looking after dog who bit my dd!

[bridewolf]

we are looking after my sil dog, while she is on hols.

dog is young, but has no real training that i can see.

it bites feet , esp when out walking, but can also do this at home. its all a game to dog, but it leapt up and bit my dd mid calf on one leg.
and is continuing to try and bite everyone else, doesnt hurt when wearing shoes,but still doenst seem to stop. if pushed away (as you do when a dog his hanging on your ankle) seems to enjoy the challenge and charges back.

also , been advised not to use the word no..so we stick to 'bad shoes' in a firm voice, to no avail really, just encourages the game.

am trying a water spray, but am worried that a older puppy is still totally untrained.

have put down the poo and wee thing in the home because he is in a new environment.
little disapointed in the climbing on my table licking cutlery and plates, and athough not terribly houseproud..........does like to bite holes in carpet.
taking to walking dog for a hour long walk 3x a day, still full of energy.

can be loverly at times, needing human attention and rubbing belly ,ears etc, but if you choose to stop , it goes and 'mouths' you when you move away or stop.

does understand 'sit' for 3 seconds for a treat, so must be trainable.

however, am really worried about the biting, doesnt have a muzzle (it goes for your hands anyway when you put the lead on, dont how i would put one on him) , and now dont let my kids take him for a walk. worry about other children, who might approach a sweet looking fluffy puppy.

how do /should i tell sil that her furry baby is dangerous?

big arguement with hubby who thinks i am being unreasonable and that sil should not have to cancell her hols or pay for kennel.

have tried to gently press bottom on dog to sit, and did not get a good response.

am really pissed off, stupid teen son played with dog, and its ended in biting.

in fact most dog type fun activies end in a nip or bite threat.

i dont want this dog in my house, and hubby says we should put up with it.

i dont give a monkeys about the loss of three cushions , the constant pee puddles on floor, or even small hole in carpet (can cover) its the biting , its dangerous. imo

I agree with you - it's obviously had no training and it's not really up to you to have to start. Especially if it doesn't take to it too well!

I actually think you SIL was out of order expecting you to look after such a badly behaved dog. My neighbours looked after my first dog when she was 6 months old as we had already booked a holiday. She certainly didn't behave like that. We had done 6 weeks of puppy classes and she could sit, lay etc. We had even trianed her at that point to leave a piece of sausage if we put it on the floor in front of her. And she was fully hosue trained - even in an unfamiliar house.

You may have to grin and bare it for the sake of family relationships but never again!

has bit my dd again.

dog doenst seem to understand any words, even when we praise him. its bloody sad really, when it sits still and waits for something (ok 2 seconds etc) i am saying 'good boy'!etc, and it hasnt a clue.
so equally, a firm voice has no impact either.

does have odd mix of dogs in it, german shephard, sausage dog thingy , and bit of jack russell.

so am wondering if the latter type is making its mark on his doggy genes.

have no idea how i am going to carry on with a dog like this.........

Your sil sounds like a crap owner and I can just see this dog going to rescue through no fault of it's own. If I were you, I'd do the asking her which kennels she wants you to put it in.

oh poor you!
i have a jack russell, and i can give a few pointers:

its okay to say no. its okay to use any word, best if its one syllable, but be consistant.
when ours was a puppy, we always followed up the 'no' with some physical act. this usually was a tap/whack on the nose, and then we cornered him off in his bed.
i think having the physical unpleasant association helps.
so when you praise him, you stroke him.
when he does something wrong, you make sure he gets a tap or whatever you decide to do and is taken away from the fun.

CONSISTANCY is key. you need to make sure everybody in the family knows how to deal with the dog, so get them all together and lay down the rules, so they will remember.
if they let him get away with stuff, the puppy will keep doing it.

i often felt very strict training our dog, but its paid off, even if he is now old and grumpy at least he's trained!

also, maybe confine him to your kitchen, if you have lino or tile in there if you are getting leakages. unavoidable with puppies, but maybe encouraging him towards the kitchen should help with it? ours ruined our carpet....we put a sofa over it

but puppies are extremely rewarding if it all ends up okay, and your kids need to have positive connotations towards dogs and realise that THEY are the ones in control, not the puppy!

good luck!!

I think your sil has been really thoughtless, leaving her delinquent pup with you. She should have booked a holiday that her dog could join her on. It's her dog after all!

My pup is 6mths old and she's not behaving like that.
I think the puppy should be house trained by now and should have gotten over the snappy, bitey stage too. Has she done any training at all?

To train a dog you need to teach it the meaning of the words you're using, including the meaning of praise. Lure the puppy into a position using a small piece of food, at the moment it's in the right position say the word, and give the titbit. Timing is important, as is repetition.

This puppy isn't dangerous, but it is out of control. The biteing is probably due to over excitement and no manners being taught to the dog.

YANBU to think about calling your sil about it IMO. This is her dog and her responsibility. If she puts a bit of effort into making him more socially acceptable, maybe you could tell her you may consider having him another time.

Just a thought, but if you are thinking of puting her into a kennel, do you have her papers/passport etc because no kennel will let you board a dog without proof of vaccinations etc. Poor you OP, it sounds like a nightmre

oxocube , you have a good point, never thought of that....

am going to take photos of the bites , just so that she really understands the situation. although i am sure her children are sporting marks already.

for all that the puppy looks so bloody sweet and cute.
which makes all this even harder to cope with.

at least being a 'teen' dog he only humps his toys and bedding...........i should be grateful for small mercies.

I assume then that this dog only started doing this when you started looking after him? I say that because I am giving you the benifit of the doubt that you are not mad enough to take on a biting dog to look after when you have young children?? Why couldnt your sister put it in kennels?

no, we knew the dog was 'nippy' mouthy when younger, but thought that was gone, and when owner mentioned it , it didnt seem like frequent, major problem.

i have more experience with older dogs, not puppys.

and my kids arent too young, god, i shudder to think what damage it would do to a very young kid.

how old is the dog? how big is it? I have a jack russell terrorist and he is a little star, i trust him 100%. When he was about 16 weeks or so he started growling, i was and my friend suggested just picking him up by the scruff of the neck and putting away from me. I was but it worked. All dogs puppy bite, but its how they learn that its unacceptable. You are not going to be able to modify this dogs behaviour in two short weeks, if it is a big dog i wouldn't entertain it - get it in kennels. If you don't have its vaccination certificate you can get the kennels to phone its vets for confirmation that it is vaccinated.

its 6 months old.

we only have him for one week.

he isnt big, but is pretty strong.

If this puppy isn't taught about bite inhibition, he'll end up with a doggie ASBO. Or worse. Unfortunately, you are unlikely to make much headway with the necessary training in a week. Especially if the dog now appears to have a "nippy" reputation which wasn't tackled properly at the right time. I feel as sorry for the dog as I do the OP and her family, though since I can't see a happy outcome.

Hi, the attention span of a puppy is only a few seconds so you have to react quickly otherwise the puppy will not associate the action and reply. I would suggest you DO use the word 'No'. Whenever the dog bites someone grab it immediately by the scruff of the neck - which is where its mother grabs it. Shake from side to side a little to mimic the mother's action and almost growl 'NO', short and sharp and quite loud, making absolutely sure that you and the puppy are in eye contact. Do this everytime the puppy does something that you disapprove of, especially the biting which really must be stopped. Jumping up, grabbing food, getting on tables are all behaviours that the puppy must realise are forbidden. Chewing things is common at the moment as the teeth erupt and should stop in a few months.

Keep an eye on the puppy, most defaecate a few minutes after a meal and can be recognised as the puppy starts circling just beforehand.

If you can do this your sil will hopefully continue and end up with a well behaved dog that is a real treat and lovely companion. If she does not, then you should be wary of leaving your children alone with it.

Good luck!

Be a bit thoughtful about "scruffing" pups. You aren't the pup's mother. Personally I dislike these very physical chastisements because they can easily teach the dog that the human hand is something to attack before it attacks you.

I agree with Pikelit and am quite frankly appalled by the suggestions of hitting a puppy or picking it up by the scruff of the neck or 'scruffing' it. Mothers DO NOT do this to their puppies at all. Nor do they 'nip' them. Mothers can easily reprimand their puppies without any need for physical contact at all.

Rough behaviour from a human might stop the behaviour for now, but it might also make it worse and it might also be storing up problems for the future. A puppy is unlikely to react veyr badly to being scruffed, but what happens when you have an adult dog that reacts one day by biting as it thinks it is in danger from a human?

I feel very sorry for the OP as they clearly don't have the experience to deal with an dog that behaves like this. I strognly suggest the dog is kept seperate from the children for now with a stargate or similar until it is collected. I also though feel extremely sorry for the dog who clearly hasn't even had the most basic of training and is unlikely to get it in the future. That also means it is likely to be rehomed or even end up being put to sleep, (let sface it, owning a puppy like this isn't much fun, an adult dog behaving the same way is even less fun) and all because it's owners couldn't even sort out basic puppy behaviour.

My 9 week old pup nips the two younger kids but v rarely me. They are doing 'ignore and turn away and immediately stop the game' which seems to be working. We all do the yelp thing to try to imitate another pup's reaction to unacceptable behaviour which sounds quite funny really I appreciate that this is not your dog though and feel sad for you and the dog that you have to put up with this.

oxocube we do that you have just suggested, but really we have gone behond that, just now older son invited friend over.

the dog is really behaving agressively, obviously thinks its protecting us, but is acting as though he will bite him.

they are out of the dogs way for now........but am jumping up and down and checking all the time.

if we cant say no to it, (its doenst understand any tone of voice really to be honest) or shake it, or push it away, etc.

what do you do with it? just keep locking it away?

i am soooo stressed out by this thing.

If it was your dog, I would be suggesting other methods, but it is not yours and not wit you for long, so yes, shutting it away from the children temporarily is the best solution.

I really, really, really doubt the pup is being aggressive. When pups, especially older pups, get excited they really can sound aggressive. I have had visitors to litters of puppies who are convinced they are fighting aggresively, but it is just play. We have a rescue/foster pup here who today got excited about a visitor who was saying hello to him over the stairgate and she really thought he sounded aggressive and said 'it's lucky I'm not scared of dogs' but he was just very excited and because he is a SBT cross he is very vocal. Terrier types and crosses are. (slightly aside, but this pup had a biting problem when he came to us and managed to draw blood more times than I can count in the first week or two we had him, he is now fine)

It's not that you can't say no to it, it is merely that it is pointless. The dog doesn't speak English, it hasn't been taught basic commands and it won't understand what you are saying.

The problem is so exaggerated because what was basic puppy behaviour and got out of hand and been inadvertantly made worse, much worse by the sounds of it.

I think you should refuse to have the dog in future unless your SIL gets some proper professional help and training for the pup. Something that will benefit the dog, your SIL and yourself if you end up with the dog again.

i understand what you mean, he is a young dog, but, hasnt yet learned at that human flesh is not for biting.

have a photo of the bite on my dds leg, and you can clearly see the bruises in the shape of upper and lower jaw.

i dont care if this is just a dog having puppy fun, because he has never been tought to not bite, he is in fact not safe.

i have just again removed the dog, as he nipped my dd because she didnt give him some of her chocolate. obviously his family give him stuff all the time, and am now fairly certain the kids feel they HAVE to , or it will nip them.

my hubby is fed up with me calling him about the dog, and wont call his sister to do something about this, and so i am the evil one who will have do something about this, or i can just put up , shut up and take my kids to the hosptial when it bites severely , or more on the cards today, my older boy has a bite on his hand that is starting to look infected.

i am cross that i am in this posistion and that my sil is not a resposnible dog owner.

when she and her family come to pick up the dog , i will not be there, because i am going to cause a stand up row , that will never be repaired.

I don't really understand why you are still allowing the dog contact with your children? That is unreasonable, IMO, to both the dog and your children.

It is not the dogs fault it is like this, nor is it yours, but having the dog in the same room as your children, especially when they are eating, is asking for trouble.

Why haven't you seperated the dog from the children?

I would keep him totally separate.

I second midori's comments. Separate the dog from the children before things get even sillier and bitier. The dog, believe it or not, cannot help his behaviour. You and your children can.

he has spent the best part of the day in a room alone, but its a 'through' room if you get what i mean.

the snapshots of what i have been explaining have happened in the brief times he has contact , ie getting ready to take for a walk, letting the door open to the garden etc etc.

it can be friendly, am aware it doenst understand. and am keeping the dog away from my kids. dog is getting lonely though.
its going to be a long week for it.

Has your Dh spent anytime dealing with the dog and the kids together? It might help him understand what a nightmare this is. Your sil should know what a big favour she's asked of you and it would be better if your Dh could explain it.

I do feel for you and I feel for the poor dog. The future doesn't look good for him with an owner like that!