i have an 18wk old springer spaniel who is not listening to me at all. I've read the puppy books and successfully trained my previous two dogs without any problems. Jesse gets over excited easily and barks at us a lot but the main problem is biting. Its not just puppy play biting. This is snarling, biting and even drawing blood. I try to grab hold of her but she races around the room, flying at us and biting. Any suggestions as shes driving me mad.

Number 1 - stop trying to grab hold of her - she's turning it into an attention seeking game :(

For play biting - have you done the 'OW!' (do NOT snatch your hand away at the same time - doing this turns you into a double value squeaky toy - you squeak AND you move!)?

Alternatively find something strong smelling such as Olbas oil, Clove oil, Vic vapour rub or any other essential oil you can safely use neat on the skin and rub a drop or two of that on any area she goes for......

See how you get on with that.

I too would advise not to chase or try to grab hold of pup . At this age she prbably thinks its some fun game .
Lel

My Maltese x Cavalier is just over a year old and she still does that. It really hurts. We too have been trying to grab hold of her, because otherwise she just doesn't stop and can be so destructive. I know she's high energy and it's just fun and games to her but sometimes she drives us insane. I tried tobasco sauce on my hands when she was younger but she liked the taste. :( They don't sell bitter apple or anything like that here.

I have a 10 mnth Spaniel X Collie and she was exactly the same. Give your pup cardboard boxes and empty plastic pop bottles ( no top on ) to play with. Hide treats or toys in boxes for pup to find. Lots of praise for chewing the right things. My partner used to grab my pup and it made her ten times worse. now at 10mnths she hardly bites at all. your pup will grow out of it, it just takes time and a lot of patients. taking your pup to training classes will help aswell, but only the ones who don't use choke chains or hands on. try to find one that only uses positive rewards (treats). Worked wonders with my pup and the trainers will help with any problems that you might have. Good luck.

my lab pup drew blood on a regular basis. she would continually come back to our hands and feet regardless of what we did

BUT....

she grew out of it.

and I'm sure she will to

Good Luck

If it's any help our old lab would draw blood on a regular basis when she was little. With ordinary training "Just say No" she grew up to have the softest mouth and could carry eggs without damaging them.
:)

H i

i have a springer who is now a year old and still really playful. She used to puppy bite and still does especially with the other half who she plays rough with but she knows when to stop, and does not hurt intentionally, she grew out of wanting to play all the time and is quite content as long as she has a ball to play with (constantly in our case she even barks with it in her mouth).

Have found spray that we used to spray around our cuffs and ankles which helped alot in stopping our pup from biting. It's called friends Pet Behave Training Spray. Comes in a purply aerosol type thing, made by Sinclair Animal and Household Care Ltd and has a picture of a cat and dog on the front.

Hope this helps

Kind regards

Meryl