Any advice on a 11 week old pup's biting!

Hi all - Zambi is a female pup of 11 weeks. Will she grow out of this constant biting thing? This morning she bit my son of 6 years quite hard. We are constantly saying to her licks and no bites. I am just not sure which way to turn. If she goes to bite the children while playing and they happen to pull away too quick, it is going to do harm. Her teeth are unbelievably sharp. Any advice will be great!

i think if you are playing with her when shes bites make sure you give her firm no get up and leave the room that way she will associate biting with you leaving which isn't what she wants, don't play any games with her that will encourage biting, like tug of war. when shes sitting down nicely and calmly then give her fuss. puppies do nibble like babies its a way of finding out about the world around them and sometimes its just that they get over excited! maybe try imitating a yelp so she understands that it is hurting you and that its not a game.

Thanks - I will try and let you know! She is very excited at times during the day and I can see all the excitement really mounts when the kids get home from school. We all love her to bits and we will just have to get through this and teach her not to bite. I've waited a long time to finally have her in my life and to me, she is the most perfect dog in the world, just can't have her biting the kids. It's like having a new baby in the house.

When the kids come home from school, tell them to ignore Zambi until she's calm. I know that sounds harsh & it'll be difficult for the kids, but she will soon learn that over excitement means no fuss & calm means she can be greated by her children!

If she nips just say "NO!", turn away & stop all interraction with her. Don't even look at her. If necessary keep turning away until she calms down. Then give her calm & quiet praise. If she still won't stop, pick her up without a word & put her out of the room (somewhere safe) until she is calm. Then calm & quiet praise again.

All bites nip/bite, it's how they play with their siblings, you just need to get her to understand that it's not the way to play with humans!

P.S. Welcome to the forum!

Thank you - It's gonna be hard for all of us to do, but the benefits will pay off. We will have a family training session today as soon as all are home. The snoring out of her now as she sleeps is hard to believe from such a small thing! Thanks again for the advice!

leannenoonan wrote: The snoring out of her now as she sleeps is hard to believe from such a small thing! Thanks again for the advice!

....and it gets worse!

good luck!

P.s she looks very cute!!!

Thank you all for advice. We could see she understood everything yesterday and so we will keep going. No matter which way we have to train them and do it well.

Yes she is very cute, but they all are and the love for them just grows and grows.
Hilsie - I might live in Northern Ireland now, but I'm from Cape Town, South Africa. (Yes I miss the weather!!!!)
Been here for 11 years now and my husband has always known I wanted a Black Female Staffie, so he went and got me one for our 11th wedding anniversary. It's perfect timing as the kids are now 9 and 6 years so I can give all my attention to my puppy! lol

Caryll wrote:When the kids come home from school, tell them to ignore Zambi until she's calm. I know that sounds harsh & it'll be difficult for the kids, but she will soon learn that over excitement means no fuss & calm means she can be greated by her children!

If she nips just say "NO!", turn away & stop all interraction with her. Don't even look at her. If necessary keep turning away until she calms down. Then give her calm & quiet praise. If she still won't stop, pick her up without a word & put her out of the room (somewhere safe) until she is calm. Then calm & quiet praise again.

All bites nip/bite, it's how they play with their siblings, you just need to get her to understand that it's not the way to play with humans!

P.S. Welcome to the forum!

This is excellent advise and she will not simply outgrow the behaviour. This is a very natural interaction for her and she has to be taught that it isn't acceptable. I would advise having a household meeting and explaining this to everyone because everyone in the house has to enforce the same rules everytime or she will become confused.

Bear nibbles everything, when he is chewing on my clothes/couch/hair/you name it I carefully poke my finger in between his teeth which distracts him (I want him to be used to people touching in his mouth without losing a finger) and frees whatever he is chewing and when he then tries to bite my fingers I flatten my hand and give a firm STOP!!! command. He tries to bite my palm but this is easier said than done and each time he does I repeat the STOP command, he soon stops and the number of times I am having to say stop is getting less each time.

Once he stops he gets lots of praise and is offered one of his toys and praised further for chewing something he is allowed.

I think my two must be abnormal, they have never chewed anything except those squeaky soft dog toys and rope toys . Oh and each other which is probably why

Thanks again all
Zambi is been very good and coming round so well from the biting. We are firm with her and she has only been put into her bed for some time out once. She stops her attempts at biting as soon as we say no to her.
We are all so so madly in love with her, we cannot believe what a wonderful dog she is. Now we are even thinking of getting another one so they can grow up together.