I'm not an expert, but my 5 mo. old puppy was getting very aggressive when we would try to put her back in her carrier after an outing. She bit my hands quite badly. So I decided to take a page out of Cesar Milan's book (not literally his book as he has one out) who has a show on the National Geographic channel. I've watched many of his episodes involving agressive dogs, particularly toy breeds as they tend to get neurotic when treated like little humans.
His method is to grasp the dog's upper shoulder (right around the shoulder socket) very firmly using your thumb, index and third finger and then push the dog onto it's side and hold firmly until the dog calms down. Now I'm not talking about digging your fingernails in, but this is supposed to simulate a bite as the mother dog would do to correct her puppy. So you do have to dig in a bit like you are biting. The left shoulder seems to work best for some reason.
I did this when my puppy got aggressive last time, and it worked like magic! She yelped once, and I let up, and she has never bit me again! She will lick my hand occasionally but the minute she threatens to bite, I say "eh-eh" to her in a "no-no" kind of voice and she immediately backs off.
If you don't succeed with this, I would get Cesar's episodes on DVD (available from various sources, and also in libraries) and watch his technique, and if all else fails, I would email him on his website and ask what else you can do. He doesn't give up on dogs that everyone else has given up on.
Good luck on this! |