Golden Retriever Puppy Bites Hard when Playing

[Akshay Kumar]

Hi There,

I recently got a golden retriever puppy, Riley. We absolutely love her but she's a biter, which is extremely frustrating.

She isn't fully vaccinated yet, so we cannot take out to exercise so we play with her in the house. Within 5 minutes of us playing with her, she starts biting and jumping and there's nothing we can do to calm her down. If we turn around to not give her attention, she will run around and start chewing furniture in the house.

We have tried to give her chew toys and puzzle toys but she gets frustrated with these easily and wants to run around chew every other thing in the house than her toys.

For puzzle toys, we put her kibbles with some high value treats in a toy. Once she had the toy, she sniffed the toy and knew there was food in it but after trying to get the food for 5 mins, she gave up, got frustrated and wanted to bite me.

I'm at a loss for what to do. Please help.

Akshay

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums,

All puppies bite, it's totally normal behavior. I know how frustrating it is, but this is how they play, interact and explore. It's something deeply ingrained and it will take some time to get under control. In the meanwhile, we can use several strategies to interact with them that doesn't involve them biting us.

Here are some guides you will find helpful:

Bite inhibition games:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/

List of replacement behaviors

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/replacement-behaviors-to-stop-puppy-biting/

Teaching your puppy to tolerate touch:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-to-teach-puppies-to-tolerate-touch/

Why yelping doesn't always work:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/why-yelping-doesnt-always-work-to-stop-a-puppys-biting/

How to teach dogs to take treats gently:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/

It will take some time for her to figure out how those food puzzles work and develop enough impulse control to work on it for longer periods of time. Right now, she's like a toddler not being interested in doing crossword puzzles. So you will need to make those puzzles extra easy for now. Like stuff Kongs very loosely or you can do the muffin tin game without any balls on it:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-muffin-game/

If she's chewing everything in the home, most likely she has too much run of the house. Your puppy should be confined to a section of the house only and that area should be puppy proofed (and most things she shouldn't chew removed). This is also important for potty training.