Puppy biting at kids faces!

[kimmom]

We got an 11 week old puppy last week so he is new to our family. He was with his mom and siblings before we got him. He is a great little Border Collie puppy, most of the time! He is fine with our 5 and 7 year old but he tries to be dominant with the 2 and 3 year olds. He will bite at their faces for no reason.. they are not provoking him at all! Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this? If this is an issue that would continue obviously he would need a new home. How long will it take to train him for him to realize he CAN'T DO THIS!! We had a border collie/blue heeler for 12 years so are used to the high energy breed but our other dog did not have behavior like this even with a baby in the house!

[greenmagick]

I dont think he is trying to dominate...its just they are smaller and faces are in easier reach. He is being a puppy, doing puppy behavior. Does that make it acceptable, no. I would keep him on a leash at all times tethered to you amd veru closely supervise any play with the children. When he starts getting worked up and nipping have the children walk away all play stops or you can make a noise to distract and then praise when he stops nipping.,. Also, you can use short time outs here.

Dr Ian Dunabar has a book called Before and After you Get Your Puppy.

It is available as a free pdf file

http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/BE...ur%20Puppy.pdf

http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/AF...ur%20Puppy.pdf

[Ola_]

I'm guessing these are puppy nips rather than full-on bites, otherwise you'd be a lot more concerned about this. Unfortunately puppies will usually put their mouths on whatever is nearby. I'd stock up on chew toys that have different sizes and textures so he has lots available and stick one of those in his mouth when he gets nippy.

I wouldn't have the puppy on the floor at the same time as the kids, the tethering idea above is a great one. Are you crate training? When puppies start misbehaving that often means that they need a "nap" so you can give him a kong with a smear of peanut butter or something and pop him in his crate for a bit. Keep the crate in an area where your family spends time in (a corner of the living or family room usually works well). And of course make sure you teach the kids not to bug the puppy at all when he's in the crate.

[kimmom]

Yes we are crate training and that is going really well! No it isn't a full on bit but he is snapping at the younger twos faces and broke the skin next to my daughters nose last night! She was just sitting there playing so was not even bothering him or anything. I have the pup on a leash at all times and I was right beside him looking the other way. So I grabbed him right away off her and scolded him and removed him from the situation (put him in the crate), but I don't want his crate to be punishment.. and if I wasn't standing right there he may have bit her more. So yes I am concerned because it could have been her eye! Just don't know what we can do to change this behavior!

[*Aimee*]

That's just typical puppy behavior, but I fully agree it sucks. My GSD puppy was horrible, biting and making my little ones bleed daily. My boys are 3 and 1 so it was especially scary for them.

I talked to my trainer who said to tether him, that he doesn't have the right to roam in the house for a month MAYBE two. He's a tad on the dominant side so probably 2 months. He also said it's best to redirect his biting. We bought him a "tug" used for shutzhund and whenever he bites we shove it in his mouth. He's about 16 weeks now and mostly not biting!! They WILL grow out of it. I really dont think he's trying to dominate your kids though, he's probably just trying to play with them.

[Sailor]

You can't let your puppy and the small kids be in the same room. Not right now. Your puppy has ZERO manners. It's not your fault - it's just how it is. Some puppies are just fine with kids, and don't try anything. Others ... well, others need a heck of a lot more work. Welcome to the club; I'm a long standing member. My puppy ate the neighbor's kitten when he was 3 months old. I also have scars on my hands from puppyhood. Fortunately, I had no kids during this time, as I'm not sure they'd have survived Roark with all limbs intact. (That's GSD humor, btw.)

This is going to take 1. time, 2. energy, 3. work. First, you can't let the puppy and the kids be in the same room if the puppy has free reign. So, keep them 100% separate for now.

I would definitely do NILIF. I would either crate him when you can't supervise, or tether him to you ALL day. Correct when he's bad, praise effusively when he's good. Also, make sure he has his own toys so that you can redirect his biting. Redirecting works wonders. Correct when he goes after the wrong thing, praise the heck out of him when he goes after a toy or when you give him a toy and he takes it.

Also, you might want to up the exercise - that never hurts. A game of fetch for an hour in the evening is always good. I do this with my dog - it's the last thing I do before having dinner and going home for the night.

Are there any obedience classes in the area? Puppy socialization? Basic obedience? That's also good for tiring him out (and training).

Basically, you're just looking at a lot of consistency and a lot of tethering. As a pp said, it's a privilege to be allowed to roam the house. He doesn't get to do it until he knows how to behave. Right now he doesn't know how to behave, so he doesn't get that privilege.

[robugmum]

:
I have the same issue with my 4 yr old dd and our 12 week old pup.