4 mo old lab jumps and bites

[JACKIE FLECKENSTEIN]

How can I ignore his jumping when he is biting at the same time?

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there!

Welcome to the forums! Congrats on your new puppy!

At 4 months, your puppy is at the peak teething stage. So you have that double whammy of a strong need for play and interaction coupled with the need to chew and get relief from those sore gums!

Now, you are completely right, it is hard to ignore the jumping when it's coupled with biting and those razor-sharp teeth!  

Well, technically it can work if the behavior of jumping and biting is attention-seeking and your are able to endure the bites and scratches from all the nipping and jumping, but the process is not without side effects, as you can see!

Ignoring can cause a great deal of frustration in your puppy and it sure painful to endure too. In addition, you may notice a few new behaviors along the way. 

Here's the thing: if your puppy has been reinforced for jumping and nipping in the past, whether through positive attention (petting the puppy, looking at him, sweet talking) or negative attention (pushing him away, saying ouch, scolding the puppy), your puppy at one point or another will get frustrated when he no longer gets a response from you. 

Our zero response may therefore lead to more forceful jumping and harder nipping. Not to mention, your pup may throw in a few extra new behaviors into the mix such as barking or pawing at you in hopes of a response. 

If you give in at this time and give any type of attention, even if just to say "ow!" that would be perceived as a reaction and you would have now reinforced persistence, making the behavior even stronger than before. 

Therefore,  it is better to try preventing the behavior from occurring in the first place by strategically engaging your pup in alternative behaviors and setting his environment for success. 

Let's take a look at some of these interventions:

Provide a Variety of Interactive Toys 

You want your puppy to gain more reinforcement from interactive toys so that he chooses them more and more over playing roughly with you. Look for toys that offer some form of engagement. Some of the best toys are the ones that offer reinforcement under the release of kibble and treats. Examples of such toys are Kong Wobblers, puppy Kongs, Buster Cubes, Licki mats and Snuffle Mats. 

You also may want to do some brain games like:

The muffin game:

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

The treasure hunt game:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-treasure-hunt/

Hand targeting:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/

Airplane game:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/airplane-game-training/

You may also include the smacking sound so to teach him to pay attention to you:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/

These games encourage play that doesn't involve you, or the games involve you but interacting in a different way that doesn't involve biting or jumping. Some also allow some level of impulse control (the treat in the airplane game is released only when the dog doesn't jump and decides to make eye contact).

Encourage Alternate Play

Encourage your Labrador puppy to play games that do not involve physically jumping up on you and nipping. Ideally, you should catch your puppy *before* he has had the opportunity to jump on you and latch on. Once your puppy has jumped up and latched, it will be more difficult to interrupt the behavior, you allow rehearsal of an unwanted behavior and you also risk creating an unwanted behavior chain if right afterward, you distract your pup with a toy. 

These forms of alternate play may require you to carry some items with you or keeping them extra handy, but it's totally worth it!  Here are several options for alternate play (make sure to offer these as soon as you notice your puppy approaching you with a possible intent to jump/bite). 

-Carry kibble in your pocket and treat bag. The moment your puppy approaches, toss kibble the opposite way. Rinse and repeat. Your pup will love the game. If your puppy knows how to sit, you can ask that before tossing the kibble or you can train a little later. Here is how to train sit: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/sit/

-Use a long tug toy and encourage your puppy to play tug with it the moment he approaches. If your puppy knows how to leave it and drop, you can add these cues in the game. Here is how to train these:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/

-Keep a flirt pole handy. I like to carry one on my shoulder or keep it around my waist. The moment your pup approaches, let him play with it. 

-Keep several balls in your cargo pant pockets. The moment your puppy approaches, toss a ball the opposite way. 

-Ask your puppy to target your hands. To help your puppy succeed, practice these while you're sitting keeping your hands low so he won't feel like jumping, then gradually progress with asking this while standing up. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/

Teach Bite Inhibition 

You want your puppy to learn to bite less strongly before his permanent teeth set in and he develops stronger jaws. This can be done by providing feedback, such as training your puppy to take treats gently: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/

and through bite inhibition games:

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

Ensure Your Puppy Gets Sleep 

Puppies are generally very active pooches, but their batteries tend to discharge quickly. One minute they're up and running, the next they are exhausted as they used up all their energy and need to re-charge. Pups have a lot of growing to and they need to get all the rest they can get. After all, it is known that growth hormone production increases while the puppy is resting or sleeping. 

Similar to children, they may be reluctant to go to bed and you may have to enforce naps by placing them in the crate with something to chew and providing a quiet environment.

Avoid Wearing Tempting Stuff

Watch carefully when your Labrador puppy jumps up and bites, is your puppy trying to reach something in particular? What exactly is your puppy nipping? Puppies with high prey drive are strongly attracted to anything that moves and captures their attention. Watch carefully what your puppy does when he jumps up and nips.

In many cases, puppies are after your loose sleeves or your pant legs or that scarf or necklace that is dangling. Some pups may also be after your shoelaces, long skirt or even your hair as it moves around as you walk or from the wind. To puppies reaching these things are irresistible, because they are moving and stimulate their desire to chase and grab. 

It may help to avoid full exposures to things that attract puppies so much at least until we have their behavior better under control. So it may help heaps temporarily keeping hair up, not wearing dangling jewelry and using shoes without laces. Tucking flapping pant legs in  socks may help too and so does wearing tall Wellingtons if the pups aim to bite feet and ankles (I know, with this heat, last thing we want is to wear tall boots!). Once we have strongly reinforced other ways to interact with us, we can gradually re-introduce these. 

Go to Puppy Classes 

Puppies benefit from puppy classes for the socialization, foundational training and the opportunity to play with other puppies and  to further refine their social skills. These sessions give your puppy the opportunity to engage in the type of play he craves so badly and this further helps drain some excess energy while allowing him to socialize with other puppies and people in safe place. Look for puppy classes run by positive reinforcement dog trainers who put an emphasis on ensuring safe and happy interactions. 

I hope this helps! Puppy biting won't stop overnight, it's a process rather than one-time done ordeal, but with these interventions, you should see a gradual and steady decline with an increase in more desirable behaviors, especially if you reinforce them with great rewards!

Happy training! Feel free to ask any more questions or post updates. We can always do deeper troubleshooting as needed. 

Best,

Adrienne 

[JACKIE FLECKENSTEIN]

Thank you so much Adrienne, I will take all of your advice to heart.  You offered plenty of tips and I will go through them all and put them to good use.

 

Best to you too,

Jackie

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You are very welcome! 

I had a pup that was a persistent biter not too long ago fixated hand movements and it also helped to gradually desensitize to my hand movements (using very subtle movements at first, and gradually more enticing) using the clicker to reward not biting or jumping, and then we progressed to getting the pup sitting nicely watching these movements, praising and rewarding with a back and forth kibble toss game. The process is similar to how I desensitized Maggie to my movements and excited behavior and praising rewarding for not jumping:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/02-maggie-assessing-jumping-behavior-desensitization/

Keep us posted on how things go!

Best,

Adrienne 

[JACKIE FLECKENSTEIN]

Sorry I didn't get back to you sooner -- your willingness to engage with users is amazing.  

I will read through all of it and apply your suggestions, one step at a time.

Thanks so much again.  🙂

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You're very welcome! Post an update when you have a chance or feel free to ask further questions. 

Best,

Adrienne 

[JACKIE FLECKENSTEIN]

I just wanted to post this follow up.  I read through all of your advice and applied what I felt I could that would work with my puppy.  Although you didn't advise me to, I wore padded pants and a padded jacket as well as leather gloves to work with him on "no jump" -- because that was the only way I could come up with to remove biting from the equation.  He still bit me, but it didn't penetrate so I was able to focus instead on "no jump".  If he doesn't jump, he doesn't bite.

It took some doing but I finally got him to sit instead of jumping and was able to reward him.  Though the jumping and attempts at playful bites have not gone away 100%, the energy with which he is doing these things had totally changed to where he is doing it with low energy.  I have not suffered any more cuts or bruises from his mouth and we are having great wins turning this behavior around and off.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

 

I just wanted to post this follow up.  I read through all of your advice and applied what I felt I could that would work with my puppy.  Although you didn't advise me to, I wore padded pants and a padded jacket as well as leather gloves to work with him on "no jump" -- because that was the only way I could come up with to remove biting from the equation.  He still bit me, but it didn't penetrate so I was able to focus instead on "no jump".  If he doesn't jump, he doesn't bite.

You did really good to wear padded pads and padded jacket for the training. I posted to tuck pant legs in socks and wearing tall Wellingtons if he was aiming to bite feet and ankles, but if he aims for your upper body, yes, do what it takes to lessen the impact of that biting. If he bites hard and to break skin though, we also want to aim to teaching him better bite inhibition. Here are some guides for that: (the tips in the first link suggest initially using gloves for pups who bite hard)

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

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

It took some doing but I finally got him to sit instead of jumping and was able to reward him.  Though the jumping and attempts at playful bites have not gone away 100%, the energy with which he is doing these things had totally changed to where he is doing it with low energy.  I have not suffered any more cuts or bruises from his mouth and we are having great wins turning this behavior around and off.

That's awesome progress for just a little over 20 days! Keep up the great work, you want to make sits far more reinforcing than jumping and biting. Add in the interactive toys, ensuring he gets enough sleep and alternate forms of play and you should see more and more progress coming along the way.

If at any time he manages to still jump and bite, carefully assess what may have gone wrong (you moved too quickly, were caught off guard, you were carrying something he was interested in) and gradually desensitize him to that using low level exposures.

For example, if he jumped and tried to bite because you were carrying a napkin that was moving in the wind, practice carrying the napkin indoors with no wind asking him to sit and stay as you carry it, praise and reward for resisting the temptation, then raise criteria to carrying it and moving it around and reward for resisting the temptation, then move to the outdoors ).

If you still struggle, describe what seemed to evoke the jumping and biting and post here and we can go some deeper troubleshooting.