bitting

[Zues's Mommy]

Hello! I just got my GD 4 days ago. He is a black 7 week old. I have always heard that they were very gentle and sweet. My Zues loves to bite. It's so hard to play with him because he bites so hard! Is this something he will grow out of? At what age? He will go to puppy classes after he has had all his shots. He is doing GREAT with house breaking. Thanks!

[corleyresearch]

Hi! My Calvin is 8 1/2 weeks old and he does the same thing. We just say "No bite" loudly and assertivly. He backs off. Of course he goes back and we say the same thing an push him away. Don't want 175 lb dane biting later.

[Meatos]

Totally normal behaviour (even if it feels really aggressive, it's not). If you are consistent with correcting the behaviour, you'll notice it pretty much disappear at five months once teething is done.

[MyDaneBaby]

Two methods that I have found to work the best is -

1) When the pup bites, loudly yelp, and look like you are really in pain. When the pup backs off praise and resume play. Each time teeth touch skin, yelp and repeat. After the third time get up & leave. Even if the little booger chases you ignore him for a few minutes until he settles down and try again.

if this doesn't work

2) Grab a hold of the scruff of his neck and firmly left to right shake it while saying No Bite in a growly / mean mommy/daddy voice. You should not do it so hard as to remove feet from the floor. This usually takes 2 times to get the point across.

Waiting until the puppy is 5 months old is silly and way too long to fix a problem in a puppy that likely weighs 70+ pounds.

[LoMax]

I had to do the scruff thing with Murray that Mitch mentions. It worked in no time at all. Good luck, with this normal puppy behavior.

[JoyNChrist]

Our Derby does this too, so I assume it's normal. We're very determined to nip it in the bud, since I have a two-year-old son and I don't want him to get hurt. We've been saying "No Bite!" in a firm voice, and if that doesn't work we lightly grab his chin/mouth area and shake a bit (not so hard that he yelps or anything) and say "No Bite!" again. If he does it again, we stop playing with him. It seems to be working...we've only had him three days and he already seems to be nipping less. I think having a large variety of toys to chew on helps too.

[joyable]

I have always heard that they were very gentle and sweet. My Zues loves to bite. It's so hard to play with him because he bites so hard! Is this something he will grow out of? At what age?

The adults and seniors can be very gentle and sweet, but puppies can be a real challenge. This is perfectly normal behavior in a Dane puppy, perhaps exaggerated because he was taken from his litter too early (normal is 8 weeks.) The biting he's doing to you, he'd normally do to his littermates and their growls and bites would teach him what was acceptable and what was not. You'll have to teach him this on your own, exchanging things he's allowed to have in his mouth for those things that are unacceptable.

My Savannah was quite the challenging puppy, but by the time she was 3 - 4 MO she'd stopped puppy biting. I taught her to find and bring a toy for us to play with when she got hyper, and that helped speed the process along.

HTH!