help with puppy constantly biting three year old

ameee

hi I started a thread a couple weeks ago about our puppy biting all the time,I have since been doing the yelp and that has stopped him ninety percent of the time with everyone except my daughter. He is only allowed around the children when im in the room to supervise but that makes no difference I literally have to sit between them or he keeps biting at her sometimes very soft bites but he has left marks on her a number of times.I think its because she usually sits on the floor to play with her toy but he has her tormented.He doesnt just bite at her he jumps up the whole time to get at her head and face and its really distressing.She thankfully isnt scared or put off him yet but there have been tears and the poor dog is finding himself put outside more and more because of this. Ive given him lots of chew toys,I tell him off each time,put him outside,I get her to give him his food and hold the lead (with my help) to try establish she is a higher member of the pack then him but I really am at my wits end.He does much the same with my son but he just stays off the floor now and only play with the dog from a distance throwing a ball and such.any advice would be really appreciated oh and I really cant afford dog classes after paying for all his needles and im putting money away to have him neutered at six months thanks

barbiegirl

He is only playing but you need to establish the house rules. I don';t believe in packs but do believe in rules.

Could I suggest time outs, as in if he misbehaves you give a warning, like "enough", then if he doesn't stop you give him a time out with a phrase like "That's it". A time out entails having his training leash on, then putting him one side of a door, threading the leash through the door and shutting the door for 30 seconds. This means the puppy can't play, can't see anything, but is safe. Anymore that 30 seconds he'll forget what he was being punished for. It works remarkably well and just needs practice. Soon he'll recognise that "enough" means stop what he's doing or he'll get his time out.

Plus of course lots and lots of rewards for when he behaves and is being gentle. Lots of good boys etc. Best of luck and put us up some piccies.

ameee

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right not sure if there are pics attached to this Im not great at these things Ill definatly try that just telling him hasnt done it and as he is in the house most of the day he doesnt mind when I put him outside so leaving him unable to play for thirty seconds might make him get the idea.The pics if Ive uploaded them right are from a month ago he is bigger now ill try get a newer one of him but he is never still long enough

barbiegirl

He's gorgeous Remember consistency is the key. He'll get it quick enough

Vince32

I had the same problem with my sibe at the beginning, but I found a nice way to teach the correct "bite force" for play activity.

What I did was play with her until she started mouthing my hand, and as soon as the bite was hard enough to hurt, I yelped like I was in pain, stood up, crossed my arms, turned my back to her, and looked up and away (like it was going to rain).

Effectively this teaches the dog that when s/he bites too hard, the game it over and all the fun stops. After about 25-40 seconds I started playing with her again, basically rinse and repeat.

After 3-4 days of this, she would only hold my hand in her mouth with no bite at all, and still to this day she has only marked me by accident.

It sounds like your doing everything right, but remember there has to be a consequence to biting the child, even if it's only playing, barbiegirl is right, give the dog a time out every time he does it, for example, keep the lead on him when he is playing with the child and when he bites, walk him out of the room and leave him somewhere alone for a couple of minutes. He will soon learn what's aloud and what's not.

But in the puppy stages, you need to have hard and fast rules, so don't despair keep laying down the discipline and things will work out.

or if the method doesn't work, you can look up some free info on youtube, a chap by the name of Zak George, is really good with dogs, and he should have something on biting in his video diary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEMVupXlpck

I think this chap is a genius, but it's only my opinion, have a look and see what you think

Cherry Blossom

ameee wrote: »

I get her to give him his food and hold the lead (with my help) to try establish she is a higher member of the pack then him but I really am at my wits end.

You are never going to convince a dog that a child is their superior, because frankly they are not. A puppy will recognise an adult human as an adult but kids don't act or think like adults and don't have the same demeanour. Something I did with my terrier was to get right down on the floor, put my head on the floor and teach her that when people are on the floor you leave them alone. You'll need a helper to distract/reward/control and correct the pup while you look like an idiot with your head on the floor . Once the pup 'gets it' with you, they will understand much quicker when you start applying the same rules and boundaries with the kids, it will still take a long time to get to where you want to be but it will work eventually. My nephew had just turned 1yr old when I got my terrier so was pretty much a full time floor-dweller at that stage.

I'm doing it all over again now with my new pup but haven't got any further down than on my knees yet because he's trying to pull my hair and and nip me in the neck so that's far enough until he gets this part first.

This will also let you experience things from your kids point of view and give you a better insight into what's happening and what needs to be done.

ameee

thanks for the replys Ive been doing a combination of putting him out of the room with his lead on so he cant play and doing a bit of crawling around and telling him off if he goes near my face and he does seem to be learning slowly but surely thanks again