Looking for some advice on biting!

Hi all, My family and I have recently rehomed a lovely 14 week old border collie puppy. She's settled in brilliant but has a biting issue. She seems to only bite on individual in the family (oldest son) whether it be hands or clothing and ankles when he moves etc. So.e of the bites are breaking the skin and we can't seem to limit it or calm her bite force down. Does anyone have any suggestions/advice on what to try?. Thanks.

Edward Bell said:

Hi all, My family and I have recently rehomed a lovely 14 week old border collie puppy. She's settled in brilliant but has a biting issue. She seems to only bite on individual in the family (oldest son) whether it be hands or clothing and ankles when he moves etc. So.e of the bites are breaking the skin and we can't seem to limit it or calm her bite force down. Does anyone have any suggestions/advice on what to try?. Thanks.

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Hi!

I have a 9 month old border collie and all I can say is it gets better! Our one used to bite, nip, jump up and bite all the time it seemed. Hands, clothes, ankles etc.
Cause they’re hearding dogs nipping ankles is a common thing for collie pups to do.

All I’ll say is from what we used to do is, make sure your giving them forms of mental stimulation. Stuffed kongs, hiding treats and getting them to find them, short training sessions (sit, stay, lay down etc) anything that gets there brain going.

When our pup started to bite/mouth hands etc we’d pop her in her crate for 10/15 mins until she’d calmed down and if she came out and started again we’ve pop her back in again. They bite when they’re over stimulated or tired so sometimes putting them in the crate is needed. Our pup would just crash out asleep.

Alternatively I was told to walk away and leave the room for a few seconds the go back and repeat until she stopped. This didn’t work too much for me but every dog is different so might be worth a try.

Toys you can put treats in, and the dog had to figure out how to get them out are great. Pets at Home sell different ones. They get there brain going and keep them occupied for a little while.

Border collies are known to be mouthy as puppies so just stick with what works and be consistent and know it will get better, as all puppies mouth and bite it’s just normal behaviour for them. Make sure everyone is doing the same thing also.

I’m not an expert either this is just based of personal experience and research when I got my pup that helped me a lot! So I hope this helps somehow!

Hello and welcome.

Could you start by reading this file, but please come back to us if you have questions or feel it might not apply?

Puppy biting

Thank you for the advice, I'll give it a try and see if our little land shark gets any better.

Good to hear everyone's advice on this topic as I have a 10 week old GSD who lives up to the 'land shark' label! He only goes for my ankles and feet, not my husband's and he's very gentle taking treats and food. So the only time the biting is a real concern is when he's over-stimulated or cranky needing sleep, when he can get snappy when I force him off worrrying my slippers...any other time I can usually distract him off. But boy can he hurt sometimes! Good to hear things get better, because the last thing I want is an aggressive GSD! Good advice about mental training because this really calms him down.