Recently I got a chocolate labrador as a birthday present. Her name's Dizzy. She was 6 weeks old when she became part of my family, and i've had very few problems with her. She's friendly, sociable, house training is going well.
It's the chewing i'm worried about.
She has the little sharp puppy teeth, like little needles. And people seem to be her favorite chew toy. I go to pet her, and she thinks it's playtime. And starts trying to bite and chew on my hand or arm. She will also randomly come up and try to chew on my feet, or on my pant hems. And it really hurts, she's drawn blood more than once. I know she's treating me like another puppy, and doesn't realise I lack the thick skin.
I've tried a lot of things, like gently taking her muzzle and directing her away from me, and giving her a toy to chew instead, then praising her when she keeps her attention on the toy. But she usually turns her attention and goes back to chewing on me within a minute or so.
I've tried saying no firmly when she bites, then re-offering my hand and telling her to 'be nice', then praising her if she licks instead of biting, or lets me pet her. It works about 10% of the time.
What worries me is she did it to my eight year old neice, who's a lot smaller and easier to grab, Dizzy latched onto her upper arm and started pulling like she was a tug toy, and it left some bad welts. Dizzy was reprimanded, not severely as severe punishment I know is just going to make a puppy frightened. I told her no, sharply, made her let go, then took her away from my neice.
But she's getting bigger by the day.. almost 10 weeks old now and over doubled in size, am I doing anything wrong? Is it too early for her to comprehend she shouldn't be chewing on people? Or do I need to use another method?
Advice is much appreciated, thanks in advance!
