My toy poodle pup is biting incessantly! I have tried diversions, treat puzzles, teething toys, etc. whatever is/was suggested in the many articles I’ve read has been purchased and tried, sparing no expense. She still prefers humans. Please help.

Updated On June 27th, 2021

Pet's info: Dog | Poodle | Female | unspayed | 2 months and 30 days old | 3 lbs

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Answered By Debi Matlack

Veterinary Technician

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When you play with your puppy, let her mouth on your hands. Continue play until she bites especially hard. When she does, immediately give a high-pitched yelp, as if you’re hurt, and let your hand go limp. This should startle your puppy and cause her to stop mouthing you. (If yelping seems to have no effect, you can say “Too bad!” or “You blew it!” in a stern voice instead.) Praise your puppy for stopping. Resume whatever you were doing before. If your puppy bites you hard again, yelp again. Repeat these steps no more than three times within a 15-minute period. If you find that yelping alone doesn’t work, you can switch to a time-out procedure. When your puppy delivers a hard bite, yelp loudly. Then, when she startles and turns to look at you or looks around, remove your hand. Either ignore her for 10 to 20 seconds or, if she starts mouthing on you again, get up and move away for 10 to 20 seconds. After the short time-out, return to your puppy and encourage her to play with you again. It’s important to teach her that gentle play continues, but painful play stops. Play with your puppy until she bites hard again. When she does, repeat the sequence above. When your puppy isn’t delivering really hard bites anymore, you can tighten up your rules a little. Require your puppy to be even gentler. Yelp and stop play in response to moderately hard bites. Persist with this process of yelping and then ignoring your puppy or giving her a time-out for her hardest bites. As those disappear, do the same for his next-hardest bites, and so on, until your puppy can play with your hands very gently, controlling the force of her mouthing so that you feel little or no pressure at all.

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