Hi, when the pup bites, make a squeal noise and ignore him for five minutes. Then play again, repeat is necessary. Then he will realise that biting is not good and hurts. Do not punish. Then when he plays and holds/catches with mouth without biting, treat immediately and praise. It works if consistant.

Bite=ignore=no play
gentle play=treat

works for me

regards
Jackie

I have never really heard of the squeal method being effective as this is only done by very young pups when the first start playing and seems to wind the older ones up.

A fast, firm, hand over muzzle with a NO! or Enough! close to their head seems to work better. If you need to do it more than a couple of times in each session you are not being fast enough - practice on your other hand to see how firm and fast you are being.

He will also be teething soon if he isn't now which can also affect the amount he mouths and bites everything around

Christine

Have to agree the squeal method does not work on my lot after about 8 weeks, I use the withdrawal of my attention after that age, find the only trouble is teaching the rest of the family to do the same. Think I need the services of a people trainer :)

Same with us with Hudson ...he thought it was a great game if we squealed when he nipped. We soon put a stop to that! We would stand up and cross our arms until he sat or lay down quietly

Melody

Ah, the dreaded 'stare'.... works great in classrooms too :) :D :)

Ah, yes Bitches, Teachers & Mother have all learned the look Ja:)kie

I always heard that the terrier breed was more dominant. O'well... I think any dog is just depends on how you raise them, and where their place is in your family. I have never heard that one before about springers.

You will hear generalisations, Hounds are Stubborn, Terriers are dominant, Working/Gundogs are easy and Toys are noisy. Well all I can say is my hounds are able to be all of that and more. Think that the way you handle different breeds may need to be different but all dogs are individual and although if well bred will carry the breed traits it is just not that simple. You can't say "its a such & such a breed, there for it will be stubbon or whatever" :)

Don't know anything about a reputation for being dominant, but terriers are certainly independent cusses, usually accompanied by a strong stubborn streak ;) :) :D :D :D :D Who ever heard of a weak willed rat???? :P ;)

Toys are only yappy and annoying if their owners allow them to be :rolleyes: :P

[quote]Hi Dave,

It is normal for a puppy to play bite, but this should be stopped now. Springers as I am sure you are aware have one of the highest levels of dominance aggression to people among all breeds. Seek the help of a Behaviour Practitioner.

[/quote]

thanx for the reply but i am not quite that stupid.
as far far as i am aware springers are one of the most loyal and and have one of the best tempermants (spelling???) of all dogs ..ad it is quite clear to me now that my dog does not need to see a behaviourist at all... I just wanted some advice on how others stopped this play biting...thats all...

Dominant????????? codswallop indeed. he can't bar to be away from me for 1 min....
:-)

I agree Dave, puppy behaviour such as you have described certainly does not have anything to do with aggression or dominance :). It's just terribly - normal :)

Lindsay

I have an 18 week old ESS and he is only just beginning to stop mouthing play biting us, i have noticed a gradual decrease over the last 6 weeks. I spoke to my dog trainer about the problem and she said that it is perfectly normal and told me to try ignoring him, which did not work. Another suggestion was to use a water spray when he bites we found this really effective. I keep a couple of spray bottles with water in different rooms and my puppy only needs to see the bottles to stop mouthing. I have also used this method to stop other unwanted behaviour, in particular barking at and leaping on my 6 yr old daughter and my cat. I know lots of people who have one or more springers and have never heard of dominance aggression being a problem with this breed, in fact many people get springers because they are so loyal and family oriented. Anyway good luck with your puppy i'm sure this is just a phase.

Loraine

Hi Dave

Try a John Rogerson trick and taste detterant using bitter apple or try hot chillies smeared on your fingers as one person suggested just hope your dog not into hot chille human fingers.

Hi Dave
it's a bit late for a reply, because you've hopefully either cured your biting problem now or more likely it's cured itself, but just to join in the general conversation - we have a dachshund puppy of nearly fifteen weeks, he's still play biting ( it can get a bit painful, but is definitely NOT vicious! ) and saying No! then ignoring him helps a lot - if it gets really bad, he gets shut out of the room for ten minutes, and returns a reformed character!