[Jeri Cunningham]

Originally Posted by Uno baby

Well Uno had a bit of a rough day. Not only did we have out ears cleaned, nails trimmed, shot, but he puked I probably shouldn't have brought him, but we started puppy class tonight. I wanted to cry. I felt so bad, he is terrified of other dogs, and of course we were the smallest in the puppy class. Thank goodness there was one other small puppy, a maltese/bichon mix. Uno wasn't having it, we were "that" student....he hid behind anything, and would cozy himself in between my ankles hoping to go unnoticed. This week our homework is to try and walk on a leash without pulling. MY goal is to just get him to walk, period! I think I will enroll him in doggy daycare for a couple days out of the week to help him become better socialized. I feel like a bad mommy when he doesn't want to play with other kids...I always worry about the fact he was an only pup and didn't have brothers and sisters.

Oh- before I forget....does/has anyone else use/used the method where you place your fingers around their mouth/muzzle? and just give them a firm hold on the body to stop them from biting? I know a lot of people have reservations about holding their mouths shut, just wondering what the success rate was for those who tried it. Tonight I did it everytime he wanted to eat my hand, and although we had some REAL hard bites (I mean, ferociously hard, with growling of course) I made sure to always get my hold on him even through the pain. . .

I never did the placing your fingers around the mouth but what worked for all the puppies I ever had and raised is to pick them up like the mom would by the scruff of the neck and say NO BITE!. This had worked for all my dogs and even my older one still know if I pick them up by the back of the neck they are in trouble. It doesn't hurt them and they know it doesn't allow bad behavior. I also use a water bottle to squirt puppies if they try to chew on furniture. It works well also.