[DoHxBoY]

Hello Everyone!

My wife and I are brand new humans to a super adorable 3lb, 3 month old yorkie puppy, he's been in our home about 3 weeks now. He's super cute and loving, but his playfulness is over the top sometimes. The purpose of this post is for some background and then we have some questions regarding training methods.

So far the only problem we have is when he does what we believe to be play biting. If we are holding him he's easier to control, but if he is on the floor it's impossible. If he's ready to play, we cant walk in the house when he is "free", he INSTANTLY attacks our feet and puts my big toe in his mouth. He can bite pretty hard and even shakes his head as if it's a toy to throw around.

Any attempts at no, stop, quit, ouch, yelp, crying, loud noises, do not work and only seem to make him bite harder. His name being Vino, we dont think NO will ever work so we have made our verbal vommand stop or quit. We even tried bitter spray and it only works occasionally. When holding him it's easy to redirect to a toy and he will usually chew it happily, but on the floor it's no use. He has every type of chew imaginable, his favorite are the various nylabones.

We also try the stand still/walk away and ignore thing but, he chases after and just continues his mission. The only way to stop him is picking him up and then giving him a chew toy or putting him in his playpen to ignore the bad behavior.

He also started nipping sometimes when we go to pet him or pick him up out of his pen. He will sit there and look at us, not coming when we call, until we turn to walk away and he dashes over like a mad man and starts nipping if we reach back in. I tried standing there and not picking him up until he calmed down but instead he started digging at the floor near my feet and then stuck his paws through to play with my toes.

That all being said, we need some assistance and direction choosing the best training methods.

We went to an orientation for an obedience class and they want him to wear a collar and leash. I've read a lot about trachea problems from collars and when I asked if we could use a harness she said no, only a collar. Their method is to lightly tug on the collar when the dog is doing something inappropriate since their mother would usually tug at the back of their neck in the same fashion. Then the next step is to give praise with your hands when they listen to a command.

Their theory is that using the leash and collar will help them to not associate the correction with your hands and allow them to see your hands as a good thing during praise. The trainer said we should start him on the leash and collar this week and give a light tug when he bites at our feet.

Well, considering he is about 2 inches from the ground, getting his leash to give a tug downward (since we would NEVER tug up against his throat) doesn't work at all and he just then bites our hands instead. We have our doubts about this method.

So, very long story short, what training methods will work best for our little guy and does anyone know of any good places in South Florida? We need help!