12 week puppy biting hands, feet, legs or anything he can get a hold of.

My little guy is 12 weeks now and I can not touch him without being chewed on, and it hurts. He will grab your pant leg, socks shoes anything he can reach and doesn't let go. If I raise my voice and say a stern NO, he barks and barks at me it's like it challenges him.

I have tried a squirt bottle and he thinks that is funny. I have put the side of my hand in his mouth all the way back and say a gentle NO, and then say good boy, but none of this seems to making any difference. Has anyone else had this problem? Can anyone offer any suggestions?

He has a room full of all kinds of chew toys, I have even tried putting one of his stuffies in the freezer and let him chew on that. My thing is I have found nothing that he will listen to and I am afraid this behavior won't just go away as he ages.

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Jun 19, 2016
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Biting NEW
by: Dale

My Coton is now 18 months old and has not stopped biting. We have figured it is now her way of playing at least twice a day. The rest of the time she is very loving. She is very intelligent but refuses to stop biting once she starts. She starts at the feet barking then jumps against our legs and grabs our pants or shorts and sometimes nips us along with the pants. If we sit, she jumps and try's to snip at our stomach and knees and we use our hands to push her away they get bit. When I get up and ignore her she finally stops. Except for this she is a very loving dog. So, they all don't grow out of it.

Feb 19, 2016
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Biting NEW
by: Anonymous

I have a 17 week Coton and I experienced the same thing. I was losing my patience as he was biting everything. I just started to notice that he is getting so much better. It's like within a few days he has improved so much. It will get better, I promise.

Jan 19, 2016
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More encouragement for your puppy! NEW
by: Anonymous

Your welcome Debbie, I am so glad that my post was helpful to you. Our first coton was so mellow and gentle, he practically never bit us. He was an introvert and the shyest one in the litter. Our current coton is Mr. lampshade on his head, life of the party kind of guy. He is the type of dude that when we tried stronger forms of correction on him, he is like, "bring it on, is that all you got?" That is his attitude. And he would get even more aggressive and more frustrated and more biting. He is high energy. I was told that puppies need about 16 hours of sleep a day. This guy never sleeps that long even though we try. In fact, just last night and another night this week, he decides in the middle of the night that we should all wake up and play! And we need to sleep! Our vet says that he is super outgoing (positive term), the negative term for that would be hyper or high-strung :) I guess one sees the glass as half full or half empty. God bless you. I thought we were the only ones on the planet who were going thru this with our coton.

The very reason we got a coton is that everywhere I read is that they are so gentle and mellow and laid back. And our first coton was mellow too so we had first hand experience with a wonderful cotton. I think our current coton can become a really good dog but I had to stop comparing him to our other coton that died because I was told that they are all different and even though he is the same breed, he is a totally different individual. Our trainer at PetsMart said to us, do you have siblings? And we said yes. And he said are you the same or just like your siblings? And we both said no (not at all the same). And he said neither are no two dogs exactly alike. I think this is good wisdom what he told us but I still find myself comparing because our other coton was so special to me (he lived over 15 years) but I am learning to try to love our current coton for who he is and I am trying to see his own positive and fun attributes. But it has taken me some time. And we try to put a lot of effort into doing all we can to help him become a good dog. And he is gradually becoming a good dog and we see improvement and are happy and hopeful for even more improvement.

Keep being good to yourself. I applaud your efforts to seek assistance. We did the same thing. Let no one be critical of you in your attempts to help your puppy and find what is best for him. I know you are doing the very best you can like we are and I think that you will be sharing your own experience one day with someone else and I think that you will be thankful for the special bond you will have developed with your puppy. (Unfortunately, I am finding out that some puppies require more work than others :). Our first coton was sooo easy. This one so hard. Your puppy is very lucky and blessed to have you! You are a good mommy to him. I hope that you will find over time and working with your puppy that a little bit of more love grows for him. Then one day I hope you find that, hey, you both had a good day today. With our puppy in the beginning it was all bad. Now he takes 2 steps forward and one step back. But we are so thankful for the 2 steps forward and only step back. And we have hope that the one step back will go away altogether with praying for him, time, training, neutering, maturing.

Jan 19, 2016
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12 week puppy biting NEW
by: Debbie

Thank you so much for sharing that info. I have been overwhelmed with this behavior. I have had Samoyeds for 37 yrs and never went through anything like this. I have started Putting him in time out and it seems to be working. Aside of this he is so loving. I have read so much about Cotons and how sensitive they are. I was really at wits end on how to get through to this little pup. Cause everything I tried seemed to challenge him. Just reading all you shared brought tears to my eyes, so thank you. This is a wonderful site. Cotons are a breed of their own and this offers so much valuable info. Thank you.

Jan 19, 2016
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Encouragement for you with your puppy NEW
by: Anonymous

Oh, do I feel for you! I want to encourage you because our puppy has gone thru the SAME thing! We got him end of September, 2015 at 8 and 1/2 weeks old. After the first day home, I really thought that we had received damaged goods in the sense that all he would do is bite, bite, bite us! The breeder advertised superior temperaments on her website and we had a biting puppy on our hands all the time. In fact, my husband calls him Jaws with Paws (you know, like the Jaws movie with the shark). Our first puppy never was like that at all and so I was in total shock, almost horror and dismay. I wanted to return him to the breeder that we got him from but when I found out that all she was going to do was to try to give him to a rescue organization, we wanted none of that for him so we kept him. My husband also loved him and did not want to part with him but for me it was hard to love a puppy when all it did was bite and challenge us all the time. I felt that the puppy was never going to change and this was a very hard time for me.

The first month and a half were awful, he bit us all the time. No forms of correction that were suggested worked for him and I grew increasingly downcast and totally discouraged. It was the worst time in my life. I prayed for our puppy that he would get better. We enrolled him in puppy preschool for 4 weeks, then basic obedience for 6 weeks, and now we are enrolled in intermediate for 6 weeks (it's all positive reinforcmment training with a trainer with PetsMart. No choke collars, no shock collars or anything else that would possibly hurt him). Finally, after about a month and a half of biting misery, we found what worked for him - 1 to 2 minute time-outs in his crate. I don't know how many of those he gets in a day but a LOT for the biting. It seems to be the only thing that calms him down. Any other forms of correction he just sees as a challenge to him and makes him even more aggressive. But the short 1-2 minutes in his fabric crate have really helped a lot. Mind you, you may have to give him many time outs each day. We tell him no bite and if he does not stop biting, in the crate he goes for his 1-2 minute time out. We try to be very consistent with it so he knows the consequences and that it biting won't be tolerated. After 1 or 2 minutes, we release him again and he often is much calmer and has stopped the biting. Then when he bites again, we go thru the same thing.

Our trainer at PetsSmart (where they offer classes) does all positive reinforcement training. I think the training courses are helping too. I think it also helps that his baby teeth are gone and his adult teeth are in so he is pretty much done teething. I am hoping that when we get him neutered this month (he will be 6 months) that it will also help to calm him too.

Now the situation is very livable with him and becoming enjoyable. He still bites but the good times are increasing and the bad (biting) times are becoming less. Still, if he bites and does not stop when we tell him no bite, in the crate he goes for a 1-2 minute time-out. Then out again. I have read to correct the behavior, not the dog. In other words, it is good that the dog knows his bad behavior is being corrected, and that it's not him personally, but his behavior.

Now we both love him! He is becoming a good boy gradually. Sometimes he amazes us at how good he is. In fact, in our last training class with 2 other dogs, he was the most well-behaved puppy there! That NEVER was the case when he was a real young puppy. We were so proud of him. Best wishes with your puppy. If our puppy is making it, I believe that yours will too because our puppy was very aggressive and lunging and biting at us all the time.

I really want this to be an encouragement to you and I hope that this will encourage you. Your puppy sounds so much like our puppy. Now I would not want to return our puppy and I love him now. I am glad now that we have him but it was one of the hardest things in my life in the beginning because of his biting.

Jan 19, 2016
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puppyhood NEW
by: Vicky & Jonah

Their is a series of 30 + free videos to help w/puppies at www.YouTube.com/ZakGeorge that might help you get a handle of your situation. You may enjoy working at training that u may want to get your puppy also in an obedience class.

Also this does not replace getting started on a training program but rub some butter on the side of your hand while playing & not tug of war but the butter will start the puppy licking u not biting where u praise, praise, praise.

Zack George also has Facebook page where u can contact him & ask questions.

Jan 19, 2016
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Biting puppy NEW
by: Sonia

Our puppy did the same thing! It was so frustrating and it hurt! Once he learned the word "no!" It got much better. One thing I did was put him in his kennel to let him calm down a bit. He is now 10 months and will occasionally nip to get our attention but it is soooo much better.

Jan 18, 2016
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Biting NEW
by: AnonymousDebbie

Thank you for your input. If this is normal than I am ok with it. I just have not found a single thing that gets his attention that he needs to stop. We can not even walk across the floor without being attacked non stop. I'm afraid he will break a tooth or get hurt because he will not let go.

Jan 18, 2016
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Cold shoulder NEW
by: Clark

This is pretty normal puppy behavior. I've found the best way to break this habit is to ignore my dog when he starts biting. I either turn my back or just walk away. When he stops getting attention for the bring behavior, he stops. I also make sure he's got plenty of chew toys during this puppy phase.

Jan 18, 2016
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Puppy bites NEW
by: Anonymous

When I got my cotton at 12weeks she too was the same always chewing, playful biting she was being a puppy and this is what puppies do. My cotton eventually grew out of this once she got her adult teeth. Be patient this will pass. My cotton is 7 years old now and turned out to be a wonderful little girl.

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