Our dog is biting

[tickleyourpickle]

We got our lovely dog in October, he was a rescue but not from a rescue centre, we re-homed him from somebody getting rid of him. We got him when he was 12 weeks old.
Since we have had him he has been biting a lot. We have put the biting down to teething and he has lots of chew toys, antlers ect.

Cut a long story short, today, he has bit my DS, he caught him on his lip and there was blood everywhere, it was awful. DS was sat on the sofa watching tv at the time and the dog just jumped up and went for his face.
My DD also has a lot of scratches on her arms from where the dog has jumped up at her and bite marks on her hands.

I really don't know what to do, I have to put my children first, either they or the dog seem to be in a closed room at all times, the children are like prisoners in their own home and the dogs getting put away in a room. I don't trust him around them and it's making normal family life impossible.

Yes a qualified behaviourist in the home is important, but training classes are too so you, and the pup, can learn socialisation and basic training! All pups especially with novice owners should attend training.

There are loads of great resources on the FB group that LilCamper mentioned previously which will help you manage things until you can get a behaviourist out. Have a read of these (and the various linked articles/blog posts) in particular:

Raising a Puppy - the force free way to a happy, confident pup and a great relationship

Dogs and Children

Puppy Biting and Play

Unfortunately for some dogs squealing will ramp them up more.

Thank you for the links, I've just sent a request to join the fb group and I will have a look at the website links tonight when the kids have gone to bed.

My puppy knows the words "no biting" at which point she stops mouthing and licks instead!
Honestly OP at 5 months they all still mouth a lot, ours has just turned six months and the mouthing is calming down a lot, but she still gets over excited sometimes. Her main issue is jumping up, that is a flipping nightmare!

Ours did this until about a year old out of excitement or trying to play. It stemmed from a lack of socialisation as a puppy as he was removed from the bitch too young and didn't learn the correct bite inhibition.

We redirected constantly and were very firm that biting equalled time out. We also taught the settle command which has been a god send- go to your bed means exactly that so the children can play and he knows where to go. Mine still tries it now if he gets overexcited and he's 2!

I would rehome if your not confident enough to deal with it as there's nothing worse than a big mouthy dog and they get themselves in trouble!
The children and dogs should be seperated anyway if they aren't already, maybe put him on a house line so you can redirect him easily when he gets too much. Have you got a crate for him?