Help!! We picked up Sammy on Saturday. How can I curb his biting us and especially my grandchildren. Any advice his very much appreciated.
Re: Sammy biting I'm afraid those big gentle dogs we all so admired, those dogs that we were told were the best dogs for children, are horrible biters for several months. You will see from posts that it is a problem that we all seem to suffer from (and suffer we do). Nothing seems to stop them, I certainly tried EVERYTHING, nothing worked and she just grew out of it at around 4 -5 months. It was a happy day when I realised I'd actually stroked her without paying for it. She is gentle now.
Re: Sammy biting Have you tried yelping, standing up and turning your back on him? Or give him a toy he can chew?? There are several articles on the main site about biting that would be worth looking at. I was lucky, Harley bit for a few weeks, but I was consistent with withdrawing from play and she stopped. She is very gentle now Let us know how you get on
Re: Sammy biting They are not pups at this age - they are crocodiles! Whenever possible push a toy or chew in his mouth when he's biting. (I say push, I mean gently, but you have to kind of insist as he'd much rather bite people! but they soon get the idea) If he's having a 'crazy time' and doesn't respond to anything, then put him in his crate or pen with a kong or a chew (not as punishment but because he's more than likely tired - they go crazzzzy bitey when tired) You need to be very consistent and not let him bite sometimes and not others or some people and not others. I would keep him away from your grandchildren until you can confidently deal with his nipping. Of course, he needs to learn to be around kids - but in the very early days he needs to learn from you. Gypsy is only 14 weeks and she is now great with kids - closely supervised - but was hopeless at 10 weeks.
Re: Sammy biting One of ours, Barney, did this and the other, Jack, rarely did, we've nicknamed him bitey Barney lol. We did the 'yelping' when he bit and then the ignoring, which he hated and it didn't take too long for him to get the message. He likes to 'mouth' still, but is very gentle and it tends to be when he's falling asleep, like he's suckling. He also sucks his tongue when he's asleep! We distracted him with a rope toy, and also do that when they fight each other, and this has helped reduce the squeals and yelps too. We noticed it was worse if we pointed at him, lime when saying no, he would snap again, so we stopped that in favour if the removal from play and turning our backs on him. He still has odd moments, but they are few and far between now, and have been for a few weeks now, he is only 15 weeks now so i think he has done well really. Lou x
