PLEASE help

[my_boy_red]

Hi, my friend has a little mixed breed puppy, who is 3 months old. He bites. Not a puppy bite, but like MAD bites - what should she do?

[Alysser]

Well, do people look him straight in the eyes? Did he have a bad past?Does he have behavorial problems? Check all thses answers before you do anything.

[my_boy_red]

Oh I forgot to menchion he only bites when people hold him, but he never has before. Do people look him straight in the eyes? In fact, I think they do. Did he have a bad past? No he has had a really good past, and he is spolied to death, possibly that is the reason? Maybe he thinks he is the boss. Does he have behavorial problems? Not that I know of just the regular playful puppy, except he bites and sometimes has accidents.

[Alysser]

Well, a dog can be spoiled but they shouldn't be extremely spoiled were they think they are the boss. Try to keep picking him up and when he doesn't bite give him a treat. When he does say OUCH really loud or give him some other punishment. NOT hitting hard. Maybe a small smack. Very lightly. NOT hard at all.

[LuckiLab03]

This is the exact same problem we had with Riley at 8 weeks old. I would suggest 1) letting them know they are not the boss (don't put them on furniture especially) and 2) seperate the dog from people immediatley.. that worked with Riley. She loved people but she also liked to attack them. Putting her in her cage and going to another room helped a lot... make it like a time-out. We tried bopping her on the nose whenever she bit but that just gave her attention and reinforced her to do it.

[tz1]

well for my dog zero, whenever he starts to bite i put the prong collar on him. whenever he bites I look him in the eyes, and tell him "NO BITE" really loud, and pull the prong collar. I mean this is an 80 pound akita puppie who has very sharp teeth. it hurts like hell

then he stops RIGHT away...until my parents spoil him the whole week again and I have to train him again :p

[Dot]

Try wearing a glove, like a leather work glove, when you handle her. Then if she bites and gets no reaction, she may stop.

Otherwise, when she bites and you jerk your hand away, that is exactly the reaction she wants.

[anna_66]

My advice would be to get the puppy started in some basic obedienc training right away.
Also look up "puppy biting" on the web, there are all kinds of different links with lots of great advice.

[lv4dogs]

My advice would be to get the puppy started in some basic obedienc training right away.

I couldn't agree more!