Puppy question

I think he knows I'm not happy with him, he's quite subdued right now!

 

By pure chance this came up in conversation with my son this evening. He'd had the same problems with his dog Riley. They filled a plant mist bottle with cold water and sprayed that on him when he started biting which he didn't like. My son said if the dog thinks it's a game add diluted vinegar to it, they don't like that. He says Riley doesn't do it very often now and responds just to being shown the bottle without being sprayed.

 

This reminds me of an article in the papers some years ago, chap had a dog which wouldn't stop biting his hands, he loved the dog, didn't want to part with it but couldn't stop the biting so he decided to reprimand the dog in a way that the dog would understand. next time his dog bit him he grabbed the dogs ear in his mouth and bit the dog back!!!! Dog never bit him again!!!! The reason it was in the paper was because someone he told about it reported him for cruelty to animals. The chap said he wasn't sorry and would do the same again, it had worked a treat!!

Val

 

The water spray sounds good I've heard the biting back thing somewhere before, it's a bit like doing something back when a baby/toddler hurts mum

 

Just to say, it would probably be best not to try this on a cat!!!

Val

 

Haha, not the biting! Although I have used water to break up a cat fight before (not my cat)

 

Hi Ellen...you could always try the high pitched 'A' then completely ignore him and say nothing more turn your back on him if you have to...he'll soon get bored when he doesn't get a reaction...i had an awful problem with my two jumping up at me...just did the 'A' thing and turned away from them,they'd then come round the other side of me and start again so i just kept repeating the process...it took many times...the hard part is getting the rest of the family members and friends to do the same which can be difficult....but they don't jump up at me anymore

 

We do "oi" for when he goes for slippers etc and he's started responding to that.
He went to bite yesterday morning (still playful I might add!), I flipped him onto his back and said "no" loudly, he looked pretty surprised but calmed down after that!

 

You have to have a designated voice for "NO" and mean it, when they do stop doing whatever, good boy, or girl, quick pat, no other reward, and turn your back, or they will then start to think,"If I do that I will get a reward"

 

He'll certainly do anything for sausage

 

Note to self; despite advice from sister-in-law's mum ("it's great for their coats!"), don't give Reggie tea again... 6 accidents and counting!!

 

do people give dogs tea? i'd be a bit reluctant what with him being so small...there is caffeine in tea after all. that said im a bit of a worrier (well....understatement of the century right there )

i think we've been lucky in that none of our dogs were particularly "mouthy" as pups but when they did bite down hard or were a bit rough with the ol' gnashers we would immediately make an "ouch" sound (dramatically, like we'd just been mortally wounded) & tell him he was a "bold boy" whilst ooing over our hurt hand, pup usually got the message & would be all squirmy & apologetic. but of course all dogs are different & what works for one may not work for another...if he were my pup i would be inclined to do as i always do but would follow it up with a light little smack on the bum just to get the message across that you are serious & it's not a game....its what his mum would do after all, he wasn't taken away from his mum earlier than usual by any chance was he? pups who are often display very poor bite inhibition.

 

It was decaff, but he ended up being quite subdued for a couple of hours later in the afternoon. It was a welcome change from boisterous-Reggie but it wasn't right.

We had him at 8 weeks so he was old enough, and when we first saw him at 6 weeks mum was starting to have had enough by the looks of things he's just trying to asset himself I think!

 

Reggie passed his Puppy Foundation course this evening!

 

Well done Reggie!

How are things going now Ellen. Has his tummy settled? Any success with the biting problem?