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Out of Control Puppy!

by Ashlyn
(California)

Hi everyone, I have a thirteen week old Australian Shepherd, had him since he was seven weeks, and he just loves to bite and jump! I have a chunk out of my thigh (not kidding, it's the size of a pencil eraser!) thats all brusied and nasty from when he bit me. I have two cats and he loves to bite them too! I can't even touch him with out him biting, it's getting very stressful. I give him three walks a day but it's just not enough, can anyone please help?

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out of control puppy
by: Anonymous

This behavior happens, most of the time, because he was not enough time with his pack. When they spend enough time in their pack, they learn how to bite when they play. But don?t worry; he is still in a good age to learn this. You really have to be firm with him as soon as he tries to bite. Not after, just when he will do it and say NO. Moms in the pack will bite them over the mouth or their neck; you can try to imitate that by putting some pressure with your hand over his mouth. This has to be constantly and should never be let unpunished.
I hope this helps you. Good luck!

Biting pup
by: Anonymous

I know this sounds weird, and it feels weird to do it, but when your pup bites you YIPE like crazy and somewhat loud, like it hurt (which it probably does if biting that hard). You will see an immediate response as this mimicks the yipes that pups do when they bite each other. Again, it feels kind of weird to do, but it does work, especially when used along with other advice here.
Mike

Become alpha and your troubles will be over!
by: Anonymous

Both of those above are the two tactics I would suggest. We got our red merle girl at 7 weeks also, and I took the alpha role from day one. I would growl at her when she bit me and pin her if necessary. Sometimes I even growled AND would bite her muzzle with my own mouth. I know I was a little hard core but you should see what an awesome 2 1/2 yr old dog I have now! My point is, my wife couldn't growl so she took the other route and yiped loudly when she was bit. It worked for her but not near as well and it took a lot longer too. Given that your dog is 13 weeks, I would start enforcing yourself as alpha in all things right now before he gets too set in his ways. Try feeding him piece by piece straight out of your hand for every meal and ALWAYS eat your own meals FIRST, do not let him go through doorways ahead of you, and periodically pin him to the ground for no reason and hold him until he submits - even just for a moment initially, longer later. Check around for other tips to become alpha in your pack!

Note from Anton: While I agree with much of what you recommend I would caution against the "alpha roll" (as opposed to "alpha role"). This technique can be extremely dangerous. I just read about a woman who tried this with a German Shepherd and got a hundred stitches to her face. Here's more info on the "alpha roll".

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