Hello Barbara,

Thanks for all the advice. I also learned the mussle or throat thing from the Monks of New Skete, where they suggest that. As far as his training, I don't think I'm asking to much of him. I'm only using a clicker, and he is having fun. These are short, short training sessions and he is having fun. There is no stress put on him ever, and he gets 99% more bonding time than training time. I was just confused over the biting, I'm getting conflicting info and I'm not sure who to listen to. The book, and advice about the mussle doesn't work. So, I'll try the redirect, redirect, redirect approach and say thanks for the advice, something has to work. Thanks again...

Of course this is over a week later, he has calmed in biting a little, but like you said, still a pup. He will be 12 wks tomorrow. I haven't taught him more than I already mentioned, we just work on that a few minutes, but really he just gets it so it's not even work, it's just something he looks forward to. Thanks again...

I teach obedience at Petco. I'm embarrassed to admit it but its really hard to break into the dog training community around here unless you are a cop. That's the big thing in my area- retired K9 handlers teaching obedience. But anyway... It was a way for me to start somewhere back when I was only 18 years old. I try to make the most of it, try to separate myself from some of the other num-nums that teach at superstores.

But anyway, what I'm trying to say is; obedience at places like Petsmart and Petco aren't ALWAYS a complete loss- if your pup is really good at basic obedience, then it would be great to go through the course as a "distraction phase". And its always great for socialization. Even if you've gotta take what they're saying with a grain of salt. The more exposure you can give that pup to training in different environments the better!

Wow I feel like I just came out of the closet. I really just want to hide now

My dear friend teaches at petsmart, and she is wonderful. So it really does boil down to the trainer no matter where you find them.

I know that she is more than willing to let people come and watch a class or two to see if it is right for them, ask around!

 Quote: Jessica Pedicord

Wow I feel like I just came out of the closet. I really just want to hide now

Be the best you can be, where ever that is, and you never need to apologize. Good for you!

Wow, I started this off with a little guy who is turning 3 months old tomorrow, has that much time passed? WOW! Thanks everyone for your help. This forum is really great for finding a place to ask questions and not feel so totally alone. This puppy means the world to me, I picked him with great care because of my family needs. He has been tethered to me from day one, spends 2 hours in the crate a day, and for the rest follows me from room to room and goes everywhere I go. Now when I stand up to leave the room he just follows, he is really a great puppy, very calm, sweet and just seems to catch on, I teach with a clicker and he just gets it, has fun and I love him to peices.

My only problem with him is the biting. Not so much me, but my 7 year old daughter, he is wagging his tail so I'm confused but he is getting better. He still is so young, 3 months is not very old, though he's HUGE for 3 months lol I just can't say thanks enough to everyone for all their help I have really enjoyed joining this group. Thanks for all your responses, I just hope I'm doing the right things for the biting, and hope it's just puppy phase.

Angelique, do you have the option of taking your daughter to the training classes with you so that she can watch?

I see a lot of dogs that are nippy/pushy with kids just because they aren't corrected when they do it and they know they can get away with it. When kids play with puppies (or dogs) and they are getting mouthed on the normal reaction is to squeal, flail, or run away- all of which is just a prey-drive triggering behavior for the pup.

If you can't bring your daughter to class with you, I suggest supervising playtime and/or training sessions between your daughter and the puppy so that you can be there to give direction to your daughter when she is getting mouthed on. You can verbally coach her "Turn around when he jumps on you, cross your arms when he bites you"- things like that.

The reason why he's wagging his tail is that its a fun game. This is something you need to put a stop to. Redirect him with toys and so on. All in a positive manner, btw. These are these things the whole family needs to work on together. I catch our 10 year old (and my husband for that matter) encouraging bad behavior from Dom like jumping or rough play- which is why I make it a point to hover anytime anyone wants to play with him. I'm not going to separate them completely because I want him to have a good relationship with the whole family. So I just give pointers and stop bad behavior right away from people and dog alike. This might not be how everyone else here would handle the situation, but it has worked for me so far.

These are all great ideas, he is already doing better with proper instruction from the forum on how to redirect. I guess I wasn't doing it right, not making the toy fun enough.

Teaching my daughter to say no, instead of squil it. Thanks everyone for your help. We have made a lot of progress in the last few days.

Tomorrow he turns 14 wks and he weights 36 lbs. My daughter is 7 and weights 44 so I'm glad I'm on a better path now. Thanks again for everyones help.

If my daughter could type she would offer a very sweet thank you too, to everyone who helped, because she is sitting with the puppy now after his playtimes, and not beging eaten!!! We are finding better times for her to be with him, which has her smiling so much. She is so excited over the last few days of progress. So thanks again from not just me my my little girl who wants to be close to the puppy too

I really wish I could figure out how to place a picture of the puppy on here. You all have such nice looking dogs :-)

Man, you guys have made GREAT progress!!! The entire tone of your post is so much calmer and it is obvious you are able to relax now that things are all coming together! Isn't it amazing how much difference just making the toy more enticing can have?

The best way to post a picture is to first set up a free account on photobucket. It is pretty easy to do - just go to http://www.photobucket.com and the instructions will be there. Once you get your pictures loaded onto photobucket, then you can download the image "address" - http/ etc.. in your signature box. You will do this part under My Stuff (in the blue grey bar above) and then under My Profile. I hope this helps.

Oh, wow thanks for the tip on the photo, someone else sent me a txt but I thought I had to have my own website so I gave up. Now, I'll try again

Yes, things are still going really good, even a few days later. My daughter worked him in the yard today. I wasn't in the house, don't want to push it lol but I was able to get a good distance and he was still behaving. Yes, it's amazing what doing the right thing does for ones mood

I think animating the toy and changing our voice tones made all the difference.