We find that our girl will mouth more if we are down on her level. So when we are sitting with her and we cannot redirect with a toy (sometimes is works and sometimes it does not) we tell her not bit get up and turn our back on her. She absolutely gets the message!

That is what works for us...we found it thanks to all of the wonderful advice here!

TUG, TUG, TUG, TUG!!!!! Lets see for Duggie, I have a braided fleece tug toy and when he wants to play we tug. I also took a human spa type back scrubber with netting that never seemed to work and turned it into a tug toy. I have a lot of cleaning up to do, but the baby loves it! And finally, I let him tug on the sleeves of my Carhart coat. I buy Carharts on Ebay specifically so I can play tug with the Goldens with my sleeves. I will have to get some video of Selli and Duge both tugging on my sleeves at the same time.

The moral of my story is...Golden's LOVE to bite and tug and more than 50% of why they like it is because they are playing with YOU which is why just giving them a toy often does not work. If you can turn the tugging/biting into a game with rules, everyone is happy!

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Carolyn (A.K.A. Aunt Care) and

Creekwood Tanglefoot Selchie CD, RN, AX, AXJ, CGC, CCA, (A.K.A. Selli-Belle) Golden

Valentine Byrd McDuff (A.K.A. Duffy) Golden/Sheltie

Tanglefoot Autumn Dexter CGC (My Heart Dog at the Bridge) Golden

Runner,
It sounds like you and I have the same puppy! Piper attacks my feet shoes, pants and primarily does this to me and not my husband. Sometimes the annoying behaviour trumps being cute! I am trying to do everything by the book. Is it normal for them to scrunch up their muzzles and show their teeth in an angry looking way when they are playing?

Robin

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Mom of Piper the puppy and Ginger Oriana who has gone to Rainbow Bridge and will forever be in my heart

Robin I HATE that face. Tayla has done it since we got her at 4 months. She will be a year in less than two weeks. She is better but it's been a long road and not a fun one.


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Barb, Rick and Tayla (STAR Puppy)



Cheyenne (CGC) and Jesse (CGC) who will be always loved and never forgotten.

Tayla's Mom,
They are playing when they make that face, right? I had a golden that I adopted at 5 years that passed back in April and she made that face by only at other dogs that were annoying her. NEVER to humans and certainly never to me! I wouldn't think a 9 or 10 week old puppy would do that. She is barking while doing it.


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Mom of Piper the puppy and Ginger Oriana who has gone to Rainbow Bridge and will forever be in my heart

We had Tayla tested by two behaviorists after we got her because that face worried me. We were told by both that she is not agressive. The second behaviorist has her own trining center and we have enrolled Tayla in Nose Work and she did pass the STARR puppy class. Tayla has issues with impulse control and a low level for anything frustrating. Is she playing when she makes that face, sometimes. Is she frustrated when she is making that face, usually. Work on having something with you at all times to use as a distraction. Early on it didn't work, but it is working more and more with her. If she gets that face and gets bitey I either have treats in my pocket and we immediately work in impulse control. I put a treat in my hands and close them. She can't have the treat if she is biting my hands (using her ugly face) or even pushing at them. She has to sit and be sweet. If I have a tug toy with my we immediately play tug with rules. She must sit and wait to initiate play, play for a few seconds and then I give the sit command and she must give up the toy and sit. I have started working really hard on "out" with her. So we play tug, I say out and she must drop the toy, then I tell her to sit and I toss it to her and play resumes. There are rules to everything I do with her.

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Barb, Rick and Tayla (STAR Puppy)



Cheyenne (CGC) and Jesse (CGC) who will be always loved and never forgotten.

Thanks everyone on your "puppy biting" advice and stories.....i just had an incident a few minutes ago and feel bad freaking out at him....BUT he really bit me hard...on my leg...for no reason...i held is mouth down, and yelled no biting and then walked away and ignored him...he looks so sad, i left him in the kitchen slammed the door and walked upstairs.....
answering other questions...Gazoo is not alone too often at all....he plays outside freely on 2 acres of property so he gets his exercise...but even when i go to take him for a walk....he bites hard and twist his head making it near impossible to put his colar on and yet he is loving the walks....he's never been crated and remarkedly has never destroyed anything in the house...and hasn't had one bathroom mistake in over a month and he is 5.5 months old...so he is smart...but i think this is all being DEFIANT.....
time for me to go back downstairs....(maybe he'll bite the other leg .....lol)

Robin, Gazoo scrunches his face like that..."getting ready to bite".....and yes, biting the pants...i mean do i have to wear shorts in the summer for protection....lol.....
i hate to say misery loves company but i'm glad to hear that i am not the only one who has psycho-puppy....this is my third golden and i never experienced this with them....

Thanks for all the responses!!


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Mom of Piper the puppy and Ginger Oriana who has gone to Rainbow Bridge and will forever be in my heart

We are going through the exact same thing with Stella. I just finished crying because I was convinced she is acting crazy because of something we have done (second time this week I have broke down)! Every single night it is the same thing; biting at pants, shoes, my sweaters, sleeves, ankles...any part of our body or clothes(she has ripped holes in 4 sweaters of mine). When we we try to give her a command or pull our clothes out of her mouth she bites more, growls, wrinkles her nose and barks. Also, we are trying to teach her that being on the couch is a privilege so any time she goes on the couch we make a buzzer noise and pull her off...this makes her frustrated as well and she will pop back up and try to bite, bark at us. It is soooo extremely frustrating and after last night not sitting down for more then 2 minute increments to get her to stop and doing it all again tonight she is now in her crate. She has had puppy training and we are currently working with a personal training who is coming to our house to work with her. She will be 5 months in a week and is popping out baby teeth constantly...I really hope this passes and I am feeling extremely drained and low on patience tonight.

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Stella's Mom