Helppp! He Bites Really Hard!!!!

[Ritkaa]

Ok my Napoleon just turned 5 mo. and I love him to death. When he is calm, like with just me in the house, he is the perfect sweetest dog; but when people are around like my brother or my parents or my boyfriend, he goes nuts!
All my boyfriend has to do is walk in the door, and Napoleon grabs onto the bottom of his jeans and tugs and tugs and growls. When you go to pet him or touch him, he lips and bites your hand and he also bites the little skin that surrounds our feet and it hurts like crazy! =[. Is Napoleon ruined for good? will he ever stop this? I am losing my voice from having to scream 'no' at him and he listens for like 2 seconds and then goes back to what he was doing. Even if we try to ignore him, he wont care. Sometimes when I am in bed, i literally have to sleep under the covers because I am afraid he will bite me. I already have a scab in my nose because I went to kiss him and he nipped at my nose and made me bleed =[ why is he like this??? I know he is teething and his bottom front teeth just fell out but he has been like this for atleast 2 months now. ( I got him wen he was 8 weeks)

If somebody can help, I will definitely appreciate it!

[GeorgiesMomma]

He is teething and all is not lost. Georgie used to bite a lot more than he does now. I will tell you that I am not the best person to tell you how to stop it because Georgie still bites my fiance's socks when he plays. I guess we never really worried because he is 3 1/2lbs, but I am not suggesting that as a solution. I am sure other people can help you, but I am know that a stern "NO" or "OUCH" can help. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Ritkaa]

thanks for the reply...My Nappy is a full wonderful 9 lbs (at 5 months!) so he is a bit bigger and heavier than the other dogs but we still love him. Even if he does tear us to shreds...and our socks and pants for that matter...I just wished it would stop already, IF IT DOES PLAN TO STOP ANYTIME SOON!

[JeanieK]

Try snapping at him like another dog would. I did that to mine and he never chewed on me again.

[Lexi Rae]

give a bully stick to bite on instead

[rnnw62]

Since Napoleon is 5 months I would get him involved in some
obedience training. It will teach you how to use positive approaches
to get him to behave and listen to you. It will also introduce some
socialization to other dogs and people. I was never a big believer
in hiring trainers and doing obedience until I was faced with a problem
that just bewildered me. I loved my dog but the behavior was unacceptable
to the point it was either fix the problem or get rid of the dog. I wanted
to at least try and fix the problem and I am happy I took that approach
and didn't give up on my dog. Dog behavior is pretty complex but once
they understand what you want from them ownership becomes so much
more rewarding for both of you. Good Luck to you!

[teffiemoore]

No, its not a lost cause. Our Dori did the same thing when she was 4 mos until about 11mos, although the episodes did decrease as she arrived at 11 mos. We firmly said "No" about hundreds of time, she ignored us, we tried several different things, and finally one day I grabbed her little beard (not hard) but held on to it on each side with both of my hands, brought my face to hers and said "no" and held her there for about 10 seconds, she would back up and just look at me, I would walk off and she would just sit and watch me walk off. Then a period of a few days would go by and we would repeat.....eventually she stopped. Just sharing what worked for us. She is now 21 mos and she hasn't done this in a looong time.

[Dougal&Little]

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!

[Ritkaa]

Thanks so much for the posts guys...I will try what works.. which is anything!