Well, things were going really well with Cooper, he is very sweet and very affectionate but there are some things I need some assistance on. I'm not sure if these things are in existance because I'm new, and the whole situation is new to him or if he has always had these behavior issues.
1. He is very jumpy. If I reach down to pet him he jumps, and sometimes cowers away. I've taken to sitting down and letting him hop on my lap before touching him and still he twitches. Also he is very, very tense when I pet him, as in his tail stops wagging and he just doesn't move, so I stop petting him and say sweet things to him and give him a treat.
2. He bites (not hard mind you, he hasn't left a mark on me). If I touch his ears, without warning other than the visable tensing he'll just "snap". First time this happened to me I was in shock, never had this happen before. I was trying to help him relax and figured Rizzo loves when I rub his ears, I'll rub Coopers. I thought he was going into relax mode until I wound up with teeth on my skin and a growling yorkie. After realizing what had happened I told him no firmly, he walked over and licked my hand and I got up and left him alone in the room. I've been working a little with this, I'll touch his ears call him a good boy and give him a treat. Then yesterday I was fitting him with a halter (his previous owners had him walking with a collar
) and he snapped again, freaked out completely, bit me and ran to a corner growling at me. When he had calmed down he walked over to me, tail wagging, again licked my hand. I moved to remove the halter, and again he snapped, I managed to remove it by holding a treat in front of his face and then taking it off. Another time he freaked out was we were out for a walk and the leash got wrapped around his leg, I crouched down called him over to me, when I tried to remove it, again a growl and a bite. And another time I had just touched his muzzle, I wanted to see how his teeth looked, well, the obvious happened.
Again, I don't know if this is because he doesn't know me yet, but it's very odd behavior and I just don't know how I should be reacting when these situations are present. I find it very very odd that he goes into tense mode when I'm petting him, even if he is sitting on my lap by his choice. I've been feeding him treats as I'm petting him but he is still tense. He cowers when I pick up objects, like a magazine or an empty paper towel roll. I'm not in anyway trying to say that he was at all abused, but I just need some help teaching him that I'm a friendly person and only want the best for him.
When he bites me, I just tell him no and get up and leave him alone in his room for about 20 minutes. I'll go back and give him treats and love, when he gets tense I'll stop petting him and he'll start wagging his tail again.
These are behaviors that I need to stop, because if he draws blood I just don't know...I don't think that he did this with his previous family because they had an older son (probably about 7 or 8), then again maybe that's why he is so senitive about his ears. Maybe they thought he was just "playing" because he didn't bite hard enough to leave a mark, but I can't look at it that way.
Sorry for the long post, but I really need some help with this poor guy. He is a sweetie (normally) but the biting will have to stop before it escalates. Plus don't want a dog around that may bite someone just for touching his ears...I'm willing to do whatever it takes to convince him to trust me, so please if you have any advice to offer I'm in need of it.
Am I reacting correctly to the biting or is my reaction allowing it to continue? Am I doing the right thing when he tenses?
Thank you in advance for anything you can teach me. I'm going to do some internet research as well, but I'm looking for people who have had experience with re-homed pups that act kind of crazy to the strangest of situations.