We have a 4-month old Labrador retriever that loves to bite/chew at our clothing. He has appropriate toys that he plays with, however, when gets bored with them, he tries to chew on us! Any suggestions?

A 4 month old Lab that is chewing on its owners is a (terribly) common problem. All puppies have the probability of nipping and chewing us, but most high energy or retriever type puppies seem guaranteed to use us as a chew toy.

All puppies have a very limited attention span. They WILL quickly get bored with their toys and start to look for alternatives. Our job is to make sure we give a huge assortment of toys with always varying tastes and smells. You can't have too many toys on the floor whenever the pup is out and about. Please make sure you have soft plush toys, rope toys, squeaky toys, balls, hard nyla-bones on the floor with your pup. Kongs and sterile marrow bones are must haves. Stuff these with biscuits, treats, peanut butter, cheese, bread, carrots…whatever the pup likes. Change the stuffings as the pup tires of it.

Place a leash on the pup indoors whenever it will be interacting with any human. If the pup nips at you or another, immediately and SILENTLY pull back and up on the leash to protect yourself. Say NOTHING, the pup loves when you scream and holler. THE PUP CAN NOT NIP YOU IF ITS MOUTH CAN NOT GET TO YOU. After each nip, pull back and up or put the pup into a SIT. Don't give up too soon. After several attempts to calm the pup, divert its attention on one of the dozens of nearby toys. Just as the pup will ultimately tire of a certain toy, we want it to ultimately tire of trying to nip you.

Please don't ever underestimate the benefits of CONSTANT, daily, tiring exercise. Try a few suggestions given in my exercise article.

return to Question Topic: Biting

go to top of the page