Chaos
Your puppy won't stop biting
It feels relentless. Your hands are shredded. You're wondering if something is wrong.
The moment
It's 4 PM. Your puppy has been awake for an hour and a half and they've been biting everything. Your hands, the kids' sleeves, the couch cushions. You've tried redirecting, you've tried saying no, you've tried walking away. Nothing is working and you're starting to lose it.
What's actually happening
This almost certainly isn't aggression. It's arousal plus development plus, most likely, overtiredness. Puppies explore the world with their mouths. When they're overstimulated or past their wake window, the biting escalates because they've lost the ability to regulate. They're not choosing to be difficult. Their system is overwhelmed and biting is the only output they have left. Check the clock. If they've been awake longer than their wake window allows, that's your answer. The behaviour isn't the problem. The schedule is.
What we do
Check the clock first. If Marlowe has been awake more than 60-75 minutes, the biting is almost always overtiredness. The fix is a nap, not a correction.
If she's within her wake window, we redirect to a frozen lick mat or a chew. Something that engages her mouth in a calmer way.
If redirecting doesn't work, we calmly pick her up and put her in the crate with a kong. Not as punishment. As a reset. The environment was too much.
We never match her energy. If she's escalating, we get quieter and slower. Yelling or fast movements make arousal worse.
After the nap, we start fresh. No grudges. Puppies don't carry resentment and neither should we.