Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

Last week we adopted a 10 week old Golden Retriever puppy. This is our first dog and we hadn't expected her to be so hyper. It is very hard to calm her down and she goes around biting EVERYTHING, especially people. We have young children and unfortunately they are scared to even go near her.

We understand that they need to chew on things and we have provided a number of chew toys for her. We have tried the harsh 'no' as well as grabbing her jaw and shaking her firmly. We have tried making a loud noise to scare her accompanied by the 'no'. None of these techniques seem to work. In fact, they often seem to make the biting worse.

We will be taking her to an 8 week long puppy training course in a few weeks. Will this likely help her reduce the biting?

We knew when we got her that this would not be easy and are prepared for much hard work in training her but would like the advice you can offer, particularly if you have been through this yourself.

Thanks
The Saveal Family

Hi!

Congreyts on your new puppy!

You need to stop the grabbing of her jaw, shaking firmly and yelling. This is making it worse and usually does. When she starts her biting, you need to kinda yelp ouch or something, much like her littermates would have done, then give her something that she is allowed to bite and chew on. She needs to learn what she is allowed to bite on and what not (you and the kids).

Goldens are smart dogs, and I think the puppy class will do wonders!

I'm sure there are others with alot more knowledge than what I have with stop by and give you more advice.

I would love to see a picture of her!!!
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Melody/PHFasDog
Email me at PHFasDog
My furkids: Kira, Lyta, Jadzia

Melody,

Thanks for the info. Last night while Sadie what trying to nip we would then give her one of her toys and that seemed to really help things.

We have heard so many things is just a short amount of time. Some say that we need to say 'no' really loudly, some sayturn her onto her back and shut her jaw, some say close her jaw, some say put pennies in a can and shake it to scare her.

We have taken several pics of Sadie on our camera, but will need to upload them somewhere.

Again, thanks for the info.

As you already found out, the holding her jaw won't work with her. Also, the turning her over onto her back will probably backfire with her, as the holding her jaw. I wouldn't try either with her.

I would continue to redirect her biting to a toy and keep her occupied like that when she tries to bite. Don't play with her with your hands, but use a toy. Look for a trainer than can help you with her. I'm sure you will work this out.

Keep us posted and good luck!
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Melody/PHFasDog
Email me at PHFasDog
My furkids: Kira, Lyta, Jadzia

>>Hi,
>>
>>Last week we adopted a 10 week old Golden Retriever puppy. This is our first dog and we hadn't expected her to be so hyper. It is very hard to calm her down and she goes around biting EVERYTHING, especially people. We have young children and unfortunately they are scared to even go near her.
>>
>>We understand that they need to chew on things and we have provided a number of chew toys for her. We have tried the harsh 'no' as well as grabbing her jaw and shaking her firmly. We have tried making a loud noise to scare her accompanied by the 'no'. None of these techniques seem to work. In fact, they often seem to make the biting worse.
>>
>>We will be taking her to an 8 week long puppy training course in a few weeks. Will this likely help her reduce the biting?
>>
>>We knew when we got her that this would not be easy and are prepared for much hard work in training her but would like the advice you can offer, particularly if you have been through this yourself.
>>
>>Thanks
>>The Saveal Family

This is headed the wrong direction, and since the dog is your first dog, you're going to need help quickly. Waiting a few more weeks until puppy class is too long. Contact the class instructor and ask about some private lessons in the meantime. If they don't give lessons, they should know someone in the area who does. You need a skilled person to interpret the dog's body language and show you better methods for handling this extremely common problem. Otherwise, you may have created a real monster with the handling you're doing by the time you even get to puppy class.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series at www.veterinaryforum.com

Kathy,
Thanks for your reply. Let me quickly state that when I said we are giving 'Sadie' a harsh no. I meant with our voice we are saying no. We were told to say no in a loud voice. Also, I don't think I phrased my words correctly for when I looked at what I wrote it sounded as if we hit our dog...which we do NOT!!! The training video that we received told us that sometimes you need to actually close the dog's jaw and say no. Over the last week we have realized that by doing that, it only makes things worse. We have actually found that when Sadie is in her excited moods and is trying to nip, we put our hands behind our back and say no in a loud voice. That works some of the times, but not all.

Thanks,
Kat Saveal