# biting



## ambyjayne (Dec 5, 2018)

Hi there my husband and I have a 9 nearly 10 week old puppy. He's lovely and for the first part of the day is calm and doing general puppy things ie nipping, chewing etc but nothing terrible then 4 pm hits and all of a sudden hes becomes this manic psycho of a dog who is jumping and biting relentlessly unless i'm constantly stuffing a toy in his mouth or distracting him in someway. This wouldn't really bother me except I have 3 children 9,7 and 3 and its exhausting trying to stop them from getting hurt. From what I can see I dont think it's aggression as in the day hes falling asleep on them letting them kiss and cuddle him but when theyre back from school he's mental. The kids actually ignore him but he is relentless as already mentioned. Does this sound normal? I'm hoping once he's allowed out for walks it will calm down but I am worried it will become aggression. I've been reading a lot on line and have come across similar situations where the dog is over tired and i must admit when it becomes too much I do have to shut him in the kitchen and a few times he'll take himself to basket and fall asleep but other times he will just keep going. His toys do distract him but I just wish he wouldn't keep going for us and the kids. Ive only ever had a boxer dog before and we had him before having children so I cant remember this behaviour I would hate to give up so early on him but I have to put kids first so i'm really hoping this is normal that we just have to work on till things improve. Any advice would be greatly appreciated x


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## Erniesmom (Oct 11, 2017)

I remember those early days when my cute puppy suddenly relentlessly nipped at my ankles. When I read about people going through this stage I laugh to myself at how I have otherwise forgotten it, but at the time wondered when will this end.
Heres my two cents for what it's worth. Don't give up on your puppy, manage him. By that I mean have a crate or x pen that is his space. When he gets nippy or too rambunctious at that bewitching hour of the day (Ernie's was afternoon and early evening) put him in his crate. It is not a punishment, but to let him rest. If he is crazy when the kids come home from school try working out a schedule for him that involves crate/nap time for an hour before the kids get home. 
I also followed Ian Dunbars advice (try listening to one of his podcasts) Dogs need to learn to be gentle with their mouths. When Ernie was not much older than your pup, when he got nippy I would gently push my hand into his mouth and in the nicest way softly repeated "gentle, gentle". It worked like a charm. When he was biting at my ankles I'd cry out "ouch" and if he didn't settle down walk away from him. It can be exasperating but it passes.They want to be with you so eventually it works.He's teething, try a Nylabone or other appropriate chew toy, filled kong. Hang in there, it will be worth it. Something else we found was that training will exhaust their brains, (think about studying for exams) keep it positive and you'll both have fun.


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## ambyjayne (Dec 5, 2018)

Thank you we are doing all of that I think I may be going wrong by trying to exhaust him by playing instead of letting him be in quiet space at that time of day and I’m actually over stimulating him maybe?


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## PhilipL (Sep 28, 2018)

Hi,

My male Vizsla puppy Rafa went through this same stage, I would describe it as 'mouthing' with his baby teeth as opposed to aggressive biting, which it wasn't he never drew blood. The good news is that they do grow out of this reasonably quickly from my own experience and what I have read here.

Rafa vastly reduced this nipping, to almost zero, before 4 months old and had plenty of toys that he could exercise his teeth on, some of the Kong toys being very robust such as the moose https://www.amazon.co.uk/KONG-Tugger-Knots-Moose-Medium/dp/B004GEARPE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1544088077&sr=8-2&keywords=kong+moose which he still chews now with his mix of baby and adult teeth, he is nearly 6 months old now.

We also gave him crate time when he got excited in the evenings and was over tired. He always gets excited when anyone arrives home too, then calms down once he has greeted them so I think that sounds a lot like your new puppy.

It will pass it just takes a little while.


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## bertrand (May 17, 2017)

Hi,

as other have said, this is a normal behaviour for Vizsla pups at that age. Is it frustrating? Absolutely, but if you search "sharkies" or "shark attacks" on this site, you'll see plenty of advice on how to manage it. You can't make it go away, so management of it, is really your goal. With 3 kids, especially a 3 years old, it is definitely more tricky, so it might be a little more difficult, but as other have said, it will pass. 
Breeze's sharkies were an absolutely nightmare until we bought a stuffed toys and then it became really easy to manage: as soon as she started having those sharkies, we would give her the stuffed toy and she would chew on it like her life depended on it, but at least didn't take any of our body parts as target anymore.

Good luck and welcome to the world of Vizsla puppies. Vizslas are wonderful dogs, and now at 2 years old ours is absolutely awesome, but they are not the easiest puppies.
Cheers,
B.


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

Ok, so if he goes into hyper drive at 4pm, the at 3:45 he gets a toy or treat and has some crate time to chill out.

It also sounds like he needs to be integrated into the kids routine more, so they have time to be with him (preferably outside) to play, and then, they have their own time, and the pup is either with you, or in the crate. But, the Vizsla will react to and want attention from the humans, so if they ignore him, it's almost a guarantee the V will escalate to get attention and try to participate.


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