She is an English lab almost 1-year-old. She is from a breeder. From the day we got her she bit. She went to training and we did all they told us about holding her mouth closed. We tried it all! I am sick of it. I cannot pet her. She bites me. She also lunges at me and bites if I won't play. She just tackled the 3-year-old and he is marked up wit hard bite marks and scratched face. I am tried of this! Help!!!!! All she does is bite! We have the pinch collar and giving her a correction with that has not helped either. And we have done lots of training with her at a dog school. She has toys. I give her bones just to help her chew something but I heard those are not healthy. She also bites up all the stuff we have but that is not skin, at least.
Sorry to hear you're having these troubles with your girl. You are not alone, many of us on this Forum have had similar issues including myself with Cassie who is now two. I'm not sure what a pinch collar is but it doesn't sound very nice, and is unlikely to help. Nor is keeping her mouth shut, at 1 yr old I should imagine it's pretty much impossible anyway. It sounds to me that you would benefit from the services of a good behaviourist who uses positive reinforcement to work with. You might find it helpful to read my experiences in the training log section "cassie stop mugging me". Do you do any training with her that involves using her brain? Simple things like hiding little bits of food for her to hunt out, when in the garden or on walks? They love that. And learning to play tug, if you have the rule that it stops if there teeth touches your skin it helps them learn that's not ok. I don't think there's is just one answer to the issue, it my experience it requires time and consistent input to build up the behavior that we want instead. But it can be done and is so worthwhile. I hope this helps a bit.
It's what we call call a prong collar - so a metal chain like a choke collar but with prongs which tighten into the neck.
My lab was horrendously bitey. At 11 months, when it seemed every other puppy had grown out of it, he was still biting; however I would not have used a prong (pinch) collar, or tried to hold his mouth shut. I did get a good positive behaviour trainer in at this time, the main thing from this was ignoring him when he was biting - usually I had to remove myself from the room. I also used a long line on him indoors so that I could get control if I wasn't able to leave the room. Admittedly I don't have any children at home, but I would suggest keeping her and the three year old apart. Do you use a crate for her, or baby gates? I found both of these very useful. @selina27 has given some very useful advice.
It sounds very tough for you at the moment but you've been given bad advice by the trainer. Holding a dog's mouth shut would be very distressing for them and they would try to wriggle away making them more hyper and wayward. And a prong collar is a way of hurting the dog for hurting you, but, as you're finding out, it doesn't work and again, will only make the dog distressed. When my pup went through the crocopup phase it was really unpleasant and stressful and she focused a lot on my son, I think dogs have a bit of an attraction for kids, so if you can keep your pup and 3 year old apart that would be ideal. My son and I always had lots of chew toys in our hands which we exchanged for our hands, arms and clothes. We also gave her time out when it got too crazy, putting her behind the baby gate in the kitchen for a minute or two. If she carried on biting when we brought her back to us, she had time out again until she calmed. She also had, and still has, a box of toys which she can play with and chew and pull apart. But it would probably be a good idea to get some help, as already advised, from someone with a positive, force free ethos. Doing short training sessions and brain games are both really good ideas too as labs are intelligent dogs and need stimulation and to use their brains. This could really help to calm your dog. I hope you get this resolved as it sounds as if you're at the end of your tether which isn't good for any of you. Good luck.
My Meg was like this at this time..it took training and exercise to get through it. My twins were 6 at the time, I kept them apart until she settled at just over a year
First off you need to be consistent. Everyone in the family has to train the same way. For me I use "no bite" and I offer a toy or chew bone that they can chew on. I do this every time they bite me. Yes it is a slow process but it works. Also it was mentioned earlier to do mental training. What kind of exercise do you do with the dog? She could be biting cause she is frustrated too if she isn't get enough metal stimulation. 2 to 3 times a day you should work her make her do sits and downs teach her a trick. play find it games.
