I have a wonderful cairn terrier, l8 months old kc registered etc, been to puppy socialising etc, next class on locally was really useless, same each week, just how to walk. The question is how to stop him biting, not me but other people.

Bitter spray stops him for seconds, but he is relentless with my daughter (grown up) the more she shouts the more he does it. She goes out, he sits on my lap he is like jekyll and Hyde. I love him to bits, but know this biting has to stop.

Any suggestions, I cannot find any trainers in my area for behaviour,
Bushey, Watford area.

help would be greatly appreciated.

Ingrid Morgan.

HI

It's difficult to say without a lot more info, but part of the clue may be that he enjoys the attention/reaction, however negative. If your daughter shouts at him, but he doesn't stop, i would suggest it's not solving the problem so it's best to stop or he will just get worse.

Is he biting in a confrontational way, and breaking skin and drawing blood, or is it play biting, over -excitment, etc....? Of course at 18 months it is not acceptaable behaviour but you need to find out what starts him off. If he never bites you then maybe he fears other people - and being a terrier will "have a go".

Just a thought but it is worth having him thoroughly checked over by a vet, perhaps he has dodgy eyesight or something. In fact you could ask your vet to refer you to a reputable and experienced behaviourist. In my view it is a good idea as you may need ongoing support for a little while :)

LIndsay

Ingrid,

If it IS play-biting / mouthing that is just getting a bit boisterous, you could try this: whenever he bites, the person playing with him should make a loud yelping noise and turn their back on him. If he continues to bite and paw to try to get attention, just yelp again and if necessary walk away. If you are consistent, he should eventually get the message that biting ends the play, and if he wants the paying & attention to continue, he has to stop biting. This is how puppies in a litter react when the playing becomes too rough. We did this succesfully with our very mouthy GR when she was a pup (admittedly a good deal younger than your Cairn) and within a few weeks the biting had stopped forever. It may take longer with your chap as he is older and presumably the habit is more ingrained. Shouting won't help as that is still attention focussed on the dog, and attention is what most dogs crave!

If it's more aggressive or fear-driven, I'm afraid I can't advise. I've never had terriers or problems with biting dogs, and wouldn't want to advise from theory in case I make a bad situation worse.

Good luck.
Gill