I love him dearly but my puppy is driving me nuts!

[ADragonIs4LifeNotJustHalloween]

He chews.
Everyone.

He has chew toys, chew treats, this that and whatever but prefers the taste of flesh. The children can't go near him although they want to pet him and play with him and he has to be penned if they want to go in the kitchen. He goes loopy and tries to bite me when I put his harness on to take him for a walk. He tries to bite me when I take it off again.

I have tried growling/short sharp shout when he bites but he goes loopy and tries to bite me when I grab him by the scruff (as advised on another thread!). A short shout stops him momentarily but he's immediately back trying to chew my ankles the next second.

If I take him on the school run to socialise, I have to want everyone that comes near him that he may chew their hands and then I have to intercept his mouth when he goes for them. (If I intercept with a chew toy, he goes for the hand holding it!)

I can't get to puppy classes as they are in the evenings and I can't haul all 3 SmallDragons out with me.

I know he's a puppy and I hope know he'll grow out of it but I am at my wits end.

He's wonderful apart from that though.

You need to let him know he is biting you with a loud ouch, then have a toy for him to have instead and praise him for directing his behaviour towards that instead. He will start to learn with a lot of repetition that you are happy when he has a toy and he will start to prefer that option.
It sounds like he is a very excitable pup and this is a lot to do with it. At home where possible if he is bouncing about excited with you do your best to 100% ignore him - ie no eye contact, no talking (even telling off) to him turn around away from him. Once he calms down (as you are effectively boring him) then you make the effort to pay some quiet attention to him to reward his calm behaviour. Slowly look at him move towards him and talk quietly, aiming to stroke him quietly. Initially this is going to be exciting again and you are not going to get very far at all before he will bounce everywhere. The moment that happens back off and return to the ignoring behaviour until he calms again. In time he will learn to accept he has to be still and calm before he gets what he wants in terms of the attention. It will be frustrating for you and it is going to take a lot of effort from you repeating this rather tedious routine until he starts to understand how things work, but it will in time make it better.

How old?

We have been going through this, life is improving though - 5 mths old.

We never stroke pup unless she has all 4 feet on the ground, preferably sitting.
was v young squealing like a hurt pup stopped her (for a few secs) but as she got older it just excited her.

I am now walking her every day into town and just sitting her next to me (im on a bench) I talk calmly to her and ask her to ignore people and stroke her if she stays sitting. It is improving, but very slowly.

I find with mine even turning away from her is giving her a reaction so we just stand still and make no eye contact, she will now sit when we do this ans i praise her for sitting. one dog trainer told me to not even think about her as dogs are telepathic .

mine now weighs 15kilos, so is a lump whereas before everyone thought she was so cute and wanted to stroke her all the time so she started to bark whenever we were out and people ignored her - the sitting in town is really helping.

I say off and ask her to sit if she jumps up, she is reliable at sitting so the is praised for doing well. if one just keeps saying no to them they are unsure what they should be doing - a bit like kids i suppose.

I carry a waterpistol in the garden if we are playing ball to squirt her if she jumps on the dc and I am across the lawn.

He's a lively and excitable 12 week old cocker spaniel, a baby still really. I wasn't expecting perfect behaviour from him yet but had hoped for a little hint that he may be improving. [sigh] He does need to learn/be taught that biting is unacceptable. Bounciness I can handle

He started so well - he ignored everyone who stroked him on his first couple of trips to school at 8 weeks old (I carried him).

Will switch to yelping, although I think the children already do. Anything seems to incite him to further loopiness, even prising his jaws off people/things.

It's difficult to ignore him as he simply settles at your feet to gnaw at your trousers and ankles (thank goodness it's boot weather!) Games do stop immediately if he starts biting though.

Thanks for suggestions

I happened to watch The Dog Whisperer last week for the first time, he was doing 2 rottie 6 mth old pups with biting issues. Although it says tecniques should only be followed if taught by a professional yadayada I did try the thing he did with them - I obviously do not have the right positive energy as my hound just thought I was playing and gnawed me more.

I do find the 'chh' he does instead of no actually makes her stop and look to see what the noise is.

I can't get to puppy classes as they are in the evenings and I can't haul all 3 SmallDragons out with me.

see if you can organise a babysitter/friends/parents to sit

our puppy (now 15mths) had weekly classes and they did work

Puppy classes are essential not only for training, but for socialising your dog and preventing problems in the future when you meet other dogs.

At 8 weeks pups are really easy. At 5 -6 months they can be sheer hell. Similar to a newborn baby compared with a toddler

I would really strongly recommend you sort out a way of getting to classes - you can't repeat this particular period of time when they need socialising and are at their most receptive to training.

is he learning other stuff ok? are you training him daily? if not, and/or if you're unsure about training I'd really recommend this book which shows you the principles behind teaching everything. once you get the basic principles you can apply it to everything.

Have you had a word with the vet about puppy classes to see if they know of a daytime one at all, mine was helpful in recommending one.

Hope things improve soon. We've had our 18 week puppy for two weeks and made it to our first puppy class last week. I went for an evening one in the end, got a babysitter and DH came. Much swearing from me as in the middle of nowhere and was impossible to find in the dark but we made it and to our surprise, really enjoyed it and it was worth the hassle of sorting a babysitter.

Many puppy classes encourage the whole family to go so that the training is consistent throughout the family. Often even the littlest kids make excellent dog trainers. Do go to a class it will make life much easier in the long run