Puppy problem

newpuppymom, my first experience with the breed was much like yours - i adopted a pup that was supposed to be a lab/dalmation mix. she grew into a beautiful pit mix and i got hooked, lol. she was also quite a handful as a house pup, but it got better. as you can tell Texasbulldogs is the best person to talk with about this - his advice is good as gold.
your dog looks to me like he could have some pit bull or a related breed somewhere in the mix, but IMO this is all about puppy energy and one day you'll be glad you were such a patient dedicated owner. best of luck with him.

 

Thank you. We're trying...

The weekend went pretty well. We had a few instances where he ran after my son and bit him in the butt... but all in all, no outright chomps...

I've noticed him really listening - well as much as a puppy can listen. When jumping, we've been holding his paws. That seems to help. We really hold on until he's pulling pretty hard from us.. It only takes a few times and he learns. But, that doesn't mean he doesn't do it again an hour later, but it gets his attention. Second, when he bites, if I can, I've been holding his gums and saying no bite. Wow, he doesn't like that. He stops right away.

When we go somewhere, we take him with. It really seems to wear him out more. Friday ngiht we were gone from 5-8. We just brought him along and he stayed in the truck. He was good too... If we had kept him in his kennel, he would have been a wild man.

I've also been making him settle when he runs around the house frantic - like a wild man. It takes about 3-4 minutes holding him, but it makes him settle down. it's not just when he comes out of the kennel. It could start when I say NO BITE...

Also, fetch, fetch, fetch. Lots of it. I've been making him sit at my feet and drop it before I throw it again. That seems to help. No tugging allowed.

Thanks everyone for your comments.

 

You can settle your dog and teach dominance and trust on your part pretty easily. If you can get him (collar on) to chill out for a second lol, just take his collar and pull it towards the ground to where he is laying on his side. You usually don't have to pull it hard, but keeping him from squirming is the tough part. All why doing this say "easy" in a soothing voice. Get him to lay down on his side to where you can stroke his belly and then start saying, "that's a good easy. good boy. good easy" It ought to calm him down for a bit, and the fact that you are making him lay down and not be able to get up (and you being nice and stroking him for it) will help with some trust.

 

New puppy mom...lots and lots and lots of fetch may be exhausting for you, but you can see that it wears the puppy out and that is good. I'm stealing this quote from someone on this forum..."A tired (dog)puppy is a good (dog)puppy" Try to wear him out ..Did you try the pvc pipe with rope in it? I just learned about that in this post and wow, it's a great idea! Keeps the puppy's teeth away from your hands...
Also can you get some sort of professional trainer to observe the dog in your house?
It really concerns me as a mom, to hear you say the puppy is still biting your son. I dunno if it's puppy exuberance or an expression of I dunno what..dominance? alpha tendencies? I am always a big worry wart when I hear about big dogs biting little kids. I don't want to sound alarmist..well, yeah ...I do want to sound alarmist...be really careful...My brother got bit in the face by a dog when he was two years old(brother two, not dog) because my Mom trusted the dog to leave the kid alone. Well, you can't assume the dog is trustworthy, he's obviously not...There is all kinds of biting also, like puppy exuberance, just downright mean dogs, for whatever reason, instinctive prey chasing behavior and without having some sort of expert observe the dogs behavior no one can tell from your description what is going on with your pup. You already said you didn't feel like an expert and I'll admit...I'm no expert either...just a dog lover.
Just weight who means more to you...dog or son? Just to joke about a serious subject who would be easier to replace? your puppy or your kid? I feel some of you who post here and have more expertise than I feel like my comments are alarmist, but dogs that bite humans, even puppies, this is serious, especially when the dogs are biting kids ....
Is it possible for you to keep the dog separate from your son?
Did you try calling the humane society(where you got the puppy) to ask them if they could send a dog behavorist over to observe the dog and give you some advice?

 

Oh and DozerTBoldDog, what do you think if new puppymom has a leash on her pup and steps on the leash and pulls the leash through under her foot to get the puppy to lay down? It will keep her from having to get her hands near his little biting teeth. Umm, I don't know if my description is a clear one of the technique of stepping on leash and pulling it along under your foot to force puppy into a down, but if the puppy likes to bite it will keep your oh so unprotected bitable hands away from his teeth and if you keep your foot on the leash you can rub his belly with both hands. Of course, wear sturdy shoes and nice heavy pants! Does the technique description make sense?
Might be a good idea to keep a short leash on the dog at all times when he is loose in the house so you can grab the leash if you need to control him or step on it and protect your hands. I believe someone said this before...
Good luck! Be careful..keep us updated!!!!

 

Thanks for your comments. Let me answer a few questions.

No, I did not try the pole. I talked with my husband and we decided that jumping is not what we want to encourage right now... He's jumping on us, the counter, etc. I did get a laser pointer to chase and he likes that. Although he's already learning that he can't catch anything and loses interest quickly.

Dominance? Absolutely. It's dominance over my son. That's why in a previous post I mentioned that I've been doing the NO BITE and putting him in his kennel with a blanket over it... That seems to make it more clear that he did something REALLY wrong.

Yes, we do have him wear a leash all the time in the house. Yes, we use the leash to pull him down when being disciplined...

When I do the "settle", I repeated tell him "settle" in a quiet voice. It takes awhile before he gives in, but he does "settle" down.

Also, I'm noticing that when he's being disciplined, he flips on his back - which I realize is a "giving up" form of expression. So, that's good.

Trainer through the shelter? No. We got him from a company called Last Hope which is a small volunteer driven organization that places animals in homes. They were also the ones that told me that he was Lab and Boxer... Which is obviously not even close. I wouldn't trust what they say. They literally just want to get rid of the animals into homes. They don't do any kind of check with the adopting parents...

 

Laurajean: Yea I've heard of doing that - in classes they told us that was the alternative to get them to 'down' if doing it with treats wasn't working. I haven't done that, but I'm going to try here soon with my pup. He's too hard-headed and stubborn to do anything we tell him to, besides "speak" lol. And now he speaks to us the whole time we are eating because he thinks he will get some. These dogs are smart, that's true - yet sometimes I think they are too smart lol

newpuppymom: Are you using a prong/pinch collar?

 

well the command we use on our dogs is EASy cuz when you say it nice and long it sounds like your growling. they get to hear it about 2 or 3 times before they get popped. kind of try to keep my training to what mom woulda done to a misbehaving pup.

 

No we're not. I'm not sure if I want to associate discipline with pain right now...

 

Well when you are ready and if you chose to do so, many have found them to work pretty well. It sure did with mine. It only took a few pops of the collar to show who's boss and now when they wear it- they do not act up.

If you ever choose to try one, have a professional show ya how.

Once again - good luck with the little mischevious one!

 

I am becoming increasingly concerned about this puppy biting your boy. My rescue group just took a puppy back today because she bit the child of the people who adopted her. She didn't break the skin, but she left marks...I am just really uncomfortable about dogs that bite without provocation. Once again, please be careful, super careful with your son.

When I was walking my dog today I thought of a couple of other things to discourage unwanted behavorior. A cheap plastic spray bottle. Put it on stream and give the dog a blast when they are doing something you don't like. If plain old tap water doesn't discourage them, try mixing in a little vinegar or lemon juice. If they hate it...then after a couple of squirts just showing them the spray bottle is enough to make them quit whatever they are doing. Oh yeah and tell them no! My bf and I used this to keep Blue from jumping all over my lame crippled up old German Shepard. We let them together when we are in the room to supervise, but keep them apart when we are not around...
We fostered a passel of puppies this summer and we used a shake can. Take an old beer or soda can, put in some pennies or rocks, duct tape up the opening, and when the puppy is doing something not allowed(chewing on your electric cords comes to mind) shake the can. Some dogs don't care and other dogs hate the noise and will immediately stop what they are doing. It worked like a charm on a couple of the puppies, one could have cared less and just continued what she was doing.
I am attending a class currently with one of my rescue groups foster dogs. He is a pit mix-61 pounds-two years old. The class is all pits and pit mixes and super-oriented towards no negative corrections. It is fascinating. And their method works really well. We got twenty pits and pit mixes walking around each other in a parking lot.(On leashes, of course ,and we all use prong collars) However, it would be really hard to explain their technique via internet...Also I have only gone to two classes so am no expert. I fancy I can handle a dog agressive dog, but a human agressive dog gives me pause...
Pit bulls are not known for human agression, as a matter of fact my view is that they are remarkably tolerant of humans and will ignore a considerable amount of agitation from humans. Or respond with licks...lol...
The pup rolling on his back, belly up sounds good. I have been told that this is a sign of submission, so perhaps you are getting the upper hand. I would never be able, personally, to trust a dog that bit a kid around that kid or any other kid so old broken record me is saying again...be real careful and watch out for your kid like a hawk!
Good luck!!!

 

Laurajean,


Thank you for your comments. I agree with him staying away from my son. That was the very reason why I just about got rid of him. I didn't want the fear of not knowing if he'll turn on him or not.

Mostly, the issues that I have is that my son just can't sound mean. Also, my son also just wants to play and ends up laughing when he's saying "no bite" - which sortof defeats the purpose. So, when it happens, we're running to get there to floor him and put him in his kennel. My son also is just plain afraid of him and says oowww when he hasn't bit him yet... So, he's no angel either. We've literally just made sure we have the leash when my son walks by and I pull him back and say No - sit... I don't know if that's productive or not, but it atleast keeps him away.

I don't know how to get my son to do the disciplining... Would that make a huge difference? At this point, I don't know. If I just keep him away from my son, would he learn to stay away? Probably not...

I don't know how else to handle it.

 

May I suggest that your son do start doing the discipline (pls understand, i am no expert, only had a dog for 3 days now), because when the dog does get bigger it will be no use. dogs seem to grow a lot faster than kids do, and need to understand from the get go that the kid is boss. just my $.02

 

Just saw this and wondering if this dog is still in the house. I hope he is. I've heard alot of good advice here and just wanted to give my two sense. Consistency is the key to training. I don't agree with anyone who says you need to train your kid. My son could gouge out my dogs eye with his finger and they would grip and bare it... most likely lick (pit bull equivalent of tapping out). It is good you are keeping the leash on him in the house with his energy he needs to know you are within an arms length wether he be across the room or right there besides you. I also agree that the stay command is the best window to obedience. It is because of the focus involved in the activity. Probably my best advice to you is that all dogs are different, like people, and in order to train a dog, you must first have their respect or admiration, without that it is hopeless. Secondly, you need to learn to use a dogs better talents to train them more easily. If you have a dog that loves to fetch, he will be no better apt in his lifetime to listen or be trained than when he is waiting for his toy to be hurled. If he loves ice cubes, there will be no better praise in the world than receiving that cube upon completing a command well done, and you associate the hurling or cube with praise. Soon, he will love the praise as his cube or fetch. Dogs are really simple animals. What they demand, they will tell you. In order to well train a dog you must use its name, say a command no more than once before reinforcing the command, use positive stimulus to reinforce and practice reinforcing on a daily basis. The last thing you want to do is keep your son away from your dog. If there is to be an action necessary of discipline, let it be provoked in your presence. I would be more apt to move the cage into the boys room than to try to isolate the two. Chaining a dog to a tree won't teach him how to quit jumping a fence. It'll only teach him to head straight for it when he becomes unchained. In all, I hope things are going well. My first pit mix I had was in college. I hired a local trainer who did all the police k-9's for 30 years. He was inexpensive, because he loved what he did and his shepards were solid proof of that. Before I purchased my next pit I read 3 books on training, from basic obedience to guard dog training. Also majoring in psychology in college may have also helped give me inspiration. Probably the most important thing I can tell you is that you need to gain respect from this dog. Mothers bite their young on the face and cheeks to reinforce behavior, it wouldn't be a bad place to start. The best way to correct bad behavior is to try and provoke it and then reinforce. Your son should definately be involved in training no matter what others say.