Hi there, at 5mo he's still testing his bondaries. If he starts biting people put him in another room for time out for 5 minutes (a room with no toys is good so that all he has to do is wonder why he's in there) don't talk to him or anything just quickly and calmly scoop him up and put him in the other room.
After 5 mins let him out, don't talk to him when you let him out, just continue to ignore him. If he starts biting again put him straight back in the time out room immediately. It may take a few goes but I'm pretty sure he'll quickly figure out "I bite people = I get put in the boring time out place. I don't want to go into the boring time out place so I won't bite people." But for him to make the connection between biting and timeout you have to be quick off the mark and AS SOON AS he bites it's STRAIGHT into time out)
If you let him out and he just calmly joins you and your visitors, letting them pat him and things that's when you give LOTS and LOTS of praise.
Bad behaviour should be met with zero tolerance, don't talk or yell just silently pick him up and give him a time out. You may have to repeat this 3-4 times each time you have guests but I promise you it will work! Just be consistent. May be ask people to come round especially to train him. Explain to them before they come round what the situation is and that you're not being rude just walking off with your dog - you're training him.
This approach worked wonders for Dougal barking out of control when we went round to see friends. The first time he was timed out three times and then he was good. The second time we visited he only had to be timed out twice and now we don't have to time him out at all! (he does, however, know that "puppy purgatory" is a bad thing and if mummy says those words then he better mend his ways!)
As somebody else said earlier get him along to training classes - there's no such thing as too young to learn. Just spending 5 mins a day doing training, sit, down etc will make a world of difference. I also recommend the dog listener (Jan Fennell).
Sorry for the long post - hope this helps! |