My 10-week-old pitbull puppy bites everything. How can I stop her?

I’m sorry to hear about Luna Mia! There are many thoughts and opinions about dog training. One thing is sure- you need to nip this in the bud IMMEDIATELY. My rules include: if she bites during play time all play ends immediately. If she bites, she is reprimanded immediately and put in another room. Crate training can help a lot with anxiety so start crate training if you haven’t already. I’ve attached some links below with more articles and ideas about training. https://www.petcoach.co/article/biting-causes-prevention-and-control/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/puppy-biting-nipping-of-hands/ Best of luck to you and Luna Mia!

Mouthing behavior is very normal in 8 week old puppies - just like babies they learn and explore with their mouths. Mouthing is different from biting in intent. If she's generally chewing on your hands and happy, that's mouthing. If she's frightened, lunges and bites, and then retreats and hides or bites and leaves punctures, that is very abnormal for such a young puppy and Angel would need to see a veterinarian behaviorist (not a trainer) right away to work on strategies to keep her mentally healthy. I'm going to assume that she's mouthing. The best thing you can do is not reward her mouthing. Any time she puts her mouth on you, disengage from play, petting, or talking to her. Think of it like a light switch - if she mouths, you just turn off and become super boring. Don't punish or try to scare her, she's being a normal puppy and needs to learn how to interact socially. Also, look for a puppy class to enroll her in. Having other puppies to learn and play with is helpful because they learn that biting can hurt. Finally, check out this free ebook from Dr. Ian Dunbar about early puppy training. It's a gem. https://www.dogstardaily.com/files/downloads/AFTER_You_Get_Your_Puppy.pdf Good luck to you and Angel! Let me know if this information was helpful and post another question or set up a consult if you'd like more advice.

Hello, and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. It would help to know Luna's age, but if she is a puppy she is probably still in her teething phase. Puppies are playful troublemakers, and everything to them is a toy - including us! The most important thing you can do is keep lots of acceptable toys around, and whenever Luna tries to play bite with you, try to redirect her to something she is allowed to bite. You may need to give her a stern "NO!" when she grabs at your hands, then offer her a fun toy. Never encourage her to play bite with your hands - always engage her to play with a toy. I know it's a challenge, and puppies can be relentless! If Luna isn't getting the message and keeps going after your hands, it is fine for you to put her in her kennel/crate for a brief "time out" to calm down a little (this isn't a punishment, but rather a chance for her to calm down and be removed from the situation where she was doing an unwanted behavior). Fortunately, this should be a phase, and as long as you are careful not to make it *fun* for her to attack your hands, she should eventually catch on to what the acceptable chew toys are. :-) I hope this helps!

It is possible your puppy is still play biting, but getting a little too excited. I would continue with training to not bite by redirecting the behavior to appropriate toys, yelping when things get too rough, and getting up/stopping play when Luna is too excited. If Luna is acting aggressive (IE, low growls, baring teeth before biting, stiff body, trying to get away from you,) then I highly recommend seeking out a trainer in person immediately as this is a serious concern at such a young age. I'm attaching some articles on general puppy biting and play that may help: https://www.petcoach.co/article/puppy-biting-nipping-of-hands/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/puppy-biting-when-does-it-stop/ https://www.petcoach.co/article/how-to-choose-a-dog-trainer/

Young dogs (and cats) often have to learn what is appropriate behavior during play. Necklace likely hasn't learned that her playing behavior is painful to you and others (or damaging to your clothing). Certainly attending puppy training classes with her is a good way to start to develop appropriate dog-human interactions. I also am a strong supporter of substitution training. When Necklace is playing appropriately you should be very positive, reward her good play with more playing, small treats, petting, attention, whatever is rewarding for her. When she displays inappropriate behavior I generally tell owners to say a firm "NO", and then immediately provide Necklace with something that IS appropriate to chew on. For instance, she bites at your pant leg, you say "NO" firmly but not aggressively, and then provide her with an alternate behavior like throwing a ball or giving her something appropriate to chew or bite on like a Kong toy or Nylabone. Saying "no" to a pet is only ever the first step in changing a behavior. First STOP the behavior then SUBSTITUTE the unwanted behavior for appropriate behavior. If all else fails I recommend reaching out to a dog trainer or a behaviorist. Good luck with your energetic gal, I hope this helps!

At ten weeks of age this is still very normal behavior. If Safiro is getting too excited, taking a time out and stopping all play/walking away until he's calm again can help to teach him that getting too excited results in the fun ending, and that calm behavior is rewarded with more play time. Working on some impulse control training (such as airplaning treats, taking and dropping toys, taking treats nicely, sitting politely -- YouTube has great tutorials for all of this) can also help with over excitement and biting behavior.

If Rocky is close to a year old already, he definitely has all of his adult teeth unless there is some sort of abnormal pathology. A dental exam by a veterinarian would be able to reveal if this is an issue. Assuming that the teeth are normal, it sounds like a behavioral issue that needs to be nipped in the butt as soon as possible. Pitties are great dogs, but they are very powerful and even playful bites can results in some serious damage. Whenever you see Rocky biting or destroying something that is not meant to be, his attention has to be diverted to something else. You should be carrying a toy with you at all times as well as treats in order to praise the appropriate behaviors. If you find that he is biting people, I would recommend teaching him the "touch" command. This can be utilized in order to divert Rocky's attention from something negative and to get him to touch something else. Since he likes to bite, I would not have him start with touching your hand. Use a wand, stick or anything you would like. Eventually once the command is taught effectively, Rocky should be able to come and "touch" from across the room. Depending on his age as well, neutering him might also be an effective way of altering some unwanted behaviors. Hope this helps!