puppy biting, normal?

Congratulations you have a normal puppy J Yep, growling at his toys is a normal behavior, I guess it helps relieve lots of energy and I honestly think they enjoy hearing how ‘tough#%92 they sound. As long as he doesn#%92t growl at people or as long as he doesn#%92t growl when someone tries to take his toys away its fine.
 
As for the biting, he is a Border Collie mix right? He very well could be displaying the herding behavior. I went through that with Lizzie when she thought we had all turned into sheep…lol
 
I told her NO in a firm voice then ignored her. Sometimes I still have to give her a correction with my son, but she has learned not to herd me or DH 100%. Now she will just walk right next to me with no biting. She still tries to herd my son 5% of the time but that#%92s normal.
 
Some people also recommend saying Ow! In a yelping sort of way, much like a littermate would do if the pup got too rough, then ignoring him. Either works fine but with Lizzie the ‘no#%92 worked wonders. Good luck with your puppy, hes adorable!

Yep, your right... the good ol' puppy days and wierd things they do. usually around that age your pup may be experiencing losing teeth (if i remember right... i havn't had a pup in awhile) but make sure to give it plenty of things to chew on (rather than your arm) and when he tries to bite, tell him No! and make sure to give him a one of his toys to chew on instead. it will start a good habit!

-and have fun with those little puppy moments, he is very cute!!!!

The word NO all by itself doesn't mean spit to a dog.  NO does not tell a dog what you WANT him to do.  Typical scenerio in my house when I have a litter of pups.....pup chews on me...."eh eh, no bite" (said gently and matter of factly) give him an appropriate toy and say "here, THIS is for biting" then praise when he does.
 
I'll share this story yet again.  As I watched 50 foot of drag line wrap its way around my ankle and start biting into the flesh I hollered NOOOOO....which is the word that always manages to fall out of my mouth in an emergency situation.  Three dogs, in hot pursuit of a freshly thrown ball immediately froze.  Had they not, whoever was on the other end of MY line, may just have taken my foot off at the ankle.  As it was, it was a very serious injury...would have been so much worse had my dogs been so over-exposed to the word no that it had lost its impact.

isn't it weird-- people realize they have to teach dogs what the words sit and come mean, yet they just assume dogs magically understand the word No? most people go around saying it so often the dog quickly learns to simply ignore it.
 
Best way to stop herding behavior is to freeze and stare off into space. Nothing more boring than trying to chase someone who isn't moving. You never see pups trying to herd furniture, do you?

That is true, it must be taught because "NO" isn't an instint for a dog to suddenly stop what it is doing. But i think it's the way it is said, the authority and loudness of the word kind of scares the puppy. Like in the wild, a mother wolf with bark loudly and literally disipline her pups the same thing is with "NO!". it's loud and it's saying something.

I honestly think that ignoring it isn't going to help the situation. the pup needs to know "no" and i sure wouldn't be ignoring some little pup chewing my finger off! it's a matter of displine half of what it is to just want him to stop.

I firmly believe that my left foot would be GONE had I overused the word NO with my crew.  No is always the word that comes out of my mouth in an emergency situation.  Always has been, likely always will be.  When that rope was biting into my flesh, I sure didn't THINK about what I was gonna say!
 
Again, NO might get their attention but it DOES NOT TELL THEM WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO DO.  And yes, in a herding situation, ignoring is exactly what works.  When we moved Shadow turned into a little butthead.  Barking, herding, jumping on me.  And the ONLY thing that works when he is trying to herd me is to refuse to be herded.  He's 80 lbs and strong as an ox, so muscling my way out of it wasn't gonna work.  FREEZING and ignoring did work.  Not a heck of a lot of fun when he'd decide to JUMP as well but that's when I'd turn my back on him.

thanks for the info...hopefully he will get better