Puppy biting and lunging

[Marlene]

Hi, my pup is a cross husky, German Shepherd, and staffy.

He is beautiful and responds well to his training. He is lovable, loves cuddle time and is generally great with people.

Loves his walks, is always smiling, at least I think he is. 

Except his biting is really frustrating, I play with him alot and try teach him not to bite but the more I say no bite when he is in the moment he just keeps coming and occasionally lunges as well.

He  has drawn blood a few times.  When we try to remove ourselves to give him alone time in these moments and come inside, he will not give you space so sometimes we have to lightly smack his bottom to get him away.

I don't like to do this as I'm scared it will cause a regression in all his training. And I don't want to use any aggressive training with him but sometimes just to protect us that's what happens. 

I'm sad and frustrated, I don't want him to grow and still feel that it is ok to bite as he will be a big dog.

Please some help will be appreciated. 

[Adrienne]

Hi there!

I agree with you, we definitely do not want use our hands to correct the puppy as this may lead to more problems down the road. A German shepherd puppy was once brought to me for defensive biting upon being touched, because a veterinarian told the owner to grab the puppy's muzzle every time he was biting. From playful bites, his biting turned into defensive biting because he came to associate hands with bad things. This puppy indeed didn't like to be touched anywhere and would nip to protect himself. 

To discourage biting, I like to encourage games that focus on creating alternate ways to interact with us and that involve as well some training. In these exercises, you can see how hands are used to interact in positive ways. Here are some games to play with your puppy to discourage biting. If your puppy draws blood, you may want to use thick gloves the first times to protect your hands. 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/

You can also find several more tips in the many threads on puppy nipping in this forum.As you can see this is a very common problem,  I am listing you some so you don't have to go searching for them.  It is good to read through the most challenging cases as they can give you several options to keep in mind as you navigate through the puppy nipping phase. 

 

You can also work on refining your pup's biting with these exercises which you can incorporate in your daily training:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/

For the yard problem, you state "When we try to remove ourselves to give him alone time in these moments and come inside, he will not give you space so sometimes we have to lightly smack his bottom to get him away."

I would suggest when you have to move away trying to toss a ball away from you, or toss some kibble scattering it around the floor so he can work on picking that up . If he is doing well with sit, you can also try asking a sit and giving a stuffed Kong to work on for some time. Be prepared  if possible with these items kept in your pocket so that you can redirect as needed. Let me know how these work for you.