Im afraid our puppy is developing a bitting problem. She doesnt do it out of anger, but she does it in play. Im afraid that shes going to get bigger and do it to a stranger or small child and its going to be an issue. She doesnt put pressure, just likes to put hands and feet between her teeth. Is this a problem ? If so, what can i do to resolve the problem ? She plays rough with our roomates puppy. I dont know if that contributes, but we take her to a dog park to socialize with older dogs, because apparently they help correct the action. IDK, lol, im lost.

Puppies do that. You can teach them not to by saying "ouch!" or whine like she hurt you and if she keeps it up, get up and leave or put her in time out for a minute. She'll learn that she shouldn't bite eventually. Also you can redirect her bits to a toy instead of your hand.

Also, huskies play rough. No real way to get around that one.

I have the same problem. My guy is only 11 weeks old, but I don't want to let this become a habit because we have lots of nieces and nephews that come and visit.
I've tried the yelping and the ouch, the shaking the scruff...saying "NO", but all he seems to think is "oooh she wants to play!". Redirecting him to a toy works for about 30 seconds until he gets bored....

I do the above and when the toy doesn't work get up and walk away. I refuse to play if the biting involves hands and feet. My Huskies can't stand to be ignored and they caught on fairly quickly. The good news is that the biting does decrease as they get older.......Huskies and Patience ...LOL I don't usually break up puppy play unless it becomes over the top. They usually work things out on their own.

The key is like beck said, you need to SHUT DOWN any play or interaction. The yelping works because it speaks their language, but Koda used to take that as more play (he's a bit weird).

Only thing that worked with him was absolutely shutting down contact. He'd play too rough, I would yelp, turn my back IMMEDIATELY and walk into the bedroom and shut the door behind me. After waiting there until he walked away from the door, I'd walk out and act like nothing happened. Sometimes these dogs need a physical barrier to isolate them from you.

I really need to write the bite inhibition sticky! Where's all my time gone!?

Yes please make a sticky on it!!!
I just tried ignoring him and going into the bathroom and closing the door like you said. It worked for about a minute until he was jumping up and nipping me again.
I'm starting to get really frustrated and I'm sure he can tell
This morning he bit my shoulder so hard it brought tears to my eyes...I think it's time to seek out a trainer.

It won't work the first time but if you do it each and every time hopefully he will make a connection that biting equals no attention from you. It may take many repetitions but it will be worth it in the long run. I tried to schedule my puppies toy play at the same time each day so they really learned to anticipate the play sessions and they were NOT happy when I ended the sessions if play was too rough. Also you might consider increasing exercise before playing. My pups seem to play less roughly and be less mouthy when they are exercised more. Hang in there!!!

Exactly right.. hate to say it, but one time is not enough. These dogs are like children. They don't listen the first time, lol. Make sure you stay isolated long enough for him to lose interest, and you must do it EVERY TIME his teeth makes contact with your skin.

You MUST be consistent. You need to do it one, two, three, four... several times sometimes before they get it. But it's the only real way to train this. I have a feeling that a trainer will be wasting your money to tell you the same thing.

THERE IS NO OVER-NIGHT METHOD. Don't let anyone kid you into believing that.

great tips. gonna start enforcing the walking away more....

Yelping, shouting, walking away and ignoring him doesnt really work for my puppy. Neither does toys or treats. Everytime I would try to walk away from him.. he would run after me and nip on my leg. Just the other night...he tore up my fav pair of pj pants... I really dont know how to resolve this but to sometime wear thick sweaters or pants and just let him have it. SIGH...

KatoTA wrote:

Yelping, shouting, walking away and ignoring him doesnt really work for my puppy. Neither does toys or treats. Everytime I would try to walk away from him.. he would run after me and nip on my leg. Just the other night...he tore up my fav pair of pj pants... I really dont know how to resolve this but to sometime wear thick sweaters or pants and just let him have it. SIGH...

You need to separate yourself from him with a physical barrier. Go into another room and shut the door behind you and stay there until he loses interest. Koda wouldn't care if I ignored him or turned my back either. He needed me to actually walk away from him and barricade myself off from him to get it.

I think I have a trouble maker on my hands...

Have you walked into a separate room every time this has happened? What does he do when you walk into another room and shut the door behind you?

I've tried everything. and when I do let him out. the first thing he goes to are my legs... He actually bite me pretty hard yesterday to the point that ihad tears in my eyes...

It's not going to change after one time. When he goes for your legs when you let him out, pick him up and put him right back into isolation. I have a feeling that you're getting frustrated and not being consistent enough.

NO TRICK is going to stop him immediately or overnight. This takes a lot of time and patience. How old is he again? How old was he when you got him?

He is 3 months and we got him when he was 7.5 weeks. It wasnt just overnight that I did this.. Ive been using ur advice for about 2 weeks now.. .. Frustrated yes..because at times I want to play with him...... but being consistant I'm doing my best..

I'll give him his time.. hopefully he will grow out of it.. fingers x....

No worries. I went through hell training this out of Koda as well. He took a lot of time and patience and once in a while he will still turn around to mouth when someone goes to pet him. He's gotten better, but I would get really frustrated with him.

Keep at it. If you want to use the lower-jaw grab, tell him NO!" and then walk into another room, I think a combination of all things might help. But you need to do it EVERY time. Not just when it hurts. He needs to learn that teeth on skin is not okay.

I have bought a new puppy .and this is 8th day at my home. He is biting a lot whenever I glide my hand over him he tries to bite it. Even he tries to bite my feet. Even I try to say ouch! But that doesn't work.i .tried to push away his face or scare him with a newspaper (by hitting a folded newspaper on the floor) but that makes him bark at me and more biting and aggressive .please I need help.

It's how huskys play with each other.
Diverting attention to chew toys and taking away the things they want when they're misbehaving are still the best methods for dealing with it.

Your husky obviously wants to play with you, and hasn't learned what is acceptable play with people and what isn't. It's your job to teach him.

If he's biting on you, put a chew toy in the way and make him bite on that. He'll ignore it for a long time, because he wants to play with YOU, not the chew toy. Biting however, is not the way we play, so if he continues biting, it's time to step it up and ignore him. He wants to play with you, and he's playing too rough so you need to take away what he wants (his desire to play with you) until he calms down. Like it's been said before, sometimes just turning and ignoring the puppy won't help. You have to go into a different room.

Saying "ouch" sometimes doesn't work, but typically yelping will help. Generally, dogs are wired to lay off when they hear a yelp unless they're taught otherwise.

Other methods discussed work sometimes. Grabbing the lower jaw (just so they're uncomfortable, not so they're hurt) and saying "NO" can work, but it can also backfire and get the puppy riled up for more play. You also have to be very careful when doing it. I've also shoved my thumb down into my dogs mouth where the jaw hinges so she physically couldn't bite me but that didn't provide very positive results and I thought it was too dangerous to keep trying.

Marlaina wrote:

I have bought a new puppy .and this is 8th day at my home. He is biting a lot whenever I glide my hand over him he tries to bite it. Even he tries to bite my feet. Even I try to say ouch! But that doesn't work.i .tried to push away his face or scare him with a newspaper (by hitting a folded newspaper on the floor) but that makes him bark at me and more biting and aggressive .please I need help.

Ah... the joys of puppy biting! lol I second the toy distraction and leaving the room method (but make sure he can't follow you in). The goal is to remove yourself from the situation. The "yelping" didn't phase my Kale one bit, and neither did the pennies in a can or loud sounds. If he ignored the toys and still went for my hands and was being a little over-zealous, i'd gentle grab his muzzle closed, stare him directly in the eyes, and say in a low tone, "no bite". That's usually when I'd get up and leave the play sesh. Now, at 16 months, when he wants to play with me, he brings me one of his toys and plops it in my lap lol good luck! hope to see some pics soon

I have never had a husky puppy they have always been a year and a half old or older when I got them. But my GS I got when he was 8 weeks and always trying to chew and bite us on the hands, legs, ankles, etc... So I would use bitter apple stuff on my hands during play and my ankles when I was walking around the house. I also would give him a frozen towel to chew on during the teething times.

My 3 month old pup is so nippy. He is slowly getting better with not biting. This is really useful to know that I can walk away from him as I thought I may be backing down to him or something.

It's hard to explain to people whenever we are out that their children cannot pat him as he will bite them playfully.

Just know that it does get better! My girl did it from the time we got her at 8 weeks and she has improved greatly. It drove me nuts cuz everytime you'd try to pet her, she would mouth your hand or arm. Even when I'd turn my back to walk away, she'd nip my butt lol. She thought she was just playing and they have to learn that kind of play hurts. She's 11 months now and still tries, but the key is to remove yourself from the situation every time. They hate to be ignored and will catch on that if they play nice, you will stay.

I've been having the puppy biting problem for three weeks now, and just today successfully got her to back off without leaving the room or distracting her ! I had started this morning by attempting to "train" her not to bite me by carrying treats with me around the house and whenever she would play bite, i would hold her muzzle closed (gently) saying no! and only when she was calm and didnt fight me back, I gave her a treat. Sometimes i would give her the treat when she let me hold her muzzle without resistance, and other times i would give her the treat if she didnt continue to bite when i let go of her mouth. I continued this all morning and when i was out of treats she tried to play bite with me again, at which point i held her muzzle closed - again, gently - and said NO!, let go, and she stopped. You do not need to be forceful. Your pup might try yanking away at first, so just let him/her do so and try again. be patient. But only give treats when he/she is calm and does not try to yank or pull away when you hold her muzzle. I'm hoping to eventually just be able to just calmly hold her mouth, say no, and the biting will stop!

There's a lot of good information here, thanks! Our guy is 9 weeks old now and just started doing this like a day ago. On top of that, we're still dealing with the whining, barking and howling when he goes into a "timeout." Oh, and the barking and whining at night in his crate also! It's frustrating because when you go to correct his behavior and he doesn't get it, another behavior happens (like the whining.) We'll put him in the kitchen while he has his meldtown, and after a few minutes, if he calms down for a second or two, we let him out. He's too cute to be mad at him, but it does get on your nerves after a while!