Have you ever wanted to train a dog not to bite? Whether you have a puppy or adult dog it is important to teach your dog that biting is not allowed. Every year there are over 800,000 dog bites in the United States, alone, that require hospitalization.
It is estimated that the actual number of serious bites, though, is between four and five million. This is an epidemic that has a definite solution. Here are some tips for how to train a dog not to bite:
Make sure dogs are supervised around children. Dogs are animals and regardless of how well trained they are they can act inappropriately and bite. A responsible dog owner will not leave their dog alone with children regardless of how good the dog has been with kids in the past.
Make sure to obedience train your dog. Nearly 100% of biting dogs are dogs that don’t have respect for proper structure and obedience. An obedient dog is far less likely to bite because an obedient dog understands and respects dominance and hierarchy.
Do a lot of leash training. When you train a puppy or dog not to bite it is a good idea to use a leash so that you can give a quick correction if your dog tries to bite.
Be consistent in backing up any commands that you want to teach your dog. Too many dog owners quickly teach their dogs how optional their commands are by rarely backing up any commands. If you teach your dog that obedience training is optional then your dog will have less respect.
Above all it is important to use common sense when you train a dog not to bite. Don’t ever allow your dog to be in a position where it is impossible for him to have success.
We got a question from our free dog training formula. He’s a poodle shitzu mix, he’s adorable and friendly with everyone except my thirteen year old son. At times Pugsly will be nice to him and let him pick him up and other times he will bite him or short teeth for just being. We’re at the point of finding another family for him. The family is really upset and not sure what to do. He also will bite you at night if you try to move him in bed. We need help. From the family of a grumpy Pugsly.
And so what you’ve got here is a couple of issues. First what you have is respect issue. Respect and leadership. Now, the first thing you need to examine is, is your son being appropriate with the dog. Sometimes there are issues and I have no clues. Sometimes they’re not terribly appropriate with the dog and can be antagonizing or mean or something like that. So, make sure your son obviously is respectful of the dog. But what you’ve got here is you’ve got, like I said, leadership issue.
And when you go out and achieve dominance with the dog, or be the alpha or some other stuff like that, the reality is most everything you’re going to read are wrong. You have to flip the dog on their back and hold them there and you have to growl at them and bite their ear and bite their neck. I’ve heard all of these things and I’ve seen them all online. The reality is they are all wrong. None of that stuff really works because, guess what, your dog doesn’t think you’re a big threat. And if you start growling at him, like a lot of dog trainers are going to tell you to do, your dog is going to be like, “What’s that? Why are you growling at me?” That doesn’t mean anything to him. Or if you bite, they’re going to be like, “Dude, stop biting me like that.”
And so, I say this just to kind of juxtapose it with the real solution. Because like I said, you may have already been out there online looking for different solutions to this problem. And the reality is it all comes back to obedience. And so that’s what I need to ask you. Does your dog come when called every time? Does he stay when told when he’s asked to stay for however long he’s supposed to stay with whatever distractions are around? Does he walk perfectly on leash?
Because if your dog comes when called no matter what, if he stays when he’s told no matter what, if he walks perfectly on leash, he’s putting your will. First of all, he’s looking to his leader, it just makes sense. And so, the more he looks to his leader the less it makes sense to be concerned. But I will be 99% certain even without talking with you that he’s also not respectful to you. It may seem like he might be respectful because he’s not doing a lot of things wrong, to you. That’s a question you want to ask yourself.
And so, your 13 year old most likely is not capable of achieving that really great level of obedience. I’m guessing, and I was super motivated and it still took me a while to learn how to do it. And so, I am guessing a 13 year old is not going to get it done. So, what’s going to need to happen is it’s going to have to come from you. Communicate to the dog what’s okay and what’s not and to do that training and then your 13 year old can probably piggy back up off that effort. But it’s going to be your job to get this dog completely trained so that your son can start calling him and have him come. So your son can start doing a little bit of leash walking and have him walk properly. So, you son can get him to stay when told, because when he start to see your son in that light, now that’s going to make a big difference and your son is going to have a lot more success in being an authority figure to that dog. So, time for you to get to work.
HI
everytime i want to bring my dog out for a walk, he jumps on me and starts biting me or my shirt. when i tell him to sit he will for two or three seconds and starts jumping on me again. how can i stop this??
please advise
The question you need to ask yourself is what are you doing to correct the problem? Have you tried a leash correction seeing as he is already on leash?
I have a 6 month old male bull terrier and he puts his mouth on all of my families limbs but doesn’t do it hard . We scold him but he still does it . It doesn’t hurt us but I don’t want him to get used to human limbs as a chew toy . Does my dog being a pit bull have anything to do with his habit ? Thanks for reading
The thing to realize is, scolding isn’t training. What are you doing to CORRECT the problem other than yelling at him when he puts his mouth on you? Dogs of all breeds, pit bulls, labradors, golden retrievers, and all the rest nip and bite when they are young. It’s not a breed thing, it’s a dog thing. You should be correcting it, though, so you don’t have to deal with it.
I have a 2 1/2 year old rescue dog. I have had her for over a year now and she has started biting people who come to my house- even people she’s met before. She never showed any signs of aggression before this. Is there a way to train her out of this?
Yes, it is something you can fix. The first thing you need to ask yourself is, what has changed? Behavior doesn’t typically change without some sort of catalyst. You also need to be asking yourself what level of obedience, structure, and control do you have with your dog?
Hi, we have arrived at making a very difficult decision to have our beloved 4 yr old akita/black Labrador put down. Over the past 3 yrs Sadie has bitten/napped at a total of 5 people. The last biting occurred Sunday Sept 16. She has not bitten children but she has bitten 2 female senior citizens, 1 male senior citizen and 2 middle aged men. She was muzzled when she jumped and possibly tried to bite a woman in the face. (I say possibly) because she did not growl or bark or seem at all aggressive. She has received blue ribbons for obedience at our local county fair. She has been part of a 4H obedience training for over 1 year. We meet most Monday’s for about 2-2 1/2 hrs. She loves cats and most other dogs. 2 out of 3 (no kill) animal shelters have told us that the responsible thing to do is to put her down. Please help. Monika
I’d love to help if I could but I’m not sure what help you need? It already sounds like you’ve made your decision to put the dog down.
What kind of an answer is this?????? Never give up on someone who wants to put there dog down.
You just gave the dog his death sentence. Shame on you and them.
My response was based on the conflicting parts of the question. The person said they were going to put the dog down. Then they asked for advice. I needed clarification before giving any response as I needed to understand how committed they were to a solution. The answer to that question would guide how I would respond.
Hi
We have 2-6 year old, neutered standard Poodles (Remington & Winchester), they are litter mates. Remington (10 lb larger dog) is more timid, loves attention, and makes up with people easily. Winchester is just the opposite. They have experienced everything together and neither one has been favored over the other. They have 1/2 an acre in the front yard and 1/2 an acre in the back yard that is invisibly fenced where they romp and play, and neither one seems dominant in their chasing and wrestling. Winchester has nipped half a dozen people, the latest being this afternoon when the mail carrier drove his postal jeep up the driveway into their 1/2 acre in the front yard, and Winchester leaped with his head thru the jeep window and grabbed the postman by the bicep. What can I do to make Winchester more like his brother?
With dogs there are a lot of training issues and there are a lot of logistics issues. What I mean by that is sometimes behavior problems need to be trained away and other times you’ve got a logistics issue in how the situation is handled. For example, when we install hidden fences we almost never give access to the front yard to the dog. The reason being is exactly what you are seeing; dogs are territorial and it becomes difficult for mailmen, package guys, service providers, etc to come to the house.
You could approach this from a training issue but it would require an enormous amount of work where you hid watching and waiting for the mailman or other person to come so that you could address the issue. Were it me, I just wouldn’t give access to the front yard with the fence. It’s an easier and more complete solution.
10-17-12 My husband & I adopted, approx 2 months ago, a 10 lb rescue mixed breed dog. He is loving & intelligent however he recently attacked my husband twice & me once.(within 2 weeks) He gives no hint of aggression until he attacks. He loves to be with the both of us & , appears to be content. I walk him 2 or 3 times a day plus he has access to a small secure back yard.. He understands sit & at times “stay, & is very loving most of the time. ,If I return dog to the Rescue group they will euthanize him. I cannot affodr to hire a animal behaviorist . In December 2012 I will be renting an apartment in Florida which does not allow dogs & although my daughter offered to take care of the dog for 3 months I hesitate to burden her with a dog with biting issues (She owns 4 rescue dogs. I was contemplating giving my dog Prozac through a vet. Just don’t know what to do. Any advice?
The problem with ‘doggie prozac’ is that it rarely works. Prozac is designed to help correct chemical imbalances. The issue is, though, that most dogs with aggression don’t have chemical imbalances. They typically have fear, lack of boundaries, lack of training, etc. and that is what is causing the aggression, not a chemical imbalance. (Note, this is not always the case. On a few occasions we’ve had some dogs come through our company that did have chemical imbalances and did need medicine to help ‘right the ship’)
My big thing with aggression is to start at the beginning. Nearly every aggressive dog I’ve ever met needs to understand obedience better, structure better, rules better, etc. Start with shoring up your obedience and you should see some movement on the aggression.
Also, I would encourage you to get other people to watch you handle your dog. It is incredibly rare that there aren’t signs that the dog is about to be aggressive. I’m guessing that you likely aren’t seeing the signs.
I have a 4 month old rott/ cane corso mix that bites at the children. He really doesnt understand any commands and I really need help to get him to stop. If I yell at him then he bites at me.
Do you keep him on a leash and correct when he bites?
Hello I have a beautiful Shepard mix who is 8 years and has always been the friendliest dog. She bit my sisters boss and a few housekpers. My sisters boss was at his house when he was smoking weed and drinking and watching football when the team scored a touchdown he jumped up to high five me and the dog bit him. After that she had a few incidents with housekpers and workers.
Also every time I walk her I always freak out when I see other dogs because she has attacked some dogs in the past. However today I took her hiking off leash and she had zero incident. We have a newborn baby and debating if we should give the dog to an amazing family. I am not heartless to take her to the shelter because I know what happens in the shelter. My question can she be trained? What can the problem be . I want to really keep her if I can. She gets along with all visitors that come to my house , she just hates certain people and she loves the baby and adores my wife. What’s gone wrong with her.
First off, I think you need to be realistic about your dog. You start off by saying she’s friendly and then you go on to list the several people and animals she’s attacked. That’s not exactly friendly.
Second, you need to get working on your obedience and quick. You don’t have control over this dog and you need to gain that through obedience.
Third, you’ve got to do a way better job with supervision and managing the dog. The fact that she’s been allowed to bite so many people shows a breakdown in how she’s being managed, watched, supervised, controlled, etc. when people are around.
hi i have a wolf pupy so every time when i go to home he yaling and when i pet him he bite my hand and he dont responding to my speaks and he do his biting all the time. how to train him as well as possible.
Hi I have a poodle Chihuahua mix puppy and he likes to nip at my face as well as bite my fingers at certain times when I want to pet him…what can I do to correct that?? Also is horse playing with him part of the problem??
Hi. We have a female bull mastiff who is a little over a year old. She is a wonderful dog for the most part, but has a biting problem. She plays extremely rough and play bites very hard. She also jumps on top of you if you are down to her level and bites. We have tried several different things and nothing has worked. Several people have told us that she just needs more exercise but nothing calms her. What can we do?
More exercise is not the answer. More exercise is great for just about any dog but too many people, nowadays thanks to a certain dog trainer on TV, think that exercise is going to solve problems.
Jumping and biting you is indicative of a dog that doesn’t respect you. That is a deeper problem than lack of exercise.
The question I have for you is what have you tried? What corrections have you used?
We have tried several different things. More exercise was the first by giving her more playtime outside. We have tried scolding her and giving her more toys to keep her occupied because we were also told she was just bored. I was told by another mastiff owner to smack her on the nose or punish her by locking her in her cage, but I never tried because I don’t believe that hitting her or locking her up is the answer.
Smacking on the nose isn’t terribly appropriate and locking in the cage doesn’t even work, the dog doesn’t understand it. We typically use a leash and training collar and give a correction when the dog is biting.
I disagree with a good bit of this, but I’ll caveat that with the statement that different things work with different dogs. In my experience, while there may be multiple paths to the same result, the Alpha Dog approach works for me. The trick is being able to pull it off. I’ve found that most women cannot do it, simply because they cannot do a full growl in a loud convincing manner (it does hurt your throat), nor do they typically have the stomach for the rougher treatment often required when dealing with a strong-willed animal (grabbing the animal, picking it up, swinging it around in a manner that convinces it that it is NOT in control, and then putting it on its back and firmly, but not chockingly, holding it around the neck like an Alpha Male would do and growling in its ear until the animal goes limp in submission. This is not about hurting the dog, but establishing the Alpha Leader the way it would be done in the wild. And it does require a bit of force. This approach has worked for me with Doberman and Weimaraner. And this approach is used in conjunction with good leash training and crating.
The big issue here though, is that while the animal may recognize the Alpha Leader and treat him or her with respect, that doesn’t carry over with other family members…particularly children. Children must be taught that waving their hands around, or getting down at the floor level to hug and kiss the animal, only translates into sibling playtime, which in the wild includes nipping and jumping on each other. Children need to be taught to approach the puppy/dog from behind their head…keeping fingers away from the animal’s mouth and presenting large parts of their body only (a wrist, an arm, etc) whenever the animal gets nibbly, along with a strong and vocal “NO!”
And all this takes time. Usually a couple of weeks. Good luck.
I’ve got to agree with your statement as well. I think you are confusing a great deal fear and respect. I want to teach healthy respect and that isn’t achieved with these fear inducing methods you are referring to. Do you get results? I don’t doubt it. They probably aren’t the results I’m looking for, though.
I also disagree that it can’t carry over to other family members. While I do agree that children should be taught proper ways to approach and handle a dog I also have seen that a dog is much more prone to respect a child if he sees that child as a ‘possession’ of the owner who he respects.
I have 2 Yorkies (male 3 yrs, female 2yrs), a Maltese (female – 10yrs) and Spaniel (female – 14yrs). Both Yorkies have a barking “at everything” problem especially at people entering our house, the male also have a biting problem (feet, ankles, legs), he does’nt bite all the people just some of them but it’s really becoming a problem. What can I do about it?
The first thing you need to do is have verbal control over the dogs. You need to be able to tell them to go to their bed or sit and stay while people come through the door. As they do that they aren’t in a position where they can bite.
I have a shitzu/bicheon female. She is a year old and is fixed. For the most part she is a good dog; she comes when called she stays when told to stay and was easy to poddy train. However, everytime she is sitting by me or on my lap and someone walks up to me or close to me she tries to bite them. I’ve tried everything I can think of to get her to stop but nothing is working. Any advice?
A lot of small dogs gain a lot of ‘power’ by being in their owners arms. You mention she knows how to stay, I would take her off your lap, put her 5 feet away and have her stay there while people approach. She needs to learn how to adjust to people coming up on her own and without you holding her.
Hello, I have a female shorkie (Tinker), 2 years old, and our problem with her is that she growls and snarls, and shows her teeth, and bites when we try to pet her. She also will growl violently if we turn over in bed at night! She will bite if we try to push her away! She has no problem with laying next to us, like right next to us, touching us, but we cannot touch her. We don’t have any small kids around and no one has ever hurt her. It just started one day when I was talking with my grown 30 + year old son and Tinker was laying next to him on the couch and like any other time, he just gently started petting her and out of no where she started growling and as he continued to pet her, she started showing her teeth! She has been doing it ever since. About a year now. We don’t know how to handle it. I also have a 8 year old Bishon female who gets very upset when Tinker starts.
Tinker listens very well to most commands except when we tell her NO or STOP to the violent behavior. I MEAN HER EYES TURN REFLECTIVE WHITE, POSHEST when she being pet!!!
How on earth do we get her to stop??? I’d be happy to send video of her behavior.
I’d be more interested to see video of her obedience. My first response to anyone with aggression is that they are dealing with a respect issue. Respect is best earned through obedience. You say that your dog is obedient. No offense, but I doubt that a dog who is biting you is as obedient as you say.
I always tell people that you don’t fix aggression with basic obedience, you fix it with advanced obedience.
We adopted an australian cattle dog a week ago. He is 2 yrs old and knows commands such a sit, stay, down, stop and walk. We have 4 yo twins. They are always supervised when they are with the dog. My son has special needs and doesn’t walk, but can crawl and sometimes when he does he has a toy in his mouth. Whenever my son crawls into the kitchen which is the only place in the house the dog is allowed the dog barks at him. We have been saying no and enough. The dog stops barking; however, today the dog tried to bite my son. We said no and took him outside and told him bad boy. We later decided to let the dog back in and my husband, the twins and I sat on the floor with the dog. My husband was holding the dog by the collar while I helped my son pet him. We kept saying good boy and rewarded him with a treat. As soon as the dog saw an opportunity he tried to bite my son again. My mother instict came out and I hit him on the mouth and my husband took him outside. I should add that the dog loves playing with my daughter and he is very gentle with her and has never barked at her or tried to bite her. Can this behavior be fixed or do we need to give up the dog?
Also, if my son is sitting on a chair the dog will lay down close to him and my dog pets him with his feet. The dog doesn’t mind at all. He stays where he is at and lets my son pet him.
Thank you!
I meant to write my son pets the dog with his feet.
Here are a few thoughts:
1- Telling isn’t training. Just telling him ‘no’ or ‘enough’ or ‘bad boy’ is not training him to do anything.
2- Holding the dog back by the collar will make the dog more prone to want to attack. Any tension you put on the collar when the dog is already feeling stressed will magnify that stress.
3- Taking the dog outside is not a correction. Leaving is what he wanted in the first place so by taking him out you are giving him what he wants.
The reality is that many dogs have issues with children that have special needs. In being different the dogs pick up on that, get nervous, and act out in the ways you are describing. I’m confident that just about any problem can be fixed in theory. The variables, though, are the owners commitment level to working with the dog, working with the dog the right way, and being consistent enough. As I don’t know how you measure up in those categories I can’t say for sure whether or not you’ll be able to fix the problem.
If you are able to fix the problem it will be on the back of:
1- Education. I obviously don’t know everything you are doing but from a brief paragraph I can pinpoint several things that you are doing wrong that are contributing to making the problem worse. If you are going to fix the problem you’ll need to learn a lot about aggression and how to fix it.
2- Supervision. Dogs like this need a different level of supervision and they need to be taught strategies for how to react when stressed.
3- Obedience. You won’t fix a problem like this with basic obedience. You need advanced obedience.
I’ve helped plenty of owners fix problems like this but it’s through some strong commitment on their part.
My parents have a 4 year old rescued little pit mix. They’ve had her since she was a puppy. She has always been a little skiddish, and gets startled by weird things (spoons in a bowl, your feet on the coffee table). My dad called me today very upset. He was shampooing the carpets and Bella was scared, running bak and forth. My dad tried to grab her to put her in the bedroom, and she tried to bite him. His description of what happened sounded like she really went at him. She will also growl at my mom when they’re all on the couch and my mom tries to “hug” her.
I told my dad that she has no boundaries. She’s allowed everywhere that they are. He’s ready to just get rid of her, which I strongly disagree. I told him that her behavior is his responsibility as her owner, and that she obviously needs training. I am willing to take her in at my home (I have 2 pits and a mutt, I’m also a dog groomer and volunteer at the shelter). Do you think she would have a better chance at retraining with us in our home, or with my parents? Any suggestions? I really have enjoyed reading your training tips. My parents are avid watchers of “the guy on tv”, and while I believe he has done amazing things for dogs, he’s not the be all end all of dog training! Thank you for your time.
Unfortunately too many people fall into the category of your parents. Through their neglect of proper training the dog picks up bad behaviors and then they get rid of the dog. So they cause the problem in the first place and then get rid of the dog.
I’ve found that EVERY dog can be trained and can lead a normal life. The problem is that not EVERY person is willing to put in the necessary effort and gain the necessary expertise to get the dog to that level of training.
It sounds like you’ve recognized the problem and have ideas for solutions so I would definitely think that the dog has a much better shot with you.
My suggestion would be to get some super solid obedience into this dog. From obedience comes respect, calmness, structure, etc.
That’s exactly what I told my father. He is now convinced that she is an aggressive dog, and is so worried that she’s going to bite someone else. She has NEVER shown aggression to anyone other than my parents, and it’s been these few isolated incidents. His stance is “I’ve had dogs all my life and I’ve never had any of them show aggression towards me.” Therefor, he has done nothing wrong, since he supposedly has trained and treated Bella the same as all his past dogs. I tried to explain to him that each dog is different and you can’t compare this dog with the others from the past.
I hope he is willing to put in some effort to retrain himself as well as the dog. If not, she will come here and I will work with her. I am hoping to purchase your DVDs soon, but money is tight and having three dogs is not cheap! Thank you again for your time!
I’ve met numerous people who have ‘trained’ past dogs and can’t understand their current dog. The reality is that the previous dogs weren’t really trained, they just didn’t give them the same types of problems.
Well jus as an update, my parents had taken Bella to the vet later that day. The vet basically repeated everything I told my father, and they have already started to make changes in their behavior and how they treat the dog. I’m very thankful that someone got through to him!
We have a long-haired chihuahua. He’s 5 years old. Lately he’s started growling when we try to take his halter & leash off of him after we’ve had him outside. He’s even gone so far as to snarl & show his teeth at me. I’m getting so I’m afraid to touch him because he’s so tempermental. There’s no children in the family, so I know he’s not being tormented. It used to be, that after he was outside in the rain or snow, he would let me wipe his back off, which I did gently. But now, he doesn’t like it. What can I do?
I have a five year old Chihuahua who listen with commands most of the time, but when she doesn’t listen we have to pick her up to take her in the house from the front yard when she sees someone to play with and we tell her to go in the house, or outside to go potty. When we go to pick her up she starts to growl and if we continue to pick her up she will nip at you. What can we do to help her to listen more so we don’t have to pick her up? What can we do to get her to stop nipping at us when we do have to pick her up?
I always tell people that you don’t fix aggression with basic obedience. You fix it with advanced obedience. Advanced obedience puts you in the driver’s seat where you aren’t currently now. Advanced obedience allows you to solve problems like this. The challenge is that most people won’t be able to do advanced obedience on their own because they don’t know how, and still many others aren’t committed enough to their dog to do so. I recommend finding a local trainer to help you or for you to check out our advanced obedience DVD set.
Hi my grandma has a 11 month year old puppy named Molly. Shes a mix between a beagle,Lab,and Australian shepard. My grandma has tried things like a training collar and sit and stay training but Molly still jumps on everyone and bites them. She wants to do obidience training but its too expensive. And Molly needs trained or she’ll get rid of her. Molly also doesn’t listen, she just cocks her head and barks. Please help. Thanks.
hello, i have a 3 year old rotti/husky/shepard mix dog. When i got blue as a puppy about 12 weeks
or so old, he was abused as a puppy from the previous owner. I noticed some aggression when he was a puppy especially to kids.. he does. like them what so ever. idont know if what happened to him triggers him and makes him bite random people.He has tried to bit most kids if theycome around him,he he’s immediately stressed.. so i obviously try to always avoid kids being around… but now he will be aggressive to random people and its always when Im on my property or in my car.. i know he is very loyal and protective but just today he bit a guy delivering propane at my friends house while he was tied up outside on the front porch. i don’t know what to do i refuse to give up on him i am just petrafied of it happening again and me being forced to put him down or what not. how do i correct this ?
First off, this is not a loyal and protective dog. This is a dog who is terrified and is acting out of self interest. It’s important to understand what is going on.
Second, it sounds like you have little to no control over the dog or over the environments he is put in. For example, why would you ever leave a dog who has these problems on somebody’s front porch?
You need to get some intense training going on and start understanding how to handle this dog. The first step is to start with some advanced obedience and that will form the foundation of the solution.
Hello i have a 5-month old multi poo ( PEPE ) and this morning we took him to get one of his shot and while they were giving him his sot he started nipping at the nurse how do I get him not to ever do that again please help
Hi, I have a problem. My dog starts to bite my hands or arms the moment I go sit on any chair anywhere. How can I stop this behavior? I want her badly to have free run of the house while I am relaxing on a chair in the lounge or working on the computer in the bedroom, but due to this behavior she is kept in the kitchen and backyard at those times. When she starts biting and don’t want to stop, I get off the chair, walk out of the room or lounge to the kitchen and ignore her for a while. When I go back the same situation repeat. Someone advised me to give her a raw bone to chew on. While she is chewing she does not mind me sitting on the chair, but when she is done with the bone, she starts biting my hands/arms again. So the person said, I must get up after a while, remove her bone, in order that she associate getting the bone only why I am sitting in the chair. I tried it, but then the next day she ignored the bone. I’ve tried a couple of times and that does not work. So presently the only times I can relax on the chair, is while she is chewing her bone. She is a lovable friendly dog in other respects with no biting incidents. Please could you give me guidance or some advice?
It’s obvious that the dog doesn’t have respect for you and that is where you need to start. Respect is garnered through solid obedience. Forget the raw bone idea, this is a bad one as it doesn’t teach the dog that it is wrong to bite you. Work on a down stay, for example, so that your dog is required to lie down and stay while you are in your chair.
Hi!
I have a 3month old Lab/Sharpei cross. He doesn’t listen to me at all! He used to listen to my ex boyfriend but he refuses to listen to me. If I hit him with a newspaper or with my hand he gets so agressive that his neck hair raises and he bites me, sometimes so badly that it bleeds. I’m scared because he is going to get big! I don’t know what to do anymore! He bites my legs and my feet when I walk around in the house, and not playfully, but hard! I love him but I can’t keep him if he keeps on biting me. Please help.
Wow. You think hitting a dog is going to get him to listen to you? I think it’s best you start looking for a new home for the dog with someone who will take time to learn how to communicate with the dog.
Hi there. I have a crossed staff-rottweiller dog, and lately she’s been threatening to bite people, and I don’t understand why. We know her since she was born, we were careful to socialize her when she was a puppy, we trained her (she obeys to commands such as sit, lay down, stay, wait, drop it, paw, hi5, beg, gentle, by my side, off the street, stop, take it, go get it, f#ck off, etc etc), we impose boundaries (for example, she knows she can’t get things from the counters or the tables, even though she’s big enough to easily do it if she wanted to), we give her lots of exercise every day (the minimum we’ll take her outside is 40 minutes per day, but usually it’s a lot more), we spend all the time with her (most of the time we spend literally 24h per day with her), and we give her lots and lots of love (sometimes we fear we spoil her). Growing up she used to be ok, she loved going with us everywhere, and she loved meeting new people, ’cause the more the number of people would equal to a bigger number of people cuddling her, which she loved.
She’s now 1 year and a half, and her behaviour changed. I think she’s become insecure about herself, and although she’s still happy to be with one or two of our friends at a time, she does get very nervous when we take her to environments where there’s many people she’ve never met. She’ll get her tail between her legs, and if somebody gets their hands close to her to pet her she’ll “bite” them. It also happens if a stranger in the street tries to pet her without talking to me first, but in those cases I think it’s more a protective of me issue rather than insecurity. She’s never draught blood from anyone, it’s more of a warning bite, usually she just bites the air next to the persons hand or if she does catch the person’s hand she won’t make much pressure and will let go in a sec, whilst backing away with her tail in between her legs, but still, I don’t think this behaviour is acceptable and it makes me really sad. I’ve always wanted her to be friendly towards everyone, and not to have to worry about a thing, ’cause I’d never let anything bad happen to her…
When she tries to “bite” our friends we grab her by the neck and tomb her to the side on the floor and tell her to stay like that, so she submits. Is that correct?
Most of the times I know what triggers this behaviours, it’s usually because people look her straight in the eyes, and start straight away talking with her, and as soon as she tries to smell them they try straight away to pet her, and that’s when she “bites”; I know that’s not the right way to approach a dog, and I know that if I ask people to ignore her at first, and don’t talk/don’t look her in the eyes/don’t touch her until she smelled them she’ll then be ok with those persons, but, unfortunately, most of the people don’t know that’s how they’re suppose to meet a new dog, so I wanted to teach my dog instead, to accept people trying to pet her straight away. How can I do it? I have another dog and he’s lovely with meeting new people and doesn’t mind if people look him in the eyes and pet him straight away, but the female dog reacts as I told you, and I’m afraid that these warning bites one day will turn into a serious bite
You have a fearful and insecure dog and that means you’ll have to manage greetings with other people. People can’t be allowed to simply come up and touch your dog. You may be able to get to that point but you aren’t there now.
You also need to be working heavily on advanced obedience as that is one of the only things capable of teaching her how to focus on a valuable task vs. her own fear. She needs to learn skill sets on how to calm herself down with obedience such as sitting perfectly by your side as people approach, not ducking away, heeling perfectly, etc.
http://www.dogbehavioronline.com/curing-dog-aggression-p/
Hi. My boyfriend has a 4 year old beagle. She lives with us, his two kids (12/14), my two kids (14/16) and my sheltie and older golden mix on weekends. During the week she is with his ex and his children. She is a cute dog, but very disobedient and prone to biting. She listens to him, mostly, but rarely comes when called otherwise. She follows her nose constantly, jumping on the table and counters, eating our food if we aren’t extremely careful. She howls nonstop frequently. But the biggest problem is the biting – this past weekend she did a real number on my hand and arm when I touched her collar and tried to guide her away from the garbage she had gotten into in the garage. The way my boyfriend handled her biting before moving in with me ten months ago was telling his kids not to touch her if even if she was doing something dangerous. He is much stronger than any of us and able to hold her securely when she tries to bite him. I am at the point, after last weekend, where I am too scared of her to have her around. His ex won’t take her full time because of the biting issue. He wants to train her but can’t afford to hire a professional behaviorist. Do you have any advice? I am desperate…
You are seeing the issues (not coming when called, howls, biting, getting on tables, etc.) as separate problems. They aren’t, they are all interweaved. Nor is it terribly possible (usually) to simply try to address one and leave the others alone.
What you have is a dog with next to no structure who has put herself in a leadership role. That lack of structure, obedience, etc. has led to all of these problems.
The reality is that you need to start working on high level obedience in order to establish a foundation of calm, happy respect. Once you do that, you won’t have any of the issues you are dealing with, not just the biting problem.
http://www.dogbehavioronline.com/curing-dog-aggression-p/
or
http://www.dogbehavioronline.com/foundation-obedience-p/
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I have three dogs.Two are 2 years old and the other one is a 9 week old puppy. He wont stop biting the necks of the other two, they are not playing and attack him. What can i do to stop this?
We recently adopted a rescue dog from Hawaii, he is a whippet shar pei mix. He is very sweet and affectionate with me and my husband and doesn’t show much aggression. But 3 times since we have had him when a male friend came into our home he snapped at them when they tried to pet him. I am not sure if he is scared, he was abused and seems to be scared on men. We also have a yorkie who gets excited and barks when the door bell rings and I thought he may think that is aggression to who is at he door and react to it. Any thoughts on how to deal with this, I am very afraid he will get worse and hurt someone.
You need systems and controls for when people come over. For example, normally when I’m dealing with a dog like this we make sure all the dogs in the house respond properly to the door by calmly sitting, lying down, or going to a bed to stay. Once the dog is in the bed staying put I would normally have the dog stay there for anywhere between 5 minutes and 30 minutes when somebody first comes in so that the dog can calm down to the presence of a new person. Once the dog is visibly calm and fine with the person being in the home then we calmly allow him up and have the guest offer their hand to sniff, not getting in the dog’s personal space at all. By setting systems in place you can teach the dog to calmly respond to new guests.
Hello. We have a Chihuahua terrier mix (terrier size..2 years old) and he’s recently started biting…not just softly like a nibble, but hard, really hard. He bites when moving him off my bed, or when trying to take a sock or sandal away. He sometimes bites when trying to pet him. HELP!!
You’ve got a dysfunctional relationship with the dog who has no respect for you. Time to start getting respect through obedience, rules, discipline.
My puppy is amazing. Smart, cute, clever – but he bites all the time. I get he’s teething – bug I have sores and scratches all over my hands. I say no, I ignore him, I get up and leave. I roll him over & I even do the neck scruff thing. Nothing works – he only gets more upset and than lunges at me. The clapping, water bottle spraying, crying out in pain —- none of it works on him. He doesn’t even flinch. What can I do?
You’re so cool! I don’t think I’ve read anything like this before. So good to find somebody with unique thoughts on this issue. Seriously.. many thanks for starting this up. This website is something that is required on the web, someone with some originality!
I have a rottweiler puppy.. Maybe 8-7 months. He bites everyone very hard. I don’t know what to do. When he bites he does it as if my arms and legs are chew toys. I don’t want to give him away but it’s really getting to my mom. He’s getting bigger everyday and I don’t know how to handle the biting. What do I do?
What are you currently doing to correct it?
I give a chew you when he bites to let him know that my body I’d not his personal chew toy. If.that fails, I give a tap on the nose
I would try a leash correction or a spray bottle correction instead.
Okay, thanks. He hates water lol
I have a 3 month old chorkie/brussel griffon and he bites hard! I need your help on how to tell him to stop and make sure he doesn’t get used to it