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Puppy biting

19 15:02:34

Question
I have a 3 3/4 month old Beagle.  We have had him for 9 days.  He was at a kennel and spent his days and nights in a cage.  The problem is Max, the puppy, has started biting us instead of his toys.  His sharp teeth hurt and we have tried telling him no and giving him a toy.  He will play with it for a few minutes and then he goes right back to biting us.  He also tries to bite our other dog, a rat terrier, and she is not happy.  She is somewhere between 12-14 years old.  We got her when she was around 5.   How do we get him to stop?  He also has a fascination with paper and tries to tear apart and eat any paper he can find.

Answer
AWWWW, puppy teeth. You are right to tell him "No bite". If he hasn't learned yet he will learn what "no" means and "bite" means. You many also want to try making your hands less appealing. Try rubbing your hands with lemons before playing with him. Of course, he could be like one of my beagles and love lemons. You may also try bitter spray that you can get from the pet store. Also, this may sound weird but it worked great with one of my beagles. Do what his siblings would do. When he bites tell him "no bite". If he does it again yank your hand away and yelp loud (the yelp would startled my pup). Then, turn your back to him and stop playing for a minute. Do this a few times and he will learn if he bites your hand and not the toy he will lose his playmate. After a short period of that whenever I told my beagle pup "no bite" he would lick my hand and get his toy. Always substitute a toy for your hand.
If he is pestering your other dog tell him to "leave her alone". If you are able you may consider spraying him with a squirt bottle or squirt gun whenever your rat terrier growls at him. That's if you can be sure to miss your rat terrier.
As for the paper, the best thing is to keep paper out of his reach. When he starts to mature I bet paper will not have the same fascination with him. If you can't keep it away from him you may consider spraying it with bitter spray from the pet store.
Good luck with your new beagle. They are truly great pets.
Best of luck,
Ken