FeliciaMaida

Good morning, my eight month old pup has discovered squirrels and chipmunks and rabbits. How do I distract him when in the yard, or walking? My yard is not fenced in so when I take him out he is always on a leash and looking/smelling for them to the point where he doesn’t even want to play ball in the backyard so he can run around. Which we always did and he loved. Know he has no interest! (I keep him on a 40 foot leash so he can run) At night when the rabbits are out the most and he has to go out for his last potty before bed he literally pulls my arm off trying to chase them. Because it’s at night I don’t see them but I know he smells them. When we are walking most of the time I see them before he does so I can brace for it. But I really need to know how to control him and get him to play ball/fetch once again. Any thoughts and suggestions you have would be very welcome.

These are all great suggestions that I believe will work!! Thanks you so much!!! I am especially happy to hear you are not a fan of the “tree” so many people have told me to do that and that is exactly what he does, he bites harder and jumps and he bites anywhere he can if we turn our back and ignore him. I will keep you posted

Good evening, Need some advice on how to stop the nipping that happens out of the blue? We play tug of war, we hide treats, we ask him to “leave things”, we have him go to his bed ( he still gets up without waiting for his cue 🙄), and then we will just be standing in the kitchen whether it be cooking or doing dishes and he just comes up from behind and starts nipping. Also when my husband is sitting in his chair at the end of the day the dog will go and bite his toes just out of the blue. He’s not excited or crazy he just walks over and bites. Needless to say this is extremely frustrating and we really need some one to help/guide us on how to stop this. Any suggestions are welcome as we don’t know what else to do.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I did find that giving him something to chew on/ eat was helpful. But when he finished he went back to the same behavior. I don’t feel that feeding him the whole time my guests are present is a positive thing. Also I have to attend to my guests and can’t “play games with him”. The problem I have with a tether is he will chew on the leash out of frustration and he can jump gates. So my only option is the crate. I’m feeling defeated with all of your suggestions and do appreciate your help. I’m just not sure this kind of training is helpful for him. I am hoping once he gets neutered he may calm down a bit

Thanks for the information above. I will work on your suggestions. Although you suggest when I have company to keep my dog away until he settles. Yesterday we had a small get together for my daughters graduate school graduation. My parents and my in laws came over, both in their 70’s. Needless to say my pup was super excited. (This is the first time he has met them due to covid) I kept him on the leash and told him off and offered him treats. As soon as he was done eating the treats he went back to repeating the same behavior. As this was not working (thinking I can’t just stand there and feed him) I then removed him from the situation and put him in his crate to see if he would calm down. He was crying and barking, he was in the house, we were outside and we could hear him. After about an hour he still did not settle down and when I let him out he was just as excited, if not even more because he was stuck in his crate. He was extremely thirsty (from all the barking) so I let him have a drink and brought him back outside with the treats. We walked around the yard staying away from my guests and when I wouldn’t let him near them he started jumping up and nipping at me. I could tell he was very frustrated that I would not let him near them. How do you handle a puppy that cannot settle down even when taking him out of the situation? Felicia

Morning, We have been working on keeping him busy with games,treats, etc and I have been keeping up with the games you have mentioned above. The problem is it does not seem to be working. For instance as soon as I let him out of his crate in the morning and try to pat him to say hello he starts right up with the nipping. He settles when I say “let’s eat”. He can be eating his food and someone will come into the kitchen , he will stop eating jump up and start nipping, after telling him “off” and throwing his food down he will then go back to his food and finish. Then ofc he wants to play when he’s done. Which we do, then we will be playing a game of tug of war (with me) while my daughter is watching, she will leave the room then he will immediately stop playing with me and run after her and nip at her. Thoughts on why or how to get him to not do this? This is what seems to be his MO with most things (even after a long walk and we get home, my husband will walk through the door and again he jumps and nips) happens mainly when he is excited or wants attention and what I need to stop. Going back to the morning routine, it doesn’t make sense to put him back in his crate seeing that he was just in there for 8 1/2hrs. Would love some more suggestions. Thanks, Felicia

He is a mixed breed. They call them Cununcu’s from Aruba. When he had his puppy teeth we tried everything! Saying “ouch”, giving him toys, telling him “no bite”, putting him in a different room, keeping him on leash amd pulling him away. You name it we did it! Now that he is older when he gets excited he will bite us anywhere he can. (Hands, ankles, pants, shorts, bum) Especially when we come home he jumps and bites. He does not draw blood and there is no growling he knows how hard to bite and I believe it is to play or for attention. So we can redirect him for the most part but with company after he greets them (no biting) and he is comfortable he will just go up and bite. Again I think for attention which he gets plenty of! My kids are 24 & 21. So when he does it to them they can tell him no and redirect but I really need to figure out how to stop him doing this period. He went to a puppy class and did great. He knows all the basic commands (sit, down, wait, look at me, still learning re call, touch, place, leave it, he is smart but I am seeing a little regression right now,Teenager? and working hard to continue with his training) but he is very high energy! We play and walk at least 2 miles/day. So he does get energy out and has plenty of toys to boot!!! Hoping this helps and you have some suggestions on how to stop this behavior

Hi, I have a 6 month old rescue from Aruba. He has always been mouthy but we thought once his puppy teeth fell out he would get better. He did not respond to the “ouch” or redirection at all. Now when he gets excited or he wants something he nips/mouths at us and on any body part (bum,ankle, arm,hands). He also does this with company. How do I get this behavior to stop? He does not hurt or puncture skin but no one likes his teeth in them.