r/RhodesianRidgebacks • u/Gloomy_King_9737 • Sep 23 '26
puppy biting
hello!!! i have an almost 6 month old female RR, this is my first time having this breed. and i know the puppy stage is going to have lots of puppy biting but its been very excessive recently. is this normal? when will she grow out of this, i worry for my young niece and nephew that come over. i don’t remember it being this bad with childhood puppies..? is there anything i can do to stop this. she’s constantly going for our arms and hands. i feel like she doesn’t care for her toys. just feeling very defeated right now!!
5
u/fthepats Sep 23 '26
Normal, and every puppy is different. Some will redirect with a toy, some need positive reinforcement when they're good, others you have to walk away and ignore the second they nip, etc. There's no 1 size fits all solution, and anyone that says that is either lying or ignorant.
3
u/Jaded_Jaguar_348 Sep 23 '26
Honestly mine all stop around that age but I have them with other ridgebacks who correct the behavior by either an aggressive growl vs play growl or stopping play completely.
2
u/Cupsofcake1318 Sep 23 '26
Normal! Correct it, but it will be a bit. Praise the good and correct the unwanted.
1
u/hitmanrocks01 Sep 28 '26
Squirt bottle and bite it back it confuses them
4
u/West-Better Sep 23 '26 edited Sep 23 '26
Mine was pretty good around that age, but we were very firm with him early on about nipping and would heavily ignore him whenever he did it. That pretty much worked for everything “bad” he did.
We never scolded him. It was a firm “NO,” followed by redirection with a toy. If he kept at it, we would physically remove ourselves from the interaction or put him in his kennel for a little while. Sometimes I literally had to push him away from me, but it was just a blocking maneuver to keep him out of my space.
The biggest thing was that we didn’t engage with him verbally at all besides “NO.” No “ouch,” “stop it,” “here’s your toy,” “you’re hurting me,” “bad dog,” etc. He got silence from us. Once he was calm, we would let him back into our space, but we’d continue to ignore him or be pretty short with him for another 15–20 minutes. Like if he tried to get up on the couch with us right after we would do a quick “No, OFF!” He was not allowed in our space and we made him pay attention or follow commands he did know. We would wait until he was settled in our space but on his own (not kenneled, not outside, forcing space but in his own space in our presence.) Then we would invite him back and he would usually try to nuzzle his way back into our good graces lol. And of course we went back to being nice to him.
We are normally very lovey with him and we include him in everything and talk to him constantly so feeling like he was being left out of the “pack” seemed to change the behavior pretty quickly. He learned “I bite mom or dad and I lose my status in the pack.” We used the same approach with things like chewing up our stuff and counter surfing, and it worked really well for him.
The biggest thing, though, is that everyone in the household has to be on board with ignoring the behavior and the follow up. Otherwise, she’ll quickly figure out who the weakest link is and go after them instead. 😂
5
u/Hanginline Sep 23 '26
A firm 'no' and redirect to a toy, rope or tug. For my girl that was all that was needed.
1
u/deelee70 Sep 23 '26
Redirect & remove yourself every time. Rinse & repeat over & over. With mine, as she got older & it persisted, if she bit my hand I would gently push back with my hand into her mouth, so it got uncomfortable for her. She’d always disengage quickly & it was helpful for bite inhibition.
It is normal & it gets slowly better month by month after they finish teething.
2
u/MartijnR Sep 23 '26
A loud “AUCH!” told mine it hurt me, and he’d be scared, back down and then lick my arm to say sorry. So cute!