in reply to James1 -We are feeding him butchers puppy food, the only thing is when we move our hands when he is biting he will just growl and bite your foot or arm,anything he can get hold of and won't let go. He does have a puppy cage which he sleeps in at night and during the day, he doesn't have much problems with using it, every now and again he holws for 30 mins at night but not for long.

mitch- it's a relief to hear your dog is fine now, i have visions of mine being an evil thing when he is older, also i agree with you on putting him in his crate thing,i did read it's best not to put him in there to tell him off.

wilfredo- i've heard a few people reccomend burns mini bites. Currently just using butchers puppy food, can you get burns mini bites from most supermarkets? appreciate the advice.

burrowzig- i am getting a stairgate tomorrow, and have a room to put him in, this technique i shall use as many have suggested it. thank you.

sarybeagle - that sounds bad, i know what you mean, you just do it over and over and over again but the puppy doesn't seem to get it, i guess we just have to keep doing it, lucky you with the puppy classes, i can't wait to get my little crocodile in classes but sadly have a number of weeks to wait. hope it goes well.

hutch and rona - thank you for the advice.

thank you everyone, you've all been a great help and it's reassuring that there are others out there going through the same thing.

I dont know the ingredients off hand with butchers but at a guess you could go well to settle the issues with a decent kibble. They will feel more full and have energy spread across the day rather than it coming in lumps at once. The chewing decreases because of the full feeling and you are able to make progresses as they are more attentive/ less distracted. Lots of the more commercial brands arent that good and do contain a lot of sugars that will send them into pocket rockets.

hi. some info on here, this may be helpfull.
The Dog Crate and Puppy Crate Specialist

w.canineconcepts.co.uk

sorry to hear you are going through this

we have the same cross of dog and ours is also 8weeks old and has yet to show any aggression
i hope you get a solution
x

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I really sympathise - my cocker pup was a total nightmare and would reduce me to the point of tears fairly regularly - OH's hands were scabbed and bloody for what seemed like ages (he plays with her using his hands much more than me though) - but we taught her bite inhibition over a period of a few weeks and she is a joy to be around now (most of the time!). We didn't resort to using the crate as a timeout, we foudn it was enough to exclude her from the room we were in for a few minutes.

Hello,
I would not be using the crate as a time out spot. You want the dog to associate the crate with good things so that he is happy being left in it with a stuffed kong or whatever.

I do think that timeout is a good idea though. I would maybe have the dog on a house lead and would lead them into another room, I'd then close the door, leaving the lead stuck in the door frame with you on one side holding the lead handle and the dog on the other side. Time out only needs to be 10 seconds if that, enough for the pup to learn, if you get OTT I'll pay no attention to you whatsoever. When you bring them back in, do not greet them like a long lost relative, everything has to be really CALM. One really important thing with high energy pups is teaching them to chill. I think randomly rewarding them (with food, treats or whatever) for calm behaviour (lying down in their bed, sitting quietly etc...) is a really good idea.

Another good thing is simply standing up and walking right away from pup when he gets OTT. I'd say "that's enough" and turn on my heel and walk right away from him, totally ignoring him. Some pups do get even more excited when you do this and may follow nipping, in which case, time out as above may be a good idea

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Totally agree with this!

Please don't put pup in his crate for timeout, crate should mean happy times like sleep or teatime or my little den time, then they are more likely to want to use it and want to be in it

Rupert got put the other side of the stairgate when he was too much, now its outside (a very rare occurence, maybe once every month, lol!).

Have you got an old lead or anything, and that way if pup is pulling on the lead and biting at it when you are holding it through the door/gate, you can just let go of it at the start so as to avoid a tug of war game if he tries to start one? He might not but my goldie did, silly bugger

Rupert's time outs ended up being 10 minutes as he has always been so incredibly relentless, but it is worth trying 10 seconds etc and then if he gets too hyped up when he comes out pop him back in for a bit extra until he clocks it

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Teaching Bite*Inhibition - Blog - fun4fido - clicker training for dogs

I found the above link helpful, not just the yelping but teaching the "off". He is really good at this now. We have 4 young kids so it was necessary to do this. Work hard at the "off" command, then "take it!" just as directed. It really does work.

aw I love the name rupert . yea his behaviour has got everyone in the household pretty down but we're the only ones who can change him so we'll persevere . thanking you all for the advice. I've got him a house lead now and the burns food . he also has a stairgate . fingers crossed he will change

thanks again people. very much appreciated