Before the missus takes it for a walk down the canal with a sack.The little fecker is constantly biting even though we play with her a loads.springer spaniel 9 weeks

sort of holding/grabbing your fingers?

I’m old school. Hit it. And say in a booming voice “No”. Don’t hit it very hard (TJ style), but enough to concentrate its attention.

Dogs are lower down the food chain than we are; therefore, teach it who’s boss. You can’t negotiate with it.

Same applies to children.

OMITN (a true Victorian)

It will grow out of it

Kick it? 😉

Is it actually biting, my GF’s dogs all used to take your hand in their mouths. Never bit though just did it to get your attention or take you somewhere. One was a trained gun dog so had a very soft mouth, still it was a bit disconcerting as he could take all of my hand in his mouth.

Borrow one of TJ’s Socialist Workers ‘Thatcher stole from the working man’ speeches. After 4hrs of rhetoric and angst the dog will gladly hop into the sack and plead to be thrown in the canal.

Bite is back!

Mine at 6 still mouths a bit when playing, never too hard though. We use a water sprayer like you use for plants to curb his bad habbits.

Try a Kong. These are a big lump of rubber with a hol ein the middle to stuff treats.

A well packed Kong keeps a springer mentally challenged for up to 20 minutes. It may not sound long but it takes the attention away from other things.

Another thing worth trying is the hide chewy sticks that pet shops sell.
10 to 30 pence a time an dthey can keep the dog occupied for 30+ minutes.

Pigs ears serve the same purpose but can make a springer a bit hyper.

We have a two year old springer that we used these things on, and still do.
All dogs are different but it has worked for us.

The other obvious thing is plenty of excercise and toys for them to play with.

It’s biting because it’s been taken out of it’s pack too early. The trick is too treat it like it’s mum would. Every time it bites, nip it’s ear between your fingernails, not so hard that it hurts, but just enough to remind it that the behavior’s unacceptable.

Our 6 month old beagle does exactly the same thing, i am hoping it is just a ‘phase’

Cute puppy pic

Our does the eye-thing as well when we take his picture (no flash)!

when it bites enough to hurt you shout extremely loudly. this will no doubt scare the crap out of your pup, they soon get to learn what is acceptable. my dog learnt pretty quickly this way. it’s quite important that they learn some control over their bite power. socialising with other dogs helps as they will soon put your pup in it’s place should it over step the mark.

The main man César suggests pick up by scruff of neck as its dam would, shake if necessary. When it is a touch older he grabs just behind the jaw and pins the beastie down on it’s side. It’s all about you being the boss.
Al that beagle wasn’t in possession of the pack brain when you picked it out. Good luck, we had one like that very hard work. Never again!! 🙂

I still let our dog mouth me, usually when he walks upto me to greet me etc. Never trained it out of him as his bite is affectionate and not too firm. Hes done it to friends though and it has alarmed them so I guess its not for everyone. He knows who the boss is though, I havent seen many Westies off the lead like ours.

she will be good she will be good she will be good she will be good she will be good she will be good etc…..

whenever the level of biting becomes more than you want it to be you need to yelp loudly, and in quite a high pitch (as if you were a littermate of the little tyke) and imediately stop the game or whatever you were doing with him and completely igore him for a minute or so. This should teach the little guy what is and is not acceptable and what behaviours will get him the attention/playtime that he wants. If the yelping does not work initially, persevere with it as you will get there. You can also try pushing your hand further into the dogs mouth when he bites you as this will be quite unpleasant for him and can be an effective method. Teething type chew toys are also good as he will have a desire to chew. I would be very careful of scruffing, shaking, shouting and being overly dominant to such a young animal. Yes he needs to know that you are in charge but there are better ways to achieve this than hitting or shaking him.

shout no and and pin it to the floor with your other hand, if it carries on trying to bite you will have to get rougher until it submits, you have to be in charge. Best to get it storted now as its a behaviour that will not go away in 6 months time and is not a phase.

Great book – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Think-Dog-Owners-Canine-Psychology/dp/1844031209/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234387796&sr=8-6

This bloke knows what he’s talking about (unlike some of the above)
(make that knew cos he’s dead)

thanks for the advice guys ,perseverance seems to be the key,very hard sometimes we are both covered in cuts and little bite marks from razor sharp teeth!but hopefully it will be worth it !

Best to get it storted now as its a behaviour that will not go away in 6 months time and is not a phase

bo11ocks!

Shaken by the scruff of the neck sorted our Springer – definitely need to know they are at the bottom of the chain (much preferable to the bottom of the canal).

captive bolt :p
(cat person, trolling)

Commierider has it right – if left in the pack with brothers and sisters they learn all about biting from their litter mates. Bite too hard, sibling yelps and fun stops. Nobody wants the fun to stop so they learn not to bite.

We went through a period of my wife wearing 2 pairs of trowsers and me having sctatches all over my hands and wondering if we should get rid of the dog (her not me). He learnt pretty fast though and stopped doing it at all when he was about 3 months or so. Stay with it and it’ll stop and you won’t even remember them doing it.

We’ve just got back from dog training, he has learnt to fetch my slippers and bag – I’m very proud!

As above, commierider is right, yelping in a high pitch like puppies do to stop him in her tracks but then withdrawing all attention is the key.

Puppies play pretty rough and she needs to learn what is acceptable in her new house.

You do need to provide her with good quality chew toys, as above kongs are great and you can buy puppy specific ones that can even be put in fridge/freezer to help soothe teething gums. Be careful with hidechews and pigs ears etc as they can sometimes get diarrhoea from chewing on them too much and always take them away when they start to break up when the puppy is so young otherwise they can swallow chunks and cause even worse problems

Again be wary of shaking /hitting so young a dog, you should be able to control your own dog without resorting to violence.

Speak to your vets they may run puppy classes to help with these things and aid in socialisation etc too!

it’ll grow out of it. They all do. Yes, let them know who’s boss and provide toys but I’ve found with puppies (and I’ve had 4), some bite more than others but they all do it and they all grow out of it without any other interaction other than a stern command if they bite too hard. Our dog who is almost a year old play bites now but it’s not hard and she is just playing. When she was a puppy she would draw blood.

Watch Dog Whisperer? Email ahim and maybe he’ll do a show?

google Dog dazer. It stopped all sorts of bad habits in one of my brother’s dogs.doesn’t work on all dogs but plenty immediately stop whatever they are doing and look startled….so maybe accompany a quick blast with a firm NO!
There are cheaper versions available ie maplins but I only have experience of the Dazer both on my bros dog and in thailand where there are loads of nuisance Mutts on the streets .

Holy cr@p its frustrating trying to figure out which way to handle biting (teething too). So many trains of thought and who know who you should listen to. From the replies above, I think commieriders approach is the most ideal and worth persevering with for a good period of time.

Basically we decided that teeth on skin was unacceptable and it took us a while to get it almost sorted. Barkings our next challenge.

We didried the water spray – good until she caught me with it im my hand then worked out what was going on.
We did the ‘hurt’ puppy yelp – how puppys communicate pain during play
We did the NO firmness
We also did the if you bite me i’ll ignore you, get up, leave the room and leave you on your own… which did have its place.

Anyway, at 9 weeks old, you’ve got a load more frustrating challenges to deal with on the way! I’d advise you keep any sacks, rope or heavy rocks away from your GF for the foreseeable 😉

A puppy is hard work.. but its worth it!
My business partners dog was a PITA until he was 2.. now he’s an amazing dog even in light of his faults (sorry – personality)

One thing we’ve been careful of is to not make our dog ‘hand shy’.. although at times it feels like a good belt would do the trick 😮
Soon as you’re do associates you with dominance, pain or punishment then you can’t expect your dog to be mans best friend for long.

“I’m old school. Hit it. And say in a booming voice “No”. Don’t hit it very hard (TJ style), but enough to concentrate its attention.

Dogs are lower down the food chain than we are; therefore, teach it who’s boss. You can’t negotiate with it. “

Correct.
Have some chews around the place too, large-ish ones, not just the hide ones.
I have 2 dogs, now 10 & 13. I’ve had dogs all my adult life and have trained them well enough to let them have free reign, no leads, no gates to the property. I am their pack leader – that’s really what they need to know. They know where they stand, what the boundaries are and what’s tolerated and what most certainly is not.
Spaniels can be a real handful / live wires and NEED huge walks.
If you assume they’ll grow out of it you’ll learn the hard way that this is no way to educate a puppy!

Hope that helps in some way.
Tim
Tim

I wouldnt hit a young puppy, just pin it to the floor and shout no will do.

Guys remember the dog is only 9 weeks old so let it be a puppy if only for a short while. At circa 12weeks for a couple of weeks we were told that you have to be as nice/calm as possible around your puppy as their experience in this period can affect their personality for life.
Dont be too rough. all you have to do is withdraw your hands/self from the dog and turn your back for a few moments. He will soon learn. Start shouting etc at a puppy and you might turn the dog into a nervous creature for life. FFS, what are we folks council estate types?!
Ps. Ive never seen Caeser hit or shout at a dog. Seen him restrain, or walk fwd/corner. If you do this the dog will think its natural to show aggression to others in later life.

I was told to put the dogs lips over it’s own teeth when it bit and press gently so it nips it’s own lips. Within a day or so you could’nt get him to bite.
Should’nt be to much of a problem with a Springer.

“Training Spaniels” by Joe Irving.

Stuff in there worked on my ESS, but generally I would go for the loud yelp, followed by a shake by the scruff. Joe recommends replacing fingers with a sock stuffed with something tough.

At 9 weeks most dogs will do this and its nothing at all to do with being taken from the litter early. In fact, it is usually best practice to take dogs from their litter between 8-12 weeks, as any longer strengthens the pack instinct.

The reason it bites is often because it needs to bite for jaw, tooth, and muscle development, much in the same way a baby enjoys biting whilst teething.

Encouraging the pup and give positive rewards such as a play or food treat. My lab’ is obsessed by her rope ball because that was her reward as a pup.

However, positive rewards will always be harder to maintain and manage in the initial stages than a negative reward (such as a smack, nip or shout), but the long term benefits are great.

A lot of folk will argue that in the wild it’s mother will nip it to admonish it, but they fail to realise that a) they don’t factor in the positive attention it’s mother gives it and b) this is in the wild, and results in a wild dog – you’re trying to raise a family pet.

mildred good points. Back ontopic. Tandem Jeremy probably has a boxset of talks by Joseph Stalin on the birth and creation of Communism. It consists of 3hours of speeches by Stalin himself following by 8hours of continuous machine gun fire. Play this to the young Spaniel and I dont think you will have any problems (or see the dog) again.

I haven’t read all the replies here. But from a quick scan, it looks like the advice is good.

A loud shreak, as if it really hurt you.. It should shock the puppy enough for it not to try it again, a few times and it should be enough. If you do tap it on the nose, make sure you do not point at the dog! It’ll probably then pounce on the finger, and can cause problems further down the line, especially with bossy kids!

Rather than tapping its nose, pin it to the ground, with its back against the floor and and its tummy facing up… Do not let go until the dog goes completely limp (submissive). This is the most submissive position a dog can get into, once it realises who’s boss, you should be ok.

As its 9 weeks old, its very common for most dogs to chew. Our Springer stopped chewing our hands after a couple of months.

You should get in contact with your local dog training club, well worth going along, although your dog isnt old enough yet, I would still give them a call.

THIS IS ONLY A “PHASE” IF YOU DON’T DEAL WITH IT NOW. 😉
I know of soo many dogs that have been gotten rid of, because of the dogs behaviour, but really it wasnt the dogs fault, its the owners.

some good advice here, some 5hite. ignore anything that revolves around punishment. teeth on the skin = yelp + fun stops. simple.
water pistols are great for other stuff. it was like an on/off switch for our spaniel. the key is to keep it concealed and not let them see you’re in control of what’s happening. soon as they do something you don’t want them to, squirt. they think that whatever they’re messing with, is getting back at them. it really works well.
have fun.
BTW this thread is useless without pics!

FFS, what are we folks council estate types

You sir are a ****

BTW this thread is useless without pics!

Agreed! Video OK!?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TngWgdV8jIk
Our puppy, well, I think she was 12 months old. She only had one run in the whole day, and was in first position until 4pm… Everyone else was running their dogs all day, having 3 or 4 goes at a time. The winner ran his dog multiple times to beat our time. We ran just the once!