Biting

[Shazz]

I have a 3 month old miniature Schnauzer, she is lovely but she just wants to bite us all the time, we offer her a Nylobone but she continues to seek out our fingers, she Aldo snaps at us too if we tell her off.

Is this normal behaviour??

[zeta1454]

Puppies up to the age of 6-7 months are going through teething as their stronger adult teeth replace the sharp little baby teeth. This process as with human babies can be very painful and nipping, chewing and biting are normal behaviours for young puppies going through this. You can divert your pup onto other toys and chew items but you will need a number of different ones and ones that will encourage your pup to want to chew them instead. Nylabones are OK but not a very enticing substitute. You can offer frozen carrot sticks, mini cucumbers, rubber Kong type toys stuffed with a little frozen fruit or meat pâté. Raw bones such as lamb ribs are usually loved by young dogs and they can spend a long time chewing the scraps of meat from them.

https://dragonflyproducts.co.uk/blogs/h ... or-puppies

If you spend time taking your puppy out and about, introduce her to challenge toys (such as Nina Ottosson games*) and any other games this will not only distract her from biting but also help to tire her mentally and encourage her to rest.

* https://www.nina-ottosson.com/which-puz ... tpet-best/

Rest periods are a must. Young puppies can get over tired or over excited very easily and this is when they are most likely to be bitey so make sure that your little one has plenty of rest time throughout the day and make sure you see the signs that she may be getting overtired and needs a time away from exciting activities.

Don’t ’tell her off’ if you can at all avoid it. You need to distract her, reward her for not biting and encourage her to engage in other activities. At 3 months she is very young and you want to build a good trusting relationship with her rather than one where she may feel intimidated or frightened at your reactions. The problem with confrontation or physical coercion is that it encourages the same response from the puppy/dog - you shout or speak sharply to her and she is likely to bark or snap back at you. Building a relationship based on fun times together is the best way to have a family dog that wants to be part of the ‘pack’ and enjoys being with you. If you do feel that her biting has gone too far during a game then stop the game and go away, you can restart play a short time afterwards but this will help to reinforce that biting is going to end a fun activity but do be patient with her. She is still a baby and will grow out of this as she matures