As far as the biting, it's not something you can excuse in my opinion. With playful biting (there's obvious signs it's playful vs. fearful or aggressive) you should say "OUCH, NO!" and remove your hand or whatever and substitute with a toy. If he continues, just stand there and ignore him. They soon learn that when they play too rough, you don't want to play with them anymore. I also read that that you can say the "OUCH, NO" and pinch them VERY lightly on their neck and them ignore them or put them in their pen or whatever.
With fearful biting (sounds like your situation - can be when an owner punishes the dog and swoops down to grab him), our dog may have found that warning growls and bites makes you (the threatened person) STOP, which teaches your dog that such behavior is rewarding. With this I've read that you don't want to place your fear-aggressive dog in situations that could cause him to be afraid, don't punish the dog for this behavior (only makes things worse because it verifies his fear), don't force your dog to face his fears, don't corner or reach for him and instead call the dog to you and have him act calm or do a trick for a reward, but also don't reassure or pet the dog while he is acting inappropriately because it gives the dog a message that he is acting appropriately.
As far as "alpha rolls" forcing your dog on his back and holding him there until he stops struggling . I've read that you shouldn't use them. And they have been shown to be in effective, unsafe and based on faulty interpretations of wolf pack behavior. I read that it often results in more dog bites as you are trying to subdue an already challenging dog.... |