13 week old westie - gets very hyper and bites moving feet which is very painful. No noises or words can make him stop. He just continues and continues. He growls too. His teeth are so sharp and this is becoming a big problem. I know he is a puppy and they do like to bite heels etc, especially when teething, but there is just no way to stop him. If you try to walk away from him, as many books suggest, then he'll just run after you and carry on biting our feet. Sometimes standing still will make him stop biting, but mostly he will continue. It's easier to bite a non moving object. Please can anyone who has been in this situation give me some advice, or if any westie owners can help us through this difficult stage then please get in touch. We are starting to despair a little. He can be a lovely little boy. When he's calm!

Another thing he does is sometimes he will turn his head and snap when you go to stroke him. Especially when he's hyper. We do not have any children in the family, but I would still want him to curb this behaviour in case of any future contact with children.

hope someone can help!

Have you tried bitter apple spray? Or training classes?

What are you feeding him?

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hi

you need to be constitent with how you treat him when he does it at the moment he sees it as a game when you walk off.... if it was me personally i would stay still ( i know it might hurt) lift him away from your feet and say no very firmly and keep repeating this ( and makes sure EVERYONE does this) he should soon start to learn - as you said your self hes very much a puppy and puppies do get over excited!!!!! this should be a way of just saying hang on there calm down...... hope this helps...... just be patient, persitent and consitent.....

susie

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my puppy did all these things too she'd snap sometimes when you stroke her but we say her name and tell her the off command, at first it didnt seem to work but we kept doing it and she still mouths but it doesnt hurt anymore, also she gets excited and tries to bite our feet and jumps up to bite us we still use the off command but if shes too excited we put her in her crate till she calms down and that usually works just percerveer and he will eventually stop.

Try not to pet your pup when it is excited as this can lead them to be in that state all the time. I would only give affection when it is calm and relaxed.

As you say you have to nip this in the bud, I would firmly tell him off and if he doesnt stop remove him to his crate or another room and ignore him until he is calm. The same if he snaps when you are petting him, only show him affection when he is calm. My terrier absolutely hates it if you ignore him and if he has a row he sulks for ages so we leave him alone until he comes out of it himself and then make a little fuss, he is now 18mnths and is very good except he will growl at strangers and is a bit territorial, but I tell eveyone to ignore him and he calms down quickly and goes to his bed. Good luck

I have a 10month old so quite recently went through this. Under advice from my trainer I put a house lead on him and when he did nip I would put him in time out ( 20 seconds in a room alone with lead trapped in between door.
I found this very effective after time as one thing that pups of this age value amongst all is your attention. Hope this helps.

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