# Stubborn Puppy extreme biting and barking



## willow33 (Apr 28, 2021)

Hi There! 
My partner and I have had our 10 week pup willow for a few weeks now and shes amazing but difficult also. At first I was worried about sleeping through the night as Id heard horror stories but from the first night she has slept through since 10pm until 5am and now some times up to 6.30/7am its quite literally astounding to us and shes just sat there in the morning waiting for us its not often she cries to get her out. I must add we are crate training her.

From about the second week in she started to get extremely mouthy and theres not many points in the day shes not trying to bite us, I know she's playing as her tail wags the whole time but it can be quiet extreme and painful. when we try and stop the play to show her its not okay ie. yip loudly and even turn away and ignore her she barks and lunges. the methods just dont seem to be working. We have also tried to crate her for time out but that lasts about 10 seconds and she's back biting again or hanging off my shirt sleeve.

She's extremely stubborn and a massive attention seeker to the point that I could go on my phone so my attention isnt on her and she will bark at me. She doesn't seem to do this with my boyfriend just me.

I know that this can be due to being over tired and we do enforce naps on her in the crate if seems like she could be tired but it just doesn't seem to be getting better, just worse. She has just had her second vaccine so in a weeks time will be able to go and blow off some steam on a walk, do you think this will help and do you have any other ideas on what we can do to stop the barking and biting or at least control it.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

You are probably going to get a lot of responses that unfortunately this is normal behavior. Lots of redirection and attention are going to be needed for a few months to get past this phase. It is very tiring and trying, but hang in there! She is far too young to use any kinds of disciplinary actions other than simple expressions of displeasure at the antics like a low "NO" , followed by upbeat "here play with this!!" while redirecting with toys. Have lots of different kinds of toys , squeeky, ropes, balls, etc. We purchased variety dog toy bags from Amazon that were great. When sharkies start just start putting toys in her mouth, one after the other if necessary. For some months you aren't going to be able to take your eye off of them when out of the kennel and will endure zoomie/sharkies with ripped clothes and maybe scratches. They will demand your attention and you will be telling yourself "why doesn't she just settle down ever!!". As for barking at you but not your boyfriend, i'm not sure on that one. Perhaps she just wants more attention specifically from you?

Also be sure to be providing enough exercise, enrichment (training/brain toys), and rest. Sometimes zoomie/sharkies is because of not enough exercise or being too tired.

I remember those days , but the bad memories are fading quickly now that our girl Ellie is 7mos now. It gets much better and is worth enduring on!


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## ana19 (Jun 26, 2020)

willow33 said:


> From about the second week in she started to get extremely mouthy and theres not many points in the day shes not trying to bite us, I know she's playing as her tail wags the whole time but it can be quiet extreme and painful. when we try and stop the play to show her its not okay ie. yip loudly and even turn away and ignore her she barks and lunges. the methods just dont seem to be working. We have also tried to crate her for time out but that lasts about 10 seconds and she's back biting again or hanging off my shirt sleeve.
> 
> She's extremely stubborn and a massive attention seeker to the point that I could go on my phone so my attention isnt on her and she will bark at me. She doesn't seem to do this with my boyfriend just me.
> 
> I know that this can be due to being over tired and we do enforce naps on her in the crate if seems like she could be tired but it just doesn't seem to be getting better, just worse. She has just had her second vaccine so in a weeks time will be able to go and blow off some steam on a walk, do you think this will help and do you have any other ideas on what we can do to stop the barking and biting or at least control it.


This is normal. It will get better. Stop yiping that's going to make her even more excited. Dogs are not "stubborn", that's a human label. She's just being a puppy and you're reinforcing her barking by paying attention to her. Exercise could help but it can also make it worse if she doesn't rest properly after it. 18-20h of sleep a day is a must. She's probably not getting enough mental stimulation (check this out A thing that changed everything for Aron and me...). Biting is normal for puppies and vizlas are a very mouthy breed. Redirect with a toy or a chew. Do lots of mat training in the moments where treat or a toy doesn't help.


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## TrumpetBlast (Jun 27, 2020)

It seems like it will never end, but be encouraged- if you keep up with the training and remain consistent, one day it will just 'click.' I thought she would never stop going after the underside of my couch (EVERYTIME I turned around!), but then she just didn't do it anymore. The command 'leave it' is constantly getting reinforced at our house! But for a ten week old puppy, just keep up with the training and it will pay off in the long run.


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## Dan_A (Jan 19, 2021)

TrumpetBlast said:


> It seems like it will never end, but be encouraged- if you keep up with the training and remain consistent, one day it will just 'click.' I thought she would never stop going after the underside of my couch (EVERYTIME I turned around!), but then she just didn't do it anymore. The command 'leave it' is constantly getting reinforced at our house! But for a ten week old puppy, just keep up with the training and it will pay off in the long run.


What is it with the underside of couches and V pups? It's like they think there's a hoarde of magical meaty bones hidden up there! Can't remember how many times we had to drag Ellie out from under the ottoman after catching her trying to "dig" her way up from the bottom!


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

*"What is it with the underside of couches and V pups? It's like they think there's a hoarde of magical meaty bones hidden up there!"*

I was so glad when Finn could no longer fit under the furniture. So was the cat.

To the OP
You have a normal boisterous little Vizsla puppy. She's going to drive you nuts for a few months, but it will be worth it 6 months from now.


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## willow33 (Apr 28, 2021)

Thank you everyone for the comments.. It has reassured me that she is just a normal V puppy


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## Jpshader (Feb 1, 2021)

willow33 said:


> Hi There!
> My partner and I have had our 10 week pup willow for a few weeks now and shes amazing but difficult also. At first I was worried about sleeping through the night as Id heard horror stories but from the first night she has slept through since 10pm until 5am and now some times up to 6.30/7am its quite literally astounding to us and shes just sat there in the morning waiting for us its not often she cries to get her out. I must add we are crate training her.
> 
> From about the second week in she started to get extremely mouthy and theres not many points in the day shes not trying to bite us, I know she's playing as her tail wags the whole time but it can be quiet extreme and painful. when we try and stop the play to show her its not okay ie. yip loudly and even turn away and ignore her she barks and lunges. the methods just dont seem to be working. We have also tried to crate her for time out but that lasts about 10 seconds and she's back biting again or hanging off my shirt sleeve.
> ...


Buy Brenda Aloff’s fundamentals DVD. It gives you strategies to stop the nipping and biting that are affective. In fact I’ve never seen anything that works better. Our Vizsla was nipping and biting when we first had her and used what Brenda told us to do and it stopped. I’ve watched hours of videos and read many books on raising a puppy. It is not ok to have a nipping biting puppy. something that needs to be addressed right from the start. Belle, our Vizsla has changed our lives. Never knew how much we could love a puppy. Get Brenda’s video. You won’t be disappointed.


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## John N (Sep 11, 2020)

Jpshader said:


> Buy Brenda Aloff’s fundamentals DVD. It gives you strategies to stop the nipping and biting that are effective. In fact I’ve never seen anything that works better. Our Vizsla was nipping and biting when we first had her and used what Brenda told us to do and it stopped. I’ve watched hours of videos and read many books on raising a puppy. It is not ok to have a nipping biting puppy. something that needs to be addressed right from the start. Belle, our Vizsla has changed our lives. Never knew how much we could love a puppy. Get Brenda’s video. You won’t be disappointed.


I would have had a look at the Brenda Aloff’s fundamentals DVD just out of interest, but Amazon UK are listing it a £148! that's $208.


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## Toots1203 (Nov 9, 2020)

willow33 said:


> Hi There!
> My partner and I have had our 10 week pup willow for a few weeks now and shes amazing but difficult also. At first I was worried about sleeping through the night as Id heard horror stories but from the first night she has slept through since 10pm until 5am and now some times up to 6.30/7am its quite literally astounding to us and shes just sat there in the morning waiting for us its not often she cries to get her out. I must add we are crate training her.
> 
> From about the second week in she started to get extremely mouthy and theres not many points in the day shes not trying to bite us, I know she's playing as her tail wags the whole time but it can be quiet extreme and painful. when we try and stop the play to show her its not okay ie. yip loudly and even turn away and ignore her she barks and lunges. the methods just dont seem to be working. We have also tried to crate her for time out but that lasts about 10 seconds and she's back biting again or hanging off my shirt sleeve.
> ...


Hello,

Reading this post felt like I was reading myself from 7 months ago. We have a 1 year old girl Viz called Aisla and she was just like this at this age. I my hands were constantly scratched up from her little needle teeth. I remember feeling so exhausted from constantly doing redirecting training, it sometimes worked but sometimes she would just keep coming back for more. 

One thing that really helped me was taking away my attention from her whenever she did something I didn't like. So I would physically turn my back to her and cross my arms and look up for about 10 seconds. Once she calmed down I'd praise her. This was a big turnaround. 

Also when her baby teeth fell out and she stopped teething this behaviour just dropped off. So it will get better!!


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## rubicon (Dec 9, 2019)

Dan_A said:


> What is it with the underside of couches and V pups? It's like they think there's a hoarde of magical meaty bones hidden up there!


Well, in our case, there literally is a hoard of bones in there. 🤣 let me not describe what we found when we vacated our flat a month ago…


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