Young pups often want to play with you and they can be very "mouthy" and bite your hands. In my opinion, the better the dog, the more he will be biting you because the more he will want to do something, have more drive and play with you. You should be very happy for it actually :)
I think it is important to understand that they don't have hands like us humans and they use their mouth to interact with us and express themselves. People often perceive it as something bad and even aggressive (even tho the pup is only 8 weeks old). IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH AGGRESSION nor future biting you really. They just want to play and that is how they know to do it. This biting will stop after they stop teething and if not then it is very easy to stop it later on. I very very seldom come across dogs that have so much self-confidence that they would be willing to bite me after they are maybe 6 months old. (a handful of times in my life and I have worked many titled Schutzhund and IPO dogs) On the contrary, most pet dogs that I work with have low self-esteem, even tho their owners think how macho their dogs are. Usually, it takes one bad look or one time to raise my voice (the right way, not a squeeky mad shriek) to make them stop.
I think it is important to understand that they don't have hands like us humans and they use their mouth to interact with us and express themselves. People often perceive it as something bad and even aggressive (even tho the pup is only 8 weeks old). IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH AGGRESSION nor future biting you really. They just want to play and that is how they know to do it. This biting will stop after they stop teething and if not then it is very easy to stop it later on. I very very seldom come across dogs that have so much self-confidence that they would be willing to bite me after they are maybe 6 months old. (a handful of times in my life and I have worked many titled Schutzhund and IPO dogs) On the contrary, most pet dogs that I work with have low self-esteem, even tho their owners think how macho their dogs are. Usually, it takes one bad look or one time to raise my voice (the right way, not a squeeky mad shriek) to make them stop.
What I would recommend is for you to just play with your pup and let him bite you as much as he wants to, put some work gloves on if you have sensitive hands for the few weeks even when you play together. That is if you want to raise a nice self-confident working dog or a pet really. You can also try to redirect this play biting to your Training Toy. I take advantage of this stage and use this play biting to build confidence and teach the pup to bite his Training Tug properly. Yes, there is a way to bite properly :) With a nice full bite without chewing, but that's not for this article. This will come very handy later on when you teach the Hold and Retrieve! And this is the proper way to teach the basics for teaching that. Not to destroy this natural drive to bite and hold and then try to teach it again forcefully using what is called "training tables" and other inventions. But to each their own. Not because I am softie, but because it's just not smart. Just think about it, later on, you will want your dog to use his mouth to bring you your birds or the ball, or the beer from the fridge etc and hold it nice and proud like. Get it?
Basically, your puppy is offering you a very handy way to constructively interact together and mould his temperament and selfesteem in the way you need to. The same goes for a tug of war. Play together and you be the judge of who wins when. I generally would let almost all pups and all GSPs win about 80% of the time. So take what he gives you and shape it to what you need it to be. For any of the police oriented dog sports this ideology is a complete must.
Basically, your puppy is offering you a very handy way to constructively interact together and mould his temperament and selfesteem in the way you need to. The same goes for a tug of war. Play together and you be the judge of who wins when. I generally would let almost all pups and all GSPs win about 80% of the time. So take what he gives you and shape it to what you need it to be. For any of the police oriented dog sports this ideology is a complete must.
BTW I know what you will find all over the internet. You must stop your puppy biting right away! Well, the internet is full of expert advice ;)
Generally the dogs that get into fights later are the ones that are scared because they have never been played with this way. Rough housing for fun with some system to it and learning to stop when they are told. Just like ALL the animals would do in the wild ;)
Generally the dogs that get into fights later are the ones that are scared because they have never been played with this way. Rough housing for fun with some system to it and learning to stop when they are told. Just like ALL the animals would do in the wild ;)