Rock My Socks! posted:

So our 3 month old Lab is getting worse with the biting- he constantly follows me around the house biting at my toes HARD (he has drown blood a few times at this point). He doesn’t really do this to my wife at all.

We have tried everything recommended online (yelping, redirecting, ignoring)- nothing is working. I have a pretty high tolerance for pain, but it’s kind of getting to the point where I want him gone.

Any suggestions?

Submarine Sandpaper posted:

hot sauce toenail polish

DarkSoulsTantrum posted:

As with a lot of puppy biting issues, there’s a very good chance that this will start to decrease once he’s done teething at around 6 months, at least in my experience.

That being said it’s interesting that he’s not doing it to your wife. Is there anything different about the way you and your wife interact with him? It sounds like he’s trying to “herd” you but not her.

Rock My Socks! posted:

You know, we do have a bottle of bitter apple spray for furniture chewing. Maybe I could put some on my feet?


I’d say we interact with him in roughly the same way. He has always favored her a bit; I’ve heard this is common since women tend to have higher voices. He does bite at my wife’s hands and face a bit, but that’s a little easier to control since you can just pull those parts of your body away from him.

Submarine Sandpaper posted:

You're the only one that knows your dog. Killing rodents is NBD imho, that's what dogs are for, not cat killing. Breed may influence this advise.

Introduce supervised through a door to start then gate. Don't force things, especially with adult cats and/or strays. Target a month at least. Feed both near the door so they get near and smell each-other. I tried to get an adult cat and she'd only come out to swipe at my sweet sleeping hound even after 8 months so she had to be returned. Two years later I got kittens which can sleep on my dogs and were AOK day 3 together. Kittens are fearless though and the dogs were more scared of them.

Stringent posted:

MadFriarAvelyn posted:

Splooting doesn't stop for anyone.

Rock My Socks! posted:

Anyone here had good luck with no-pull harnesses (ie the kind that hook to the leash at the chest?

My 3MO lab is fine for the first half of each walk, but starts to pull like crazy on the second half when he figures out that we’re heading home.

We’re tried the usual tactics (stopping/reversing direction when he pulls), but it just doesn’t seem to be ‘clickinng’ with him.

Rock My Socks! posted:

Anyone here had good luck with no-pull harnesses (ie the kind that hook to the leash at the chest?

My 3MO lab is fine for the first half of each walk, but starts to pull like crazy on the second half when he figures out that we’re heading home.

We’re tried the usual tactics (stopping/reversing direction when he pulls), but it just doesn’t seem to be ‘clickinng’ with him.

cailleask posted:

The front clip harnesses are fine, sort of, but not accepting ANY pulling at ANY time, consistently, will be your real solution here. It’s a strategy I have used with horses and reins for years - I learned it from our trainer. Set a pressure you will allow in your hand, and allow no more than that. Stop every time and don’t move forward until the pressure releases. When I’m training it, I hold the loop of the leash with a single finger (with a backup secured just in case of crazy puppy). If the pressure is uncomfortable for a single finger, it’s too much pressure.

A lot of our early walks were half an hour to literally go around the block, but now at 6 months my husky mix barely ever pulls, and it only takes a very mild correction to get her to back off.

Stringent posted:

So my puppy is beginning to ignore her name. I've got two kids (5 and 8) who are constantly riding on it, and I'm liking my odds better with training the puppy than them. Should I just train her to a new name (e.g. "puppy" or whatever), or should I just keep working on her real name? It's gotten bad enough where she's only looking at me when I call her maybe 50% of the time, and almost never when there's stimulus around.

That Works posted:

Wife and I are picking up a new puppy on Saturday. He's a black lab mutt from a rescue and will be just around 12 weeks old when we get him home. He's been fostered for the last month in a home with several other dogs, cats, kids so at least has had some opportunity for socialization.

The only info we had on the dog about training was that he was "being housebroken". We've been reading up on the 2 pdf books linked in the OP as well as some of the youtube videos from that same authors training program.

Is there anything especially important for a 12 week old pup to go right into?

We will have him in a ~16 sq ft pen with their crate inside of that.
Should we try to install a doggie toilet in the pen area or just a puppy pad?

Also, for nighttime I assume we can just move the crate to our bedroom and that way am able to monitor when it needs to go out in the middle of the night? If so should we just do that once the pup is asleep or does it matter all that much? I was just concerned that crating him then moving him to a different spot might wake him up more etc and not want to get to sleep.


We are previous dog owners, although they were adults when we got them. We're both entirely 'work from home' through the rest of this year, so figured if we were ever going to get a puppy now was probably the only chance to do it right.

Verman posted:

Agreed with puppy pads, avoid if at all possible, they won't do you any favors. If anything they'll just confuse your dog.

Be stringent on taking the dog outside every 30-40 minutes while awake. Maybe every hour or two while sleeping at night. It really sucks for the first few weeks but you'll be thankful in a week or two when your dog doesn't associate going to the bathroom inside.

Bonus points, hang a little bell from the door and touch it every time you take them outside to go to the bathroom. Dangle a treat nearby the bell so the dog eventually bumps it on its own. When it hits the bell, reward, go outside, give a pee command, once they go, praise/reward and come right back inside. Pee time isn't play time. This way, your dog can associate ringing a bell to notify you that he has to go to the bathroom. We had our puppy potty trained in a week or two with only one or two small accidents total. He was ringing the bell after a month.

It really helped that I wasn't working at the time.

I'm serious about the 30-40 minutes though. That's about how small their bladders are at first. Don't give them the opportunity to go inside from the start. Eventually you can go longer as their bladders grow and you will start to notice their signs.

That Works posted:

Thanks, this mostly jives with what I had read. Will probably set up a small turf dog toilet in a litterbox just in case.

For a 12 week old pup would they still need to be going for 30-40 mins at a stretch?

DarkSoulsTantrum posted:

Work in it in sessions. Separate the kids from the puppy as best you can for 10 minutes. Get a bag of little training treats or even her kibble if she is motivated by it. Say her name. If she looks at you treat. If she doesn’t look, no treat. Keep doing this a few times a day until she look at you every single time you say her name. You may need to vary the treats between sessions to keep her interest. Once she’s back in line without distraction, add some distractions back in. Once she’s locked in again start fading the treats a little (one every three looks, etc). Do the sessions in different rooms, outside, etc. “Test” her even when not training. Going for a walk? Call her name out of the blue, quick pat and praise if she looks. If you can, have your other family members work with her too so she associates listening with everyone.


Edit: also how old is she? 6-12 month puppies are notorious for testing boundaries

Stringent posted:

She's five months next week. I've been doing what you said and she is showing quick improvements so thanks. I'll look forward to this all falling through the floor in a few more weeks.