hi i have a huge problem my male bichon is 12 weeks old and at certain times of the day starts to run wild barking and jumping grabbing skin for a pup its a very hard bite drawing blood at times has bought both my teenagers to tears and is upsetting me he seems to do it in an agressive manor too :( we stand up and turn our back he then goes for ankles if we go out the room for 5 mins and come back he starts again and even if we put him out for a few mins nothing works please advise me 

This is normal behaviour for an over-tired puppy. Think back to when your teenagers were toddlers and how fractious they'd get if they missed their nap, or got over-excited by a visitor. There were tears before bedtime! It's just the same with a puppy, so you need to make sure you quieten things down when you can see the behaviour beginning; pop him in his bed/crate with a nice juicy bone to chew and let him rest and relax.

he had just woken from crate? lol and he hardly ever relaxes in there as he is a bichon and hates being seperated from us!

i am so worried he will end up agressive as he looks so wild running all around barking and jumpin at us ripping into clothes or skin :(

Some pups can be real little tykes and pups have teeth like razors they really do hurt, short sleeved tops and shorts I always advise as not good ideas around pups as teeth and nails are lethal, do your best to protect yourself, cover arms and legs, it's a good idea to carry a rag or tuggie in your pocket to detract a pup from grabbing and pulling at yourself.

Some pups are not too bad, but others can be lethal there is always a mad one or two in the litter who are extra rough, and don't get the message, remember pups left with their siblings will drag, pull and nip hard until the other yelps, generally a sign to stop, something you need to also implement a good old yelp when it hurts and then to move away or put the pup out of reach for a couple of minutes.  I know you are trying this, eventually the pup will cotton on, early days...........

Also just to put your mind at rest, it truly is no indication that your pup will be a bitter, not at all, this is puppy play only, even though it hurts it truly is only play and a pups instinct, your pup will grow out of this. He will learn that humans do not like to play like this as JG has already said try not to allow your pup to get over excited or over tired, he sounds to be very high maintenance from both of your post, he is a very hyper and vocal pup.

Can you also just check that the food he is being given is not high in colourants and E-numbers, they can affect dogs just like children too.

You're not doing anything wrong by the sounds of it with this problem, he needs very short time outs when he does this (minutes) and that yelp to show he hurt.

Keep going with what you are doing, I hope he will settle soon, you are going to need a lot of patience and to keep calm, good news he will grow up fast, small dogs mature faster, just keep thinking that. :-)

was on jwb im slowly transitioning to raw now as i feel kibble is rubbish no offence

:-D TBF many brands of kibble are rubbish, you really have to read what you are giving your dog, some are diabolical, and not be fooled by just 'meat' given as the ingredient (could mean anything) and fillers, it is always best to go for a good and trusted brand, many of us Raw, BARF feed or do a mixture of raw and kibble, as long as you are giving a balanced diet with all nutrients needed you won't go wrong, at least you'll know what is in your dogs food. ;-)

Glad he isn't on one of those highly colourant dog foods, he'd be swinging off the chandeliers too. ;-)

lol he may aswell swing off them i buy from nutriment.co.uk hopefully he will calm on raw :)

Your probably judging it on the way it looks in comparison to human foods.

I do give very small amounts of green tripe (untreated) to pups as they need the xtra protein for growth building during the first 9 months, I then phase it out completely.

The vid below was shot in Jan this year, the dog is 11 years, thats at the end of her life expectancy for this breed, as an experienced breeder on this forum pointed out appx 3 weeks ago -

The end of life expectancy dog has been fed only on Iams & nothing else at all except Iams from appx 9 months old - check the vid of an end of life expectancy dog fed only on kibble and judge for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GRuMCwYnnvA
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If you do stay on kibble stay away from wheat & gluten foods. I agree with Carrington, there is some crap out there but probably far less crap than human foods.
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Sorry haven't had time to write what other have said but thought I would share my experience with you. my first aussie was like that at that age what we found caused it was the food. We took him off the complete diet we were using and just feed fresh tripe and wholemeal biscuit with no additives after a week he completely changed even at the club we were going to for socialization they could believe the difference. We then completely changed his diet to a more natural one with no artificial colourings or additives. He turned a lovely dog and still couldn't believe how the food could affect him.

Just pick up that you were on JWB mine was on Royal Canin and they are both made by the same company and after speaking to them was told by them if the Royal Canin effected him like that never to use JWB.

i feel kibble is rubbish no offence

You'll love the green tripe then!
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omgreally he was on royal canin when got him didnt know that i dont want him on any of that no more im sure it makes them hyper thanks :)

wow thats made me feel happier i hope that is what is wrong and that raw will help thankyou so much :)

In my experience a puppy mirrors the household he lives in; a quiet, calm household teaches calmer behaviour than a hectic, manic household.

My home is quiet so he definitely isnt like it because of us

> he seems to do it in an agressive manor too

12 week old pups are not aggressive, this pups behaviour is totally natural at this age.  I don't understand why teenagers should be reduced to tears by a toy breed puppy!  It would be worth you googling "The Bite Stops Here" by Dr Ian Dunbar, an absolute expert to help you out.  I'm sure that he can express things better than any of us can.  As you sound so over upset the pup will be picking all this up and be so very mixed up and stressed.

Reduced to tears from getting upset that they cant sit in the room as soon as they do hes lunging biting etc sorry didnt mean from his bites lol re read that and realised what it sounded like thanks will look at that :)

That is not always true I used to have 7 collies living together dogs and bitches never had a problem saying that in those days we didn't have complete food so used to feed fresh tripe, biscuit SA37 and Bonemeal and they had lovely bone straight front legs and beautiful coat. I think it is like us. I used to say he was like my grandson who had to be careful what he eat or he used to climb the walls. This aussie is now on Pro Plan and tin tripe and he is a lovely happy dog. Loves everything and everyone and a joy to own.

I can well believe how upset they could get from it - he might be tiny but the very OTT bitey pups can cause an immense amount of pain!

The best thing I did with my pup was train a positive interrupter - this allowed me to interrupt her when she was starting to or about to start biting, redirect her onto something more appropriate (chew or raggy toy) and reward her for chewing that, or simply reward her for stopping if I had nothing to hand.  It worked very well - she stopped gnawing on my legs within a week or two, whereas my housemates didn't follow the same plan and she still munched on Catherine's foot just before they moved out and that was three months after I got her!

Emily Larlham (kikopup) has a video on it on youtube, just look for 'kikopup positive interruper', you should find it.  I'd post the link but my browser won't let me search right now, stupid thing!

I know how easy it is to think you have a devil dog, one that has a bad temperament but believe me this is COMPLETELY NORMAL puppy behaviour :) You wouldn't believe how often people post the same thing here, or hand a pup into rescue because it's bad or vicious.

As someone has already suggested the bite stops here by Ian Dunbar is excellent and it does work. It takes time, he will improve every week though and in 5 or 6 weeks time you'll realise that he no longer bites as much or as hard :)

Yes of course food is important, but this is normal puppy behaviour and would happen no matter what you fed him.

> Reduced to tears from getting upset that they cant sit in the room as soon as they do hes lunging biting

He can only behave like that if he is allowed to :) You should be able to pre-emp when he is going to have his crazy moments, be prepared with distractions (a toy that he can chew or play with you with) and pop him on a lead so he can be limited to what he can physically do (or lead him away for a time out, when he's calm let him back in with you & repeat as needed). Everybody must stay calm, no screaming, flailing arms or silly dramatics when pup turns into a 'monster'.
If you want pup to learn to be calm, then he needs to be taught to be calm, it's far easier to teach if you ALL lead by example. Screaming, or shouting (from anybody) will only add to the excitement and make the game (which is what your pup is playing - games) more fun.

You think a little pup with the bities is hard work - imagine a giant breed :) My pup was big enough to knock me to the floor, pin me there & chew my head I had to learn quickly that being one step ahead is always best, LOL. Have your strategy ready and stick to it, no matter how many times it needs repeating. Repetition is a big part of learning :) Please don't be worried that your pup is agressive, he is simply being a baby dog, all the behaviour you want him to display needs teaching to him, dogs play by biting each other - he just needs to learn he can't play like that with people.

This should be of some help & reasurance for you, The Bite Stops Here

ETA, sorry, just noticed 'The Bite Stops Here' has allready be linked to.

Must add my five pen'orth. Breed and size I don't think matters.  As others have said, keep calm and quiet.  I was getting along nicely with my dog until I went to training classes to meet other people and socialize.  It was learn the recall exercise.  The trainer let her collar go, I called her and she knocked me over like 9 pins.  She thought this was fun and kept trying to knock me over at home.  It took weeks to get her back to normal but now and again when she gets the devil in her she gives it a go.