[Pt477]

Our 10 week old king Charles spaniel is wearing us down with his constant biting at our feet growling and hands to the point of making my step daughter cry & shed blood, we try everything from the firm 'no' the water spray, yelping, nothing works & we are slowly falling out of love with him :( anyone got any other magical suggestions? Or are we being impatient, the only thing that works is eventually putting in his cage which works for a while after he comes out but soon starts again,were not sure if it's the right thing to do but it's all we can do.Please help.

[Aurora_Bell]

I know this sounds simple enough, but have you tried distractions? Maybe get a chew toy or a kong or bones, and when he starts biting, give him this toy. Praise him when he take sit and chews that.

Keep up with the no's and the yelping. Some here will even say to bite back. Not hard, but enough to show him what he is doing to you.

You don't want to use his crate for punishment, but if you give him a grumpy no, and ignore him, turn your back to him, walk away from him, he will soon realize he isn't going to get the attention he is looking for.

Another great thing you may want to consider is puppy socialization classes. He will get to mingle with dogs in his age group, younger and older. He will learn his bite reaction. Also think about teaching him his basic commands now. Such as "leave it", "sit", stay", and "down". The more commands he knows, the happier he will be.

[Lucky098]

At 10wks, puppies bite. Its part of their growing up. Right now, your puppy is kind of testing her limits.. seeing how hard she can bite something and what will happen if she does bite it.

Continue with the "no" command when she bites. If you need to, grab her muzzle and squeeze it shut tightly.. She should squeak a little and tell her in a growly tone of voice "no bite". She will learn that quickly.

As for your step daughter.. teach her to stand up, gross her hands, and walk away into a different room. Whenever the puppy starts to play too rough with your step daughter, that is what she is to do. When your step daughter does that, you as the "mama dog" need to correct that behavior. What I would probably do, is grab the puppy while it is in action.. Say "no bite" in a not very nice tone of voice, have the step daughter leave for a split second, and hold the puppy in my lap. Do not talk to the puppy, do not pet her, she is bascially being put in "time out". If she struggles, holder tighter. If she screams and has a royal fit, hold her through it until she is completely relaxed. Once she is relaxed.. praise her for the behavior you like.. and try it again. You shouldn't have to do it too many times before the light bulb clicks on and the puppy realizes that biting and being obnoxious gets her no where.

[Aurora_Bell]

At 10wks, puppies bite. Its part of their growing up. Right now, your puppy is kind of testing her limits.. seeing how hard she can bite something and what will happen if she does bite it.

Continue with the "no" command when she bites. If you need to, grab her muzzle and squeeze it shut tightly.. She should squeak a little and tell her in a growly tone of voice "no bite". She will learn that quickly.

As for your step daughter.. teach her to stand up, gross her hands, and walk away into a different room. Whenever the puppy starts to play too rough with your step daughter, that is what she is to do. When your step daughter does that, you as the "mama dog" need to correct that behavior. What I would probably do, is grab the puppy while it is in action.. Say "no bite" in a not very nice tone of voice, have the step daughter leave for a split second, and hold the puppy in my lap. Do not talk to the puppy, do not pet her, she is bascially being put in "time out". If she struggles, holder tighter. If she screams and has a royal fit, hold her through it until she is completely relaxed. Once she is relaxed.. praise her for the behavior you like.. and try it again. You shouldnt have to do it too many times before the light bulb clicks on and the puppy realizes that biting and being obnoxious gets her no where.

Pretty aggressive, don't you think?

[Lucky098]

Its not any more aggressive then biting the dog or spaying it in the face.

[Aurora_Bell]

Well I guess I'd have to disagree. When you clamp your dogs mouth shut most times he is biting his own toung. He also feels that he can not breath, and is more likely to lash out.

I am not a dog biter, nor do I spray my dog in the face with water. I mentioned biting, as it's a method that has been shown to work. Also it's more of a nip, opposed to aggressively snapping the dogs mouth shut. Clamping a dogs mouth shut has gone the way of rubbing his noes in his own feces.

[Cat1864]

How long have you had him? How long has this behavior been going on? How much exercise is he getting? Is he bored and trying to get attention the only way he knows how?

Can you set up a puppy pen for time outs instead of using his crate? He starts up. With as little interaction as you can, pick him up and put him in the pen until he calms down and then let him out. Ignore him while he is in the pen. Don't even look at him. Keep doing it until he gets the idea that he doesn't get to play with the pack if he acts up.

[Lucky098]

I don't put up with biting. If being nice and redirecting doesn't work then its time to get a bit more pushy.

This puppy is biting and drawing blood. That is unacceptable. The op has obviously tried the more laid back approach and it is not working.

I have seen puppies sitting in shelters on a bite hold at this age. I am all for pos. Reeinforcement, but sometimes you need to get the point across. Dogs are not glass. They can learn that biting has a consequence. If this pup bit another dog to point of drawing blood, you could almost bet the pup would have worse things done to it then holding the mouth shut for a second.