I know there a few msgs about puppys biting, but we are at the end of our tether and feel we may have to rehome him.

We have a 6 month lurcher called Brynn, who will be sitting as calm as anything one minute and then out of the blue leap up and start biting us, he is much worse with my 10 year daughter, he really doesn`t seem to like her at all.

i have tried turning my back on him and he actually bit my bum last time i did it, i put him in the kitchen and he just barks and howls until he comes out, this can go on for hours at a time.

I have been recommended castration, but it is a expensive procedure, especially if it does not work and frankly the way he has been, we are wondering if he worth spending the money on, which may seem cruel but he is making our life a misery.

Any ideas?

IMO, every dog should be castrated. Unless you are planning to breed from it. It might be the reason he's so impossible to cope with, all those hormones raging and nowhere to get out his frustration! I have 4 dogs, all castrated. One of them was a COMPLETE nightmare.. Scenting everywhere, humping the first thing he see's, barking like mad, over-dominating... he also had selective hearing.. any training we tried just went straight in one ear and out the other! When we had them removed, it was like a miracle! Completely different dog, perfectly behaved, he accepted us as higher than him and actually started to listen to what we say.. so much easier to train when they do!

Ana_x,

I have no doubt your advice has been passed on with good intentions particularly when related to your own personal experiences but it is always possible that your other three dogs would not have displayed any undesirable testosterone driven problems had you not had them castrated - the fact is, there is no way of knowing now whether the operation was actually in any way responsible for their ease of living with ;)  As to the dog who appeared to improve after castration, again, unless it was done fairly late on there is no guarantee that he would not have outgrown his *kevin stage* and with a little more patience and perseverance become a >>completely different dog<< naturally and with maturity.  If he was fully mature physically and mentally before the op then you were very fortunate or perhaps just a very intuitive trainer that what could potentially have been "learned behaviour" was overcome.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, but there are always different ways of assessing how the same end results may have been achieved.
Regards, Teri :)

He was 3 and a half, and rescued so it definately wasn't him being a teen! I'm *pretty* sure it was the castration that helped ...
What you've said in your post was good advise though, I never took it as being argumentative, it was my fault for not mentioning the age!!

I always get my dogs neutered now, whether male or female. To be honest, I don't see the point in having 'the bits' there if they're not going to use.. and we could always do with less unwanted pregnancies! :)

Hi Ana :)

Glad it wasn't taken the wrong way - I often write quite lengthy replies and for some reason when I hit "post" it comes up as *action cancelled* hence to actually send the reply I have to edit out chunks :rolleyes:  the end result can therefore seem a bit terse when it started off (I think, anyway) as being polite and friendly!

I agree, at 3.5 years he should be past the teen stage (unless of course he's a Belgian :D )  I can always see the point in bitches never intended for breeding being spayed (when physically and mentally mature) because with a bitch it requires everyone in the household to be on constant alert for 3-4 weeks twice a year to ensure that she can't escape - and that's a tall order (men in the house are usually worse offenders than kids for leaving doors/gates open etc :D )  But I don't personally advocate castrating males unless there are medical or behavioural issues - however I totally respect your reasons for doing so and boys do of course contribute to unwanted pregnancies too

Best wishes, Teri :)

Hi Ana - it's worth remembering that testicles don't only sproduce sperm, they also produce hormones that contribute to the overall growth and health of the dog as a whole. Removing them can mean you're trying to run a top-of-the-range sports car on diesel ...

And it's not just males who rely on their reproductive organs for hormone production that contribute to the 'whole dog' either..

Very true, digger.
:)

I know, I only get them removed when the dogs are a bit older and they are fully developed. I get the bitches done after their first season, and the dogs at around 1.5 - 2 yrs old. The thing I said above, about the dogs having all the hormones raging and getting frustrated because they have nowhere to get out it all out, was actually what my vet told me. There isn't any problem removing them when the dogs are fully mature, is there??

With maturity the hormones aren't 'raging' as they are during adolescence, but have settled down. Many problems due to excess testosterone automatically settle down too.
:)

Hi Spizz - could you provide more background info and accurate details of his mannerisms, visible behaviour patterns, posturing, strength of biting etc?  Also what age did you get him & where from?   You say he really seems to not like your 10 year old at all :(  Can you elaborate on that?  Is this simply because he is more likely to behave like this with her or do you actually *fear for her safety* around him?  There's a HUGE difference.  Obviously going by the above you are at a very low ebb and anxiously seeking help but you need to be more descriptive about everything in your boy's case.

>I have been recommended castration, but it is a expensive procedure, especially if it does not work and frankly the way he has been, we are wondering if he worth spending the money on, which may seem cruel but he is making our life a misery<

Do you actually *want* this dog even if his behaviour can be modified?  Have you sought professional advice on his behaviour or has the suggestion of castration come from a different source?
Sorry to ask more Qs than provide As but much more detailed info is required - particularly as this is after all only a puppy :(
I hope you come back on,
sincerely, Teri :)

In answer to your question about do we actually "want"this dog, the answer is "yes", we are not the sort of people who get dogs on a whim, without understanding what having a dog entails, i have had dogs all my life but i have never had a dog like this one!!

When it is just me and/or my husband at home he is not as bad, but he is definetly worse when my daughter is around, she could be just simply watching TV and he will just leap on top of her and start biting either her arm or leg or whatevers available,As i mentioned before, this can go on for hours before he eventually wears himself out.

The biting does seem to get worse and aggresive the more we try to stop him,as if he thinks it has now become a game, although the aggression suggests that he is not playing! He has broken the skin more than once.

He was bought from a breeder,at 8 weeks, who uses his dogs for rabbiting and are kept ouside in a kennel, not so much family dogs, although that was what we thought about Lurchers, that they are good "family " dogs

We wondered if maybe he wasn`t getting enough excercise and was getting frustrated but it makes no difference whether he has had a 30 minute run or 90 min run

I know we have been told many a time "well,he is only a puppy" but it does get to a point where you can only take so much and my daughter is actually not wanting to leave her bedroom for fear of being "attacked"

We haven`t as yet sought any professional advice and obviously that will be the next step but i just wondered if anyone had any other ideas?

Hi Spizz, just thought I'd add my two pennies worth ;)

I can well understand that you are disillusioned at the moment with your pup and it must seem like this behaviour has been going on forever, and I know this is no excuse in your eyes, but he is only 6 months old and it will improve with age and correct training, although it probably doesn't seem like it at the moment.

I have a similar situation to you, my pup is nearly 4 months and as she is a large breed, she already dwarfs most pups her age :P She is very boisterous around my 8 yr old daughter, ripping her clothes and breaking the skin, but I have the advantage that already having an older one of the same breed, my daughter is a little more used to the behaviour and remembers when our older one was young. What I have been doing is monitering pup and child, whenever pup bites like crazy and leaps at her, my daughter gets up and leaves the room, no eye contact, no speaking,  Pup obviously quitens down............eventually..... and then my daughter comes back in, makes pup sit and gives her a treat. Under no circumstances does the pup get a treat until she is behaving. I have also been getting child to feed pup at least one meal a day and she always makes pup sit and wait before giving her the command "ok" to eat.

Dog/pups to tend to take advantage of little people as they treat them like litter mates/lower pack members. Little people tend to run around quickly making lots of high pitched noises so it gets the pup excited.

What do you do when your pup leaps at your daughter and bites her? I try to let my daughter take some control before I step in, because it is no good me doing the reprimanding all the time, as the minute my back is turned, the pup will just do it again. They have to learn to get along together.

Hope I've made some sense, it's very hard to advise/get my point across on the internet but giving you my experiences, I hope may help :)

From the sounds of it, you definitely need professional guidance, as the dog can't "know" whats acceptable until you have been advised on how to deal with/train the behaviour. I know you've had dogs before but they all have different needs as I have certainly learnt over the years :D

Good luck, HTH :)

It sounds like somewhere along the line he's been unintentionally encouraged to think this is a game and I'd go back to basics re. training him as if he was 8 weeks old again.  Distraction, time-out, "yelping" loudly, withdrawal of attention - all these methods work and can be used individually or combined. The trouble with training any dog in a multi-person household is consistency of training is difficult so I fully understand your frustration if these things have been tried and failed.
Can you not try and motivate him to play with toys which he can mouth to his heart's content (while playing with you and your family)? Mine love them but if they accidentally make contact with teeth on skin I "yelp", stop the game, remove the specific toy and exchange it for something less exciting.  Your dog may not have made the correct association with previous methods of prevention - these only work if he knows he's being ignored, put out of the room, etc because of the BITING - if he hasn't grasped why he's being "punished" (for want of a better word) then he has no way of learning what he has to do CORRECTLY in order to continue having fun with his family. Hopefully Digger will come back on the thread! Good luck meantime, Teri :)