Help! New Arrival, Bitting problems!

Late last night a friend showed up with an american bulldog puppy
(7 weeks old). He took it from somebody for 200$ and like a fool, he had not checked to see if he would be allowed to keep it 1st. I accepted it because i cant stand seeing a puppy goto a home that wont be able to care for it propperly. now this morning i am seeing him wide awake for the 1st time. hes a really handsome guy white with tan patches, and full of spunk. the problem i am encoutering is that he bites non-stop. litterally.
He also doesn't seem to respond to a firm no! or sharp sounds of disspleasure. i'm not even close to giving up on him, or even thinking of it for that matter. I do need some advice however as where to begin and how to start training him. I'm not sure that ill be able to house break him till i get him to understand what no means. i just don't know

i really wish i had a cpl months prior to research the breed, unfortunatly I didn't. so any links with American Bulldog info would be much appreciated, and comments. I need all the advice i can get.

thanks much in advance.

 

Hi and congratulations on the new addition.

When the puppy bites usually a loud Ouch and turn away and ignore the puppy usually helps.

There is also the water method which is where you use a small water gun or water spray mist bottle and every time the pup bites squirt him this method can also be used in house breaking problems but it must not be seen that your doing the spraying.

Here are some links i thought might be of interest to you...

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/americanbulldog.htm


http://www.dogproblems.com/clicksecrets ... =alternate

http://www.sitstayfetch.net/?hop=alternate

http://www.dogtrainingzone.com/?hop=alternate


Mike

 

My dachshund Zoey went through that biting phase and I finally got some bitter apple and set her up. I sprayed my hand and let her go at it. When she'd stop, I'd give her a toy to chew on. She finally stopped, or maybe she just grew out of it??

 

We taught ranger by bopping him on the nose with a loud firm no at the same time. It worked pretty quickly.

 

Here is a great article on teaching bite inhibition:
http://www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/berner1/bitestop.htm

 

I think you can teach both at the same time. If you crate train him, then (hopefully) you shouldn't have to say no only praises for going outside. but that is also very ideal. Someone once told me to hold your hand around the top of their mouth and then the skin form the side of their mouth goes inside their mouth and they accidentally chew on it and realize how uncomfortable it is. but I don't know how humane that is. or if it works.

 

My Honijade was like that... even a firm tap on the nose couldn't get her to stop... We finally resorted to biting her back... ONE TIME each and she was DONE! We didn't even bite her that hard either...LOL... The shocked look she gave was priceless but it might be worth a try if the rest isn't working... May have to do some dominance exercises too... AB's are dominant and VERY energetic...

 

I second Nern's article - it's my favorite article on bite inhibition: http://www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/berner1/bitestop.htm

 

Oh yes, the other thing we would do for ranger, when he went through those phases where he seemed to have forgotten all he was taught was grab simply teh upper part of his mouth and gentrly press on the top. i don't know how well that would work on a bulldog though, lol.

 

tks much for all your replys. the watergun thing seems to work. hes starting to understand no, but his will is strong. I'm going to start the biting him back approach today. i figure a consistant mix of the two will work.
sooner rather than later i hope.
I appreciate all your responses. Ill keep u posted on his progress.
tks much.

 

I know this isn't my thread, but I too wanted to thank you for posting those bite articles!

Chloe may be little but those little teeth are like needles! And she seems to think toes and fingers make great chew toys. She looked so shocked when everyone started yelling "Ouch!!!" over dramatically when she bit and hurried away from her :lol: So hopefully soon she'll realize what she's doing isn't very nice puppy behavior.