Our new spoo is a delightful dog, but we are having a REALLY hard time with his biting, especially of our toddler. Our preschooler has done a pretty good job of learning to deal with it and my husband and I are very consistent in saying "no!" and withdrawing attention. But my 2 year old is completely unable to learn how to deal with him at this point and completely ineffective when she tries. I want her to scream a bit when he bites to startle him (and I read this is effective as it's more how he is trained within the litter) but she refuses to do it. I am just at a loss as to what else to try and he's bitten her arms good enough to leave little welts several times now. He still has two more parvo shots before I can take him to obedience class as well.
Here's what I've tried (I suspect he's just thinking of her as an equal and not as alpha to her):
- Disciplining him myself when he nips at her - I always do this no matter what, but I think it prevents him
- Picking her up and "walking" her through him (from a suggestion via a dog expert I know)
- Trying to teach her what to do - not working, she's just too little and does everything wrong (like flapping her arms, which just riles him up)
- Grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and putting him on the floor
- Putting him in the other room behind the baby gate when he gets wild to force the withdrawal of attention from the kids when he's doing it, I like the attention withdrawal aspect, but again, this is not establishing my daughter's position over the dog and sometimes it's not practical
I have another baby due in August and I can't have him biting my toddler all the time so I really need some help finding something that works. I am frustrated beyond belief!
Here's what I've tried (I suspect he's just thinking of her as an equal and not as alpha to her):
- Disciplining him myself when he nips at her - I always do this no matter what, but I think it prevents him
- Picking her up and "walking" her through him (from a suggestion via a dog expert I know)
- Trying to teach her what to do - not working, she's just too little and does everything wrong (like flapping her arms, which just riles him up)
- Grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and putting him on the floor
- Putting him in the other room behind the baby gate when he gets wild to force the withdrawal of attention from the kids when he's doing it, I like the attention withdrawal aspect, but again, this is not establishing my daughter's position over the dog and sometimes it's not practical
I have another baby due in August and I can't have him biting my toddler all the time so I really need some help finding something that works. I am frustrated beyond belief!