You're welcome, no problem.  

I remember when my puppy was young having to meditate on this issue.  It really helped me personally to try not to think of teeth on skin as biting and accept his nature and this issue as a normal part of his needs and his development.  Once I accepted that I was able to focus on specific goals and take control of the issue.  What I did once he was older and had the cognitive ability to understand right/wrong, yes/no was engage him in play where he was in fact allowed to use teeth on skin to play, so this would be the YES.  And then when he would do it in other situations on his own volition when I wasn't in control he would get the correction, or the NO.

It's so funny nowadays when I engage him and get down on all 4s with him to play he gets this FINALLY!!!!! look on his face and then the teeth emerge.  It's not so bad once he learned bite inhibition (how much pressure is acceptable) and his adult teeth are in; not recommended for razor sharp puppy teeth  

But you can't really do this with them when they are too young because of their cognitive stage development and their teething needs.  It's just too confusing for them.  

For now you have to find which method of dealing with the teeth works best for your puppy and you.  That's fun

Good Morning everyone!!!

Just this morning our 13 week old, Frigga, has started the biting thing as of a couple of weeks ago. Sadly, we got her at the age of 5weeks 6 days. We know she has missed out on the playing with her litter mates. So, we go to puppy play time 2 times a week at Petco to let her get that missing play in. We take her just about everywhere with us. Let me tell you, she gets all the attention!!! She has stopped work in a couple of different stores, due to the employees are there petting her. We jokingly call her the attention whore.

We have taken her on long walks (more like dragged for 2 miles) and it doesn't help. She usually gets worse after a walk. I call it the over tired toddler syndrome. I have directed her to chew on her many different toys. We have also tried to yell, yelp; and redirect her. So far, no luck. Thank you for putting the idea of ignoring her. We are going to start this today.....

Erica, Frigga's Grandmother!!!!

Also, I'm guessing she is teething at that age. Give her plenty of stuff to chew and exercise her mouth. If she gets over stimulated, just put her in a quiet, puppy proof place alone until she calms down.

Frigga wrote:

Good Morning everyone!!!

Just this morning our 13 week old, Frigga, has started the biting thing as of a couple of weeks ago. Sadly, we got her at the age of 5weeks 6 days. We know she has missed out on the playing with her litter mates. So, we go to puppy play time 2 times a week at Petco to let her get that missing play in. We take her just about everywhere with us. Let me tell you, she gets all the attention!!! She has stopped work in a couple of different stores, due to the employees are there petting her. We jokingly call her the attention whore.

We have taken her on long walks (more like dragged for 2 miles) and it doesn't help. She usually gets worse after a walk. I call it the over tired toddler syndrome. I have directed her to chew on her many different toys. We have also tried to yell, yelp; and redirect her. So far, no luck. Thank you for putting the idea of ignoring her. We are going to start this today.....

Erica, Frigga's Grandmother!!!!

She's only 13 weeks old so this is normal, and you can't expect a puppy this old to "get it" even over the course of a month or two of yelping, redirecting, etc. Keep that up, and if she gets really bad, just walk away and isolate yourself from her. Wait 30 seconds or so and then come back. Really what they want, especially at this point in their lives, is attention and being close to their people. So if you take that away, after some time they will learn to understand that excessive skin on teeth = bad.

Did any of you have trouble with lunging and biting? The lunging seems more aggressive than playing and ripping my clothes is a problem. The biggest problems are the scars and blood on my arms and the fact that I can't take my puppy for walks out of the yard now to due to his unpredictable responses and serious bouts of lunging. I'm baffled and exhausted. I'm also wondering if I must find someone else to be my puppy's family if he doesn't respond to me. He is like having a wild animal that is partly tame, since he is so unpredictable. I'm afraid for myself and that he may hurt someone. I've been on a roller-coaster of emotions this summer about whether I can keep him.

I got him at 8 weeks old, and he is now 16 weeks old today. He is on an eating schedule, crate trained, and has learned a few commands. He gets treats for good behavior, and has many toys and things to chew on. He is now up to 27 pounds, and as he gets bigger, the lunging becomes more scarier. If you have any words of wisdom, please be compassionate. I cannot bear to hear a Cesar Millan-ism, such as, "What are you doing wrong? And think about your commitment to your pet." I have been with him every day but one for 2 months, working with him and trying to bond. I have been off and spending lots of time with him, which was my plan to bond with my puppy, establish some patterns, and plan for our daily walks and time together when I go back to work next week.

I have gone to professional trainers and seen several vets. Every time I have a serious lunging session, such as today, I cry and think I will have to call the breeder or a rescue place.

I had a husky before this one, and had no problems like this for 14 years. After 6 years of thinking about getting another one, reading several books and tons on the web about the breed, I decided on a puppy instead of a rescue so that I could have all the wonderful characteristics of a husky without the possibility of abuse or mistreatment that comes with rescues. With my work schedule and living alone now, I cannot provide for a husky that needs more than I can give. I do not want to keep a dog that doesn't respond to me and will not be able to go out to parks and camping and hiking with me due to the threat of hurting someone.

Any helpful ideas?

First welcome to the forum Thor's mom, Some of us do not get the most easy going puppies, believe me I have done my fair share of crying until Miya was around 6 months and then things just started clicking for her. I honestly felt the same way with thinking I got some wild animal. She is an amazing dog now, we have a wonderful relationship and I love her to pieces. It was a  slow and difficult process to say the least.

What have the professional trainers have to say about your pup? Some tips I can give to you, many of us here will agree Patience of a saint, repetition, consistency. Redirection is a good choice when he starts playing too rough, keep a favorite toy with you and give it to him. Walking away, when he throws his tantrums, or a time out if you will. Hand feeding him may be a way for him to learn to be gentle towards you, as well as bonding with him. I responded to the post Kai just growled at me? Help! I gave step by step way to hand feed.

He also may be sensing your anxiety with him, so keeping yourself calm is important. Showing respect and trust in you will take time. The lunging thing I'm not sure about, is he trying to pull you when walking? He may seem superman strong and you may need to get a different leash/collar in order for you to control him better. There are many threads on here to give you some ideas.

Last thing, how much exercise is he getting? He may be acting out because he is not getting enough energy out of him. Others will have to chime in, because I don't know the proper age for doggy day care which may  help you on getting rid of his energy and help him to socialize with other pups and people.

I hope that I helped a little. They are a handful at first, but they make such wonderful companions, once you get over puppydom. Today my girl is the biggest love, goofball, friend, as difficult as she was, I'm glad I stuck it out and would never give her up for anything. She's very laid back, she behaves, minds me and has manners, overall a great dog. Good Luck!!

Renee

By the way, I wanted to add, please read through this thread again, It gives you valuable info on how to squash biting and other bad behavior. With Miya I had to do everything everybody mentioned and it took awhile before I saw results.

What I am curious of is my husky is 5 months old and he bites/chomps and every chance he gets. For example, when I want to take him for a walk and try to put his collar on he takes a quick bite at me or sometimes chomps at my face.

I want to know is this because he is teething or maybe just a faze, or should I start training him not to bite. Like every time he bites I should firmly tell him NO!

Any suggestion/ personal experience would be great! Thanks guys!

Have you seen any of his teeth falling out? Is he chewing more than usual? It's probably a combination of the two. I don't know if others have done this, but Miya's collar has always been on, it's rarely off. That way I didn't have to fight off a mouthy baby and only had to clip her leash on. I would also start training with the ideas listed on this post to curb the biting. I'm not a big fan of using no, at that age no maybe the only thing that helps. Redirection maybe a useful tool, giving a treat to occupy while putting collar on. Again I never gave her the opportunity to bite since her collar is always on. My fear was her taking off without her collar and not being able to grab her, or if she wound up on someones doorstep they would know who she belonged to, hence her collar was/is always on.

I wanted to add, with using no, I believe it is important to use secondary commands, ie: no be nice, no sit, no be gentle. Later you can just use the command you want without the no. Again, not a big fan of using no, much bigger fan at giving positive rewards. They are ridiculously smart, using no will make him think of another bad behavior, vs saying good boy when he does something right will provoke him to keep doing good things, if that makes sense?

Great thread.  So much useful info.  I guess the hard part for me to wrap my head around is that each pup is different and responds to different nipping remedies.

In our case, we have had Riley for about a week.  She is currently 9 weeks old, and while I would not say she has a biting problem, she does like to play and bite.  With me I usually say ouch and hold her mouth shut while looking in her eyes.  This works pretty well and she calms down right away.  The problem is with my two daughters, 10 and 12.  All they want to do is cuddle and pat her.  When Riley nips at them, they jerk back and become fearful.  This just gets her more riled up.  At this point I have told them to simply leave the room when he starts nipping. That in itself is a challenge as they want to hang out with her.

We do have an in-house puppy class on Thursday with a trainer and this issue will at the top of the list.

I will report back on what we learn.

Loki was horrible at biting (more being mouthy for affection and playing).  I got him as a rescue, so I have no clue about his background.  It took many many months of consistency using the techniques in this thread to get him more well behaved.  He still has some issues, but it seems over time with consistency things are paying off.  Like just this morning I put on my shoes and looked up and he was in his crate.  No command.  He just did what he knows to do now.  Huskies are amazingly smart dogs from what I have seen and consistency will eventually pay off if you are using positive reinforcement even if it takes your stubborn pup a few months to really get it.

My dog has bitten me, and not playfully. Every time he gets a hold of good food, IE anything with real meat he snarls and tries to bite, today he was digging at some juice in the carpet (I spilled it) and when I tried to reach down to move him so I could clean it he bit me, not hard enough to draw blood, but almost. I had to grab him by the scruff to get him away from the carpet and he went insane and bit me again.

I don't know what to do, I dont know how to fix this, I put him in his crate and he is making these terrible screaming noises to let him out and howling but I dont want to get bitten again. Can anyone help me? I cant take him to puppy classes until he has all his shots and is a little bit older, he is scared of all the dogs I have brought him around, and I am at my wits end. I want to take care of him properly, I dont want to get rid of him, but I dont know how to manage him.

Note: He is also displaying food aggression. I have been hand feeding him and because of a recent vet visit he has been on a bland diet, he all but tears my hand apart going for the chicken.

Sam,

Please reread this thread from start to end, you may have to do everything that people have advised. I had to. Although my girl has never been as bad as your boy, I still had to do everything listed here. You are upset ATM, so relax a little. Take Deep breaths. Even the most experienced owners can get frustrated. You need to teach him to wait before eating, then tell him to get it, take it, whatever command you want to use, but key is he needs to wait before he is allowed to eat. How has he been when you hand feed?

That is the problem he is normally so smart and so good. He even knows leave it although he is reluctant to leave his toys he almost always does. Every time I give him kibble I have never had a problem except for the first day but not since I started hand feeding and using leave it. He has only really been bad when trying to give him chicken as per the vets recommendations, I rushed him there in a tizzy last night because I was convinced he had parvo because he was vomiting and had explosive watery poop. He doesn't.

I haven't gotten a full nights sleep since I have gotten him just to keep him on a good potty schedule but since he has gotten ill its been so much harder. I feel like I am doing everything wrong and most nights I cry because I am convinced I am going to have an unruly wild dog on my hands because I was such a bad owner and didn't train him right.

As gross and difficult as it may be, you need to hand feed everything. Make him sit and wait, and give positive praise when he does it right. You're tired and frustrated. Believe me a lot of us have done our fair share of crying. Do you have any help, or do you live alone? Passing him off for a few minutes so you can catch your breath may help, so you can get some focus.

I live with my boyfriend and I have been hand feeding the chicken, he snatches it out of my hands and wolfs it down like he is starving and when I reach for him is when he growls. He sits, he waits, he wolfs, and if I try to touch him he growls and snaps.

The problem is the boyfriend works most of the day and doesn't spend half as much time with him as I do and we both have to work and he gets even more frustrated then I do... I try my best but from 11 to 6 I am the only one in the house to look after him and almost always during the night because the boyfriend has work and doesn't want to get up because he is just as exhausted as I am. We have a doggy baby sitter for 2 of the 6 hours he would be alone because the boyfriend and I both work and she always does what I ask her to in regards to training and the boyfriend does as well.

They look to me to be the final authority. I clean everything he messes up, I discipline, I feed, I love and I am just so tired after working 40 hours in a cruddy customer service job and being screamed at by strangers and then coming home to find out the puppy hasn't been taken out or fed because the boyfriend isn't half as invested as I am because he is just as tired and right now making more than me.

I doesn't help that I am sick as well and can't afford to call off of work.

*sigh* Sorry this is turning into a rant, I just have no one to talk to about this. They either scold me for getting a puppy or scold me for daring to complain.

Reading through the thread now.

Sam, you can pm me if you prefer. Although your rant may benefit others, lol. I do most of Miya's care as well. It's not easy, I was blessed that my hubby got promoted so I could quit my crappy customer service job, lol. So I could devote the time to Miya, I know not everyone can do that, but I was working for Miya's first 8 months. she was the typical wild puppy, she is now a very calm, respectful almost adult. It took an incredible amount of time, repetition, consistency, and nerves of steel. You will get through this and have a wonderful dog in the process.

I am not shy about my problems, and if my problems can help someone they can have at it, but its good to know that I probably haven't ruined my dog, really he is not half as bad as I am making him out to be, he is normally good but *shakes head*

It was worse when I tried to introduce him to another dog, he actually bore his teeth at her.

I am far from an expert, but this sounds deeper than a puppy mouthing or play bitting.  

How old is your dog?  How much exercise does she/he get?

Although I do agree to an extent Jeff, for some reason husky puppies know when their human is stressed and will feed off of it in a not so nice manner. If they think the pack leader is not up to par, they will act up to take over, as in who's the boss. I am no expert either, but Northern breed dogs need a strong pack leader(I'm not saying that Sam is not strong, nor am I saying you have to deal with this with a strong arm), however, if you are stressed, the puppy will be too. I'm thinking that he is sensing her stress and acting out. As odd as it sounds my husband insisted that we get a female pup just for this reason, I don't necessarily agree with his reasoning, but, I do know that puppies know when the leader is stressed.

He is 7 1/2 and he gets a ton of exercise and the reason I was so upset is BECAUSE I know the difference between play and anger bites, he was protecting his new non kibble food, we have been working on it but its been a slow process and he seems to have gone backwards with the introduction of chicken.

Still we go outside together and play and walk, inside I play with him when he is not sleeping and train him when he is focused (which is surprisingly often)

Now that I am calmer I can see it's just his food aggression resurfacing. I got bit because I grabbed him when he was in that hyper aggressive state, it was my fault. What I am really worried about is his is shyness around other dogs but I think that is a problem for another thread.

*Edit* LOL If anyone is the pack leader its me, he only really listens when I ask him to do something and he looks to me for guidance, I have been under a lot of stress lately (Money problems, sick puppy, sick ME) and because my pup is super people focused he might have been feeding off of that with me because I just tried feeding him again (after a hot shower) and he was a champ.

Sam, That's what I was pointing out. I'm the pack leader, unbeknownst to my husband, ha. Miya is the same way, he is a yeller and she goes crazy when he yells at her, me I'm a firm soft requester she stops immediately. You have to remain calm to get calm results. I'm glad you're both doing better.

My last Husky, Malukhai used his teeth a lot as a puppy, I still have my hoodies that have holes in the wrist part of the sleeve, haha. When I "checked in" with the breeder, I mentioned the biting and she told me its "unacceptable, and needs to be stopped while he's young", and suggested when he bites, to immediately put him on his back and put my hands around his throat (sounds horrible I know) that this is what the mother would do. I tried it a few times, but like...it really didnt work. Anyways, as Malukhai grew up, he still used his teeth a lot, but I found it to be more and more like in an affectionate way (makes no sense I know, but I'm not the best at wording things correctly, haha) like for example, each night before he fell asleep, he'd jump in my bed, lay down, and give me his paw, I'd take it and then he'd put his other paw on top of my hand...then he'd put part of my hand in his mouth and just kinda "gnaw", no pressure...he'd stop, then put his head down on his paw (and my hand and his other paw, haha) then his eyes would slowly close and soon he'd be asleep. Anytime I'd try to move my hand, no matter how sneakily I would try to do it so I wouldnt wake him, he'd wake up. I guess what I'm trying to say is, some huskies do use their teeth a lot, and you do need to correct them so they know its wrong/hurts sometimes...but often it won't seem like its working...but they do get older and I'd say most do "adjust" the pressure, etc...

Jimmy what you just described on what your first breeder told you to do is called Alpha Roll, an old school technique. I can't believe she suggested you to put your hands on pups throat, old schoolers would probably say turn them on their back and hold them until calm, but what do I know,. lol You wouldn't believe how many training books I read when I first got Miya, and so many suggested that technique, did they actually think that was safe and would work? Yikes, is all I can say.

Jimmy you're right about mouthy dogs though, they do learn not to put pressure on, Miya is a mouthy dog too, I believe that my hand is/was/and always will be her pacifier, she will leave my hand in her mouth and falls asleep that way, I slide it out just in case, lol.