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How to stop my puppy from biting for attention when timeouts fail?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | German Shepherd | Female | unspayed | 6 months and 23 days old | 19.842 lbs

My puppy is an attention seeker. Well, she bites us just because when she does so, she gets our attention. Time outs are not working. Help! The picture is her going for my brother's hand

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1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Sara Farmer, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on April 14th, 2018

It’s important to not accidentally reward attention seeking behavior by giving attention. If Sweety is trying to bite, give her a toy or something to chew on. You can then praise her for chewing on the correct thing. If she’s being persistent you should then remove yourself or her from the room. It may seem like it’s not working for awhile but in time she’ll learn that biting doesn’t get attention.

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