How do I stop my 10 mo. old puppy from biting once and for all?
Hi! I have a 10 month old rescue puppy with lots of energy who, despite being very sweet and cuddley, can tend to be bitey. We noticed this when she was younger and she has since gone through and graduated two basic training classes. They suggested a lot of positive reinforcement like distraction, learning touch and sit, and other methods of rewarding dogs for good behavior. We have even tried spraying mint in her mouth after she bites or spraying her with water. Her mouthiness has gotten much better since then but is still not at a good place, perhaps we have not been consistent enough with these methods or perhaps she is just too hard to distract with treats or toys in her bitey moments. She will sometimes playfully bite and mouth on me when I attempt to pet her, or sometimes when someone leaves the house she will try to bite us as we leave, but other times we will just be sitting down and she’ll come up to us and bite us. We are doing our best to give her lots of love and time and to be honest maybe we just need to be more consistent with the positive reinforcement or maybe there are other things we haven’t thought of. If there are any suggestions of how we can get her to stop biting once and for all or even to get her to respond better to us it would be much appreciated!