6 m/o biting nonstop, not aggressive

[maejjs]

We have a 6 month old rescue pup- possibly shepherd/husky??? Not really sure on the breed.

She is VERY mouthy. She bites our hands when playing with toys with her. She bites the kids (8 and 6y/o) clothing and yanks them around. She bites their hands/legs.

I don’t see any ‘aggression’- she doesn’t resource guard her food and anyone can reach into her food bowl and take her food etc. Same with her toys.

She does chase the kids and nip at them. She bites my husband and I only very infrequently and only when very riled up.

I think it has to do with her place in the pack maybe and thinking the kids are equals with her?? I’m not sure what to do. We tell the kids to ignore her/stop giving attention when she bites but it’s impossible to do when she’s chomping all over them and she is getting too big to physically get away from when she’s biting.

We have tried holding her mouth shut for a moment (gently) and saying no bite but it doesn’t phase her at all.

We live on an acreage and she gets 1-2 walks a day, sometimes a bike ride/run (tho it’s snowy here so biking is hard) as well as free run of our 10 acre yard.

I’ve never had this problem with dogs I’ve owned in the past but I’ve always had retrievers which I think have naturally soft mouths etc.

Looking for any tips or ideas to help!!!

 

[thecurioustchristian]

@maejjs Fairly normal for a 6 month old working-ish dog to play with bites. Is it all in kind of an excited, play/herding type of way? If so, the fun has to stop every single time. If the fun stops, the dog will quickly learn not to do it. I’m a fan of going “ow!” and turning your back, just moving on to focus your attention somewhere else. Pretend you’re a doggy litter mate - yelp and lose interest in playing.

You have to time this immediately as the nip happens and you have to actually put your focus somewhere else for 30 seconds. This has worked extremely well for me. One possibility is that the kids aren’t actually stopping play vibes, and so the dog isn’t actually learning that bites aren’t fun when it’s them. Hope it helps!

Edit: almost forgot, I really am not a fan of holding the dogs snout closed. There’s almost no chance you can get the timing that the dog even understands why you’re doing it. And I’ve never seen it make a positive change in behavior.

 

[maejjs]

@thecurioustchristian Oh it’s absolutely play and sometimes herding bites.
Problem is even when they turn around/away from her she will just bite at their backs/legs etc. Their shrieks of pain/trying to get away seem to spark her into a frenzy like it’s the most fun game ever but the kids are NOT into it.

 

[thecurioustchristian]

@maejjs Oh yeah I can see how kid energy trying to escape would not be the right vibe at all! That’s tough. The ideal thing as an adult is to really calmly just lose interest and calmly ignore the dog. Removing the thing the dog wants.

I’m not sure how to teach kids to calmly ignore, especially since they can’t physically brush the dog off. I might try asking the kids to yelp once, turn their back to the dog and stand still, and have one of the adults step into the dogs space, making the dog move away from the kid. Almost like you’re stepping into someone’s personal space - the natural reaction will be for the dog to move back which will hopefully break the moment. If the dog tries to go around you to keep playing with the kid, control the space with your body and calmly herd it away until the energy changes. Play time is over! Then everyone just kind of turn your attention somewhere else for a few. Not sure to be honest, but that’s what I’d try first!

 

[thecurioustchristian]

@maejjs Oh by the way you can google “bite inhibition” if you’re not familiar with the term, that should have lots of results on how people train for this.

 

[katrina_]

@maejjs I have a shepherd husky as well who does the same thing, he doesn’t bite hard but he still puts your arm in his mouth and stuff. My thought is it’s very similar to how dogs play, they bite each other and play fight. I’m not a dog trainer but what’s worked for me is if we’re playing and he bites me hard then we are obviously done playing, I push him away from me and tuck my hands away so he can’t bite them when he blows his fit. He also bites to entice you to play with him, but it’s important to show her that she doesn’t play by biting.