What you are describing is perfectly normal for a lab puppy, including the mouthing/biting of your hand when you try and stroke him. The good news is they do get better and will grow out of it
Along with the yelping you could also try standing up and turning your back on him with your arms folded. It is also worth having a read of this entire sticky as there are a number of suggestions mentioned and you will need to find the one that works for you and your pup
____________ Owned by Bella, Shadow & Cats ....
Never forgetting Harry : 18/01/11 - 14/05/11 RIP
and in the meantime wear long sleeved tops and long trousers like jeans and keep your face out of the way!
Honestly I know it seems really hard and can be painful but it is only meant as play and pup will soon learn.
Try to keep toys handy in all rooms and redirect to biting on those not you.
There's a very good dvd by Dr Ian Dunbar called Sirius Puppy Training part of it shows you how to teach him to mouth gently and realise skin is fragile, well worth watching and practising at home until your pup is ready for training classes.
and in the meantime wear long sleeved tops and long trousers like jeans and keep your face out of the way!
Yes, there are benefits to having a pup in Winter - you can wear hoodies without feeling uncomfortably hot the whole time
I'd very much agree with the above comments. Daisy was quite bitey at first, though I don't have any marks on me and I kept my arms covered to minimise skin contact She's now 3 months old and has improved vastly. There have been times I wouldn't have allowed her little teeth anywhere near my face and times I've smooched her and even fallen asleep with her, with her head resting on my neck.
I made sure to always have a puppy bone/teething keys with me to give to her when she got bitey and she has gradually learned to be gentle. There are times when you can't imagine it will get better, but with the right handling, it really will
we are having good and bad days with angus. Yesterday was terrible. He took a chunk out of the top of my leg and was leaping and grwoling and bitting at everyone...today he is a very different puppy has not bitten or even nipped anyone. The bad days are horrendous but the good ones make up for it.
Just wanted to know if anyone else had experience of this good day bad day behaviour - nothing is done differently on the bad days he just seems to wake up in a bad mood. He is 13 weeks old.
Angus is 13 weeks old and this morning he has literally shredded my arm...he lunges and bites and won't let go. Have tried distracting him with toy but it didn't work also have tried standing still like a tree and removing myself from him but he at the moment just bites and bites. I don't quite know how to cope with at the moment. I am in the hosue most of the time and he is beginning to get me down.
If the pups are particularly pesky with my older dogs, they will ignore it up to a point and then they snap/bark/growl right in the youngsters face, stand over them and give them a good hard Paddington Bear stare....Then in an instant they go back to being their usual selves. The pups seem to understand they have over stepped the mark then and although they may need more than one dose of this treatment, it does usually stop them in their tracks.
I've been copying this sort of Dog Language for years and the pups definitely seem to understand it. I wouldn't use it as a first line of defence but it often works well if other methods have failed.
Great section! We recently bought Bella at 8 weeks. She has been with us now 8 days & is well on her way to learning her basic comands. (very proud lol) I spent a long while thinking about this issue before purchase as we have a 4 and a half year old. I decided it was a good learning experience for him to adjust his behaviour also as they both grew. He knows there is a difference between play time and stroking time so when playing keeps something in his hand at all times so she bites the toy not his fingers lol.
I have found that children mimik their parent obviously extremely well & he is even using the same tone of voice when giving her comands now as me so I am confident she will respect him in the same way.
We will concentrate on Bite Reduction in around 2 weeks I am still researching BEST methods
Anyway I'm off for my morning training session............."BELLA COME"
____________ All The Best
Jon
1st Time Lab Noob wanting to be a great leader. Please Pile On Advice!
Harley is 13 weeks old and has been growling/lunging and jumping up at us, biting onto clothing (if you're lucky) and just hanging onto you jaws clamped and generally being scary. We are trying the suggestions on here but is this normal behaviour? Rather than 'puppy-like' it does seem to be getting nasty. I can't identify any pattern to it either....
It's hard to stand still arms folded etc if you're in fear of a bad bite.
We're going through the what seems normal process of struggling with our little croc...
We've been trying the loud ow, get up turn back fold arms etc but he still tries it on more than not.
He loves his crate and will potter off into it for a sleep with the door open most nights, as well as sleep well during the night so we dont want for that to seem a punishment; but how else do we communicate to him that what he has done is wrong?
If he bites and then continues too bite, do we put him in his crate and leave the room for only a minute or two? Will this be enough for him to realise what he has done? Then go back open it up and continue play/train, back in for few moments again if biter?
Also when we just end the game and leave, he might go and start to chew his blanket, we're concerned that he has not learnt why we have left; should anything he can continue to play with be removed also?
Also sometimes the little terror will grab hold of clothes and literally not let go, we're still working on off but just sees it as a game, oh goody they are pulling on it!
Again how do we deal with this, have a treat near by to always tempt him from letting go, saying off at the same time?
Have you got some appropriate chew toys for him? If he gets bitey with you just consistently offer the chew toy, make it exciting by playing with it, encourage him to tug giving praise and a command word - Luna will pull on command now which is useful for opening cupboard doors etc.
And yes if he gets hold of something and won't let go - stick a yummy treat on his nose (I used to have them always in my pocket when Luna was young and when Tucker first came home) saying off when he releases and then immediately grab something he is allowed to tug on or chew on and give it him.
Some pups can get over-bitey and 'mad' when over tired. Luna was awful and I used to hold her to me when she did this and after a minute or so she'd be fast asleep!! SO if things get really bad, toilet him, then tell him its bedtime and see if he'll settle to sleep if put in his crate with or without the door open.
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She's now 3 months old and has improved vastly. There have been times I wouldn't have allowed her little teeth anywhere near my face and times I've smooched her and even fallen asleep with her, with her head resting on my neck.
