Unresponsive Puppy.

Hi!

I've got a gorgeous 15 week old blue staffy girl called Luna who is getting really aggressive with her biting, and becomes worse the more you try to discipline her, until you have to lock her away. A lot of forums have said to distract her with toys which Ive already tried and bought lots yet she's completely uninterested in them and only wants to bite skin. Her breeders made my partner buy her at 5-6 weeks and so I'm sure this is the reason why even though she is training really well in other areas

Im mostly struggling because i'm a second year university student with very limited experience and support, and unfortunate circumstances with my partner unexpectedly having to go away for work has left me in charge of raising her. I love her more than anything but really want to train her the right way so things will run smoothly in the future but it is proving to be impossible to get through her biting.

Any advice or tips would be immensely appreciated.
Lots of love - Luna's Mum x

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Firstly, I don’t know what you mean by “until you have to lock her away” but this probably won’t be a constructive solution in any way ...

4 months is a difficult age and alot of us have already been there so there IS light at the end of the tunnel !
She left her mum too young at 5-6 weeks and it could well be a reason to her behaviour. Teething can also be a reason.
I’m guessing she’s testing plus playing tough and doesn’t necessarily realise where the limits are.

In terms of toys, cotton ropes are good for sore teeth and big biters. Raw carrots, stuffed kong toys, knotted tea towels.
Do try to get her to puppy school for socialising, this will help to teach her canine codes.

Coming back to her biting, I presume that it’s when she wants attention ? Play or the such ? My Opium is very excitable and nips through nerves.
I have always looked to distract her from biting - using a toy or asking her to sit, for example.

Can you give more detailed examples of what yours does, when, and how you deal with it ?
It can help to give you more specific pointers.
Oh, and what do you feed / how much exercise does your girl get ?

Only this last weekend we've had to use her cage but before this we'd normally lock her in a separate room with all her toys where she'd quickly go to sleep (if she can't access any carpet to rip up). She has a couple of cotton ropes and a kong, plus some big teething rings but she's really uninterested in them. We bought her a soft teddy which seems to be her favourite but she'll only give it 2 minutes before swapping it for furniture or us.

If she's not being TOO excitable - sit works to stop her for a minute, and we like to reward her with affection when she responds. She gets about 10 minutes running around the garden every morning, plus 5 minutes every 2 hours for when she goes out for the toilet, and then we walk her for 15-20 minutes on the lead in the evening at which times she's usually rushing to get back to the house.
Food wise she's on Wainwright's lamb and rice and then has puppy treats when she's good on our walks - or if we're having a training day.

Her biting is constant and usually hands or feet, we understand that its puppy play and so will lightly push her away and say no because we don't think she should be shouted at for that behaviour - but the more you tell her 'no' and the more you move away from her, she gets more riled up and starts going for faces, tummy's, and underarms.

She's got quite a good routine especially with feeds and toilet - but since she was about 11 weeks old she tends to eat her own poop if we've not seen her do it and a friend said it could be a malnourishment thing (which is when we swapped her from bakers to wainwrights) but she still does it.

Thank you for the help, she's too beautiful to stay mad at!

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Hi from me & Katy Oh this brings back memories Katy was like living with the Tasmanian Devil! We got her at 6wks old, she was given from the breeder to his niece at 5wks & she advertised her for sale a week later. They miss out on doggy protocol when they leave the litter too early. We used to leave the room when she was biting too much, it's attention seeking & any attention cross or happy will do! Try with the replacement of toy to skin but if it doesn't work just get up, ignoring her & walk out & shut the door behind you. She will soon get the idea that if she bites you wont play or interact. Takes time & but you will get there.

Misty was a terrible mouther when we got her. The only thing that worked for us was the instant she put any part of us into her mouth than all attention and all play stopped. You have to be consistent. Everyone who meets her must do that same thing. They want attention so much and she will learn that all attention stops when she mouths. It took a while for misty to learn but now she never mouths us. Staffs love people so she will learn the chief way to interact  good luck!

She certainly appears to have fallen into a great family and you have avoided alot of common mistakes.
Good routine, not too much exercise, nothing in particular with regards to feed.

For the poo eating, it is common for alot of puppies to copy what they’ve seen their mum do in the nest so no, not malnourishment.
Both of mine were poo eaters unfortunately and it takes time (months) to get them out of the habit. Just make sure you pick hers up on delivery to remove temptation and anticipate on other poo you might cross.

As to the biting, it well get better. But remove yourselves from the room rather than removing her, as others have suggested.
Don’t push her away as that’s a really great game to her and for sure, she’ll come back.

Jenc wrote:Hi from me & Katy Oh this brings back memories Katy was like living with the Tasmanian Devil! We got her at 6wks old, she was given from the breeder to his niece at 5wks & she advertised her for sale a week later. They miss out on doggy protocol when they leave the litter too early. We used to leave the room when she was biting too much, it's attention seeking & any attention cross or happy will do! Try with the replacement of toy to skin but if it doesn't work just get up, ignoring her & walk out & shut the door behind you. She will soon get the idea that if she bites you wont play or interact. Takes time & but you will get there.  

My baby Luna is 15 weeks old too and has same problems we’ve also been trying loads different things, for me walking out of the room doesn’t work at all as the second I’m back in it she’s back to biting. She is biting noticeably less now, any time she does we just try to command her to sit or lie down and if she does well praise her and give treats and then try get her attention onto a toy straight away before she starts biting us again

Training's like that - there are always alternative ways & you choose whichever suits you & your furry friend!

Pushing her away is probably more like play to her...my girl did that until the day she died and it was her fave human game esp if you were on a hill!

If she is being too mouthy i would suggest making a loud high pitched noise and standing up and ignoring her..if she doesn't get the message you leave the room. The key is consistancy...doing it once or twice then saying "well that didn't work" is not how it goes...its a long game. As for the furniture etc...well....good luck hahaha