close the door and just wait one minute. They catch on fast that when they do those things the play time ends. 

Hang in there...Koda was mouthy for a good long while but it does get better. Especially once all the baby teeth are out.


----------



## vcm5 (Apr 20, 2011)

Great advice, anything that means that the fun is over, like turning your back or leaving the room, is much more effective than any harshness. I would also refrain from putting him in the crate, just because I don't want the crate to be seen as a punishment, I want to keep it a happy positive crate. But the idea of stopping play when it gets too rough is right on track.


----------



## Wyatt's mommy (Feb 25, 2011)

Some puppies like tobasco and bitter apple, I know it never phased my Cody when I used it on his chewing
The only thing I really found effective was "time outs". Stick him in an x-pen or crate until he settles. Good luck!


----------



## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

It should get much better after 6-7 months of age. They get their adult teeth by then. At 22 weeks you're right in the middle of the Big Teethe!


----------



## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

I will try these techhniques including turning my back with my pup.


----------



## mybuddy (Mar 2, 2007)

It was a challenge for me to get Buddy to stop that. I tried the YELP method. When he would nip, I would yelp. Eventually he stopped. It wasnt overnight, but he did stop.


----------



## Tappster98 (Apr 21, 2012)

I agree with the walking away/ignoring. We have a 14 week old Golden female and sometimes she just jumps up and bites me on the arm. She hates when I walk away- she follows me around and seems to mellow out.


----------



## GingersMommy (Feb 24, 2012)

Mine is 20 weeks and still bites. Our trainer has us do as the others have suggested. Biting=no attention. Also the yelp or ouch lets her know she has bit too hard. She always acts sorry after that and tries to lick us. Before that we had little spray water bottles everywhere. That really worked good for us. Eventually just the sight of the bottle made her stop and think. We had them all over so they were easy to grab and also made sure to have one with us when we were playing with her.


----------



## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

I never had an issues with BaWaaJige bitting me. When these pups came along I asked her what she did. When she is hold them and they bite her she takes their forelip and puts under a tooth and presses and says no bite. She said it works like a charm. I decided to try 2 different methods hers and the yelp and no bite well guess what hers works alot better. The 3 that were really bad biters I did her method with they dont bite anymore the other 2 biters still will try to bite. 2 didnt bite at all.


----------



## Karin Wise (Mar 23, 2012)

The shouting out "Ouch"!!! did it for both mine...Gabby stopped doing this after a very short while, it took Levi a little bit longer, but it worked.. Be patient and persistant, it will go away eventually..


----------



## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Remove reinforcement. Puppies bite at first because it's their natural way of interacting with the world. They learn to keep biting when it works. Getting interaction from you, even negative, is working, so they keep biting. Methods that involve force and intimidation can also have bad side effects of making pups headshy and breaking down their trust in you.

Personally, I don't yelp, since a proportion of pups seem to find that highly energizing. I just freeze for a moment and wait the pup out. A pup that has already learned to bite will actually bite more for a minute. This is a natural part of extinguishing a behavior, but many owners take it for failure and give up on the technique. When the pup gives up on the biting and tries something new (hopefully a "sit" if we've been working on it or going after a toy, which you can encourage by wiggling the toy a little) I come back to life and offer praise.

If a pup is older and really overexcited with the biting, I'll fold my arms and face the wall to really show that it doesn't make me play.

I don't put pups in time outs for biting because it doesn't give me the frequency of bites I need to teach mouth-on-skin=unfun quickly. If a puppy is just going bananas, a time out can break the cycle, but with early, experimental biting, I want to teach the connection quickly.

Most puppy mouthing means "let's play." Show him that it makes you stop playing.


----------



## mooselips (Dec 4, 2011)

We're still going through this phase, although the jumping, grabbing, and biting me during walks has just about stopped. (Thank goodness)

When she gets overstimulated, she begins biting.
But she's NOT an overactive dog.

I noticed it yesterday while I was getting ready for our walk.
Took her out in the yead to wee before we left, and she attempted to bite.

I now straddle her, and gently pick up her front feet until she is calm, (a hug, kind of) NO BITE, firmly. Then get her into a sit, wait a few minutes, and start again.


----------

