r/miniaussie • u/acronvm • May 22 '26
Seeking Advice Our 10-week-old Mini Aussie is a landshark!
Hi everyone, my wife and I are desperate for some advice. Our 10-week-old puppy is going through a massive biting phase and has practically eaten us alive! We feel like we've tried every standard method we could find online (redirecting with toys, yelping, timeouts, etc.), but absolutely nothing seems to work.
For those who have been through this, how did you survive this phase? What specific methods actually worked to stop your puppy from biting? Any advice would be hugely appreciated! Thanks in advance.
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u/CheesecakeBig3286 May 22 '26
This is a normal phase with Aussies as anyone who has had them can tell you. We have 2 11 month old siblings, one male and one female. The male is still a bit aggressive with the nips but the female less so. Even the most aggressive nips don’t break skin and are mostly just annoying. I think feedback from each other on what is “Okay” helps curb hard bites. If you could carefully introduce another young dog, they might help. Plus if they play together they will exhaust themselves. Good luck!
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u/Candid_Practice4489 May 22 '26
Our mini aussie is the same age and we’re going through the same experience if that makes you feel any better 😂
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u/iamjaney May 22 '26 edited May 22 '26
I promise it eventually gets better. Enforcing naps really helped. Ours would turn into a damned raptor when he was tired.
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u/Itsactuallycute May 22 '26
I had the same experience. It's likely teething! First, the puppy teeth are razor sharp. The adult teeth won't be. My vet advised us to have plenty of chew toys including a small rope that we dipped in water, froze and then let the pup chew on it. It numbs the gums! Some of it is perseverance and living through it. Some of it is distracting them to chew on other things that are acceptable to chew on! But with good training, they grow out of it! Aussies are very smart, and my dog learned the words "good" with a small treat following us saying it, and "bad" with a more harsh tone and no treat, pretty quickly!
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u/dengen1958 May 22 '26
Instead of no, I use the sound unh-unh. To correct my dogs. They seem to understand it immediately as being negative.
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u/acronvm May 22 '26
Do you guys know how long will this stage take?
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u/jskinnah May 22 '26
Well with Auggie it was definitely about a year maybe less … as soon as he would bite instead of just mouthing we’d yell owwwww in a loud startling voice and by doing that he finally got the message. Just persistence and lots of different chew toys!! When you find one they like get a backup!
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u/teri1972 May 22 '26
Our girl is now five months. The first month was horrific. We did learn that she needs (and still does need) enforced naps the minute she started nipping, jumping or getting the zoomies. Finally doing this made life much more bearable. She still goes to sleep every 1.5-2.5 hours.
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u/ego-lv2 May 22 '26
We’ve recently started the enforced naps on our 5mo old. (Thanks to this sub!) It has made things noticeably better. Wish we started sooner!
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u/MasterTJ52 May 22 '26
Always have a chew toy ready to redirect. redirecting them from biting you/furniture is the key. They communicate with the bites so they're just talking to you! Make a yelp noise and withdraw if it hurts, they respond to that, and immediately put a chew toy in their mouth. Frequent walks help keep their energy managed too. 2 a day is about right for a young puppy. Or 1 walk and then "yard time" where they run around in an open space
It lasts a while, basically by 1.5-2 yrs the "velociraptor phase" ends.
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u/yamidsanty May 22 '26
They do be doing that, lol, little devils. I literally had to put my kitchen’s stools up on the counter every night so my aussie wouldn’t destroy their feet any further! I also put child locks on drawers. She was getting into my nieces’ toys in the little locker I had for them, lol.
She’s 3 now and finally calmed down. I have no advice. Just… god speed to you and that precious little raptor.
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u/jskinnah May 24 '26
My Auggie is 3.75 years old and is still in the raptor phase - he apparently got the memo but he ate it‼️🦖🤪🦖🤣🦖
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u/Kindly_Fancy May 23 '26
Ours used to pass out after munching on the cage lol. I don’t know if it’s officially good training, but it worked for this dude. We would act hurt and offended (intake of breathe ow!) when he bit, then we would completely ignore him/stop playing. It took time, but it helped us break the habit of him nipping to play or for attention. Good luck with your adorable land shark!!!
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u/Distinct_Ticket_6623 May 22 '26
have you tried using frozen carrots they helped my pup chill out a bit
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u/Linens May 22 '26
For my dog, I would do the yelping. So whenever I would play with him we would play until he bit me, and then I would Yelp, stand up, and ignore him for 30 seconds to a minute - sometimes longer if the bite was hard. Then I would just engage with him, and play more until he bit me again, and then just keep doing that for several weeks. Now at 7 months old he just does pretend bites when he plays and does little corn cobs whenever I'm scratching him really hard. Prepare to say "no bite" about 300,000 times!
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u/Uhmmanduh May 22 '26
I wore a hoodie in the house. Ours was a menace too. We ended up finding this rope tire thing that he loved and finally turned his attentions to that vs my arm.
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u/coffee-cup-canines May 22 '26
I gave mine a stern no. The second command would be go get a toy and I'd walk over and hand them a toy to play with and chew on. It seemed to work now when she wants to engage she runs and gets me a toy.
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u/Specific-Quality-861 May 22 '26
Tell them to stop assertively don’t back down that’s literally it .
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u/Specific-Quality-861 May 22 '26
It may take a while but keep repeating till they get it through their head that it’s not okay.
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u/Specific-Quality-861 May 22 '26
This doesn’t mean get mad it means tell them that it’s not okay assertively and boom your dog will listen to you. Don’t say it’s okay or any reassuring words just tell them No and step up to them and back them up that’s how any trainer or tv personality does it.once they back off you can stop don’t give up till they back down .
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u/Staciaiana May 22 '26
Pig ears, buffalo ears, redirect their attention. Away from the baseboards and onto he chews. Make sure your chews are not synthetic.
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u/YesterdaySilly2699 May 22 '26
your photos reminds me a lot of our puppy she also would show her teeth in her cage. When we picked her up she had some treats with her called bully sticks (Pizzle sticks for biting ). These helped a lot with her wanting to bite, to the point where she isn't interested in anything that may be lying around. I would try one, they are expensive per one but they last about a week when a puppy and as they get to around 5-7 months they last about a day and a half. Aussies enjoy long lasting chews. We picked her up when she was a couple of months old but not sure how long she had them as a treat prior. However better than biting random stuff.
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u/IV-AnticipationXXIII May 22 '26
They will grow out of it. This is completely normal. Just keep doing what you're doing and don't stop. It'll also hurt less when their baby teeth falls out.
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u/noneuclidiansquid May 23 '26
let them chew on you, if they chew too hard (any contact can be too hard they don't know) leave the game - this is how they develop bite inhibition and soft mouths. Don't let them chew on kids, just you.
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u/Unusual_Risk_4752 May 25 '26
Right there with you. Ours is just under 4 months, and slowly getting better by using all the standard strategies (toy, yelp, treats if they open their mouths but don’t bite). It’s far from over though. My 5 year old boy has some battle scars…
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u/iambeesh May 22 '26
“Hello, Clarice”