My seventeen week old Golden Retriever loves to chew on my eldest daughter. Dpes anyone know how to stop him. P.S. I've got two girls, but it's the eldest he goes for.

Thanks.
Gerry.

Hi Gerry, I can understand your problem completely, I had exactly the same problem with my Goldie and my son. Murphy seemed to single out my son from the others. although he would stop if I told him off it did not stop him from doing it again later. My son beame afraid of the dog and this made it worse because the dog sensed that he was afraid. what we did in the end was a lot of work with just my son and dog. I had to teach my son to be firm, to tell the dog "NO" and if the dog did not stop I would get my son to scruff him and growl. also work with treats and also feeding helped as my dog came to realise that my son was a sourse of food and also affection. You do not say how old your daughter is, my son was 8. It takes time, but working at it now will benefit both your dog and Daughter in the future. I am not an expert I can only tell you what I did. There are lots of very experienced people on this forum and hopefully they will give you some ideas aswell. Good luck :) Sarah

I am having the same trouble with our 12 week old beagle. He first strarted going for our 8 year old but stopped and is now going for our 11 year old. no matter how many time he shouts NO, the pup still keeps on trying to get him. I then step in and remove him from the room, this calms him down eventually, but it always seems to be our oldest, and its not all the time either. He loves people and always loves to be petted by strangers while at he park, he also isnt scared of other dogs and doesnt show any aggresion to other dogs. I put it down to see who he can pick on the most and is going round us one by one. I know beagles are not aggresive by nature and he has an excellent pedigree, so hopefully he will grow out of it. With some firm comands and plenty removing from the room he is getting better.

David.

If I chewed someone else, I'd get a slap round the face. Get your daughter to do the same!

Have your child do the obedience and the praise. If the pup doesn't listen the first time lets say a sit command you make he pup sit and the child praises the pup. Have the child feed the pup. Have the child give the pup treats only if the pup does something for them. I found this very effective with my dogs when they were growing up. The pup may see the child as playmates and not alpha to them, they just have to be shown where their spot is in the family. My daughter one time when the pup niped her she put his paw in his mouth and closed his own mouth on his paw, :( I came to see why he yelped and she told me. I told her not to do that, but he never nipped again. Found out later my mom told her to do that. My son bit our female on the ear when she nipped him. I asked him why and he said because she bit him so he did it back. He was 4 yrs, my son not the pup. Mind you I didn't allow them to do that I did punish them from the pup for a couple of hours. I would also tell them to yelp real loud and stop playing for awhile if the pup nipped.

Hi Gerry, how are things going with your daughter and the pup? I do hope you sort it all out as my son and our dog who is now 2 have an amazing friendship, well worth all the effort that we put in in the early days. If I can be of any help please let me know, you can always e-mail me if you want to. my address is in my profile, just click on my name at the top. take care :) Sarah

The pup is doing what they all do, we just have to bridge the communication gap and show what we want. He has no idea he is doing anything wrong.

I'm sure if you do a search you will find lots of advice on here about how to stop pup chewing/biting.

I swear by leaving the room or putting pup out for a few minutes. It may take time but presesrves the relationship.

Oh, and get a copy of the wonderful sensible "The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey :)

Good luck :)

Lindsay

Gerry - I have bred retrievers for 20 years I would be interested to know how old your daughter is. To start with it is very normal behaviour for a pup to nip and mouth this is how they learn what is what. This is also how they have treated and behaved with their siblings and so they have to unlearn that behaviour and that it is not acceptable. Sometimes a puppy bonds with a child more than another but they then start to treat it like a sibling hence the biting. Your daughter needs to be taught (if she is old enough) how to say 'no' to the pup in a very firm strong voice (not shouting). It is also possible that in treating her like a sibling the pup will want to dominate (this is also very normal, he will even try to dominate you) again this has to be learnt that he is not the dominant one. If after firm 'no' he persists you can hold him by the scruff of the neck and a quick firm shake and 'no' and let go. As soon as he stops lots of praise 'what a good boy'. His mum would give him a shake and a growl. Sometimes it takes a few little shakes, but don't get too rough, always remember lots of praise when he does it right.

Another good lesson for him to learn that you are dominant is when you give him his dinner you get down on your knees and pretend you are going to eat his dinner, if he growls or snaps at you again a quick 'no' in a growl voice and carry on pretending to eat. when he lets you have it lots of praise.

It is normal for a retriever to like to hold an arm or piece of your clothing when they are pleased to see you, which can a problem at times try to have something ready for him to carry which will make him happy.
my e-mail address is in profile - if you want any help get in touch.
Good luck
Bobbi

Thanks, Yappy.

You obviously know retrievers. My daughter is 10, but very slight. She now thinks that the dog doesn't like her because he always singles her out for biting attention.

Thanks for your sensible and helpful reply.

Gerry

Hi Gerry

As your daughter is ten she is old enough to take some responsibility, if you can go to dog training and let you daughter do the training at the class. That will help a great deal. Let her be the one to feed him and he must sit and wait while she does it. She needs as much encoragement as he does. Teach him to wait by showing the palm of your hand, get her to do it use a firm voice yet again and when he does it reward with praise. Let her give him a biscuit but not until he waits. She will gain so much confidence and pleasure by being the one to teach him

As he singles her out he has, as I said, learnt to dominate her, but this can easily be overcome by doing what I said. Don't necessarily expect it to change overnight, he might not like being told off and try to bite back, which is what he would do with his sibling, so an extra firm shake or two might be required.

Let me know how you get on.

Bobbi