Biting and other ?'s

[Maxy24]

Well of course little Tucker is into everything. When he goes for the rug or tries to go under the couch someone will pull him away and lots of the time he'll try to bite at us when we are removing him. On the one hand you don't want to let go when he tries to bite as he'll learn it works but on the other hand it hurts quite a bit. What do you suggest we do?


I'm also worried about creating a resource guarder. We are pushing him away from things he wants (furniture, scratching posts, the rug, etc.) and taking things out of his mouth (shoes, his leash, blanket, clothes we're wearing etc.). I'm afraid we are just setting him up to start guarding but I don't know what else to do when he's gonna eat or chew something. I don't want to always go get a treat and trade because I also don't want him grabbing stuff so I'll get a treat for him.

Now I think some of this could be fixed by putting him on a leash, then we'd be able to use the leash, not our hands, to remove him and keep him from things. However he immediately starts biting and then intensely chewing the leash when it's on in the house, it's just a toy for him of course. I feel preventing the biting and guarding is more important than stopping the leash chewing but it's not exactly a habit we want. What do you think? We have a slip lead that they gave us at transport. Do you think if we use that one in the house and allow him to chew it he'll still learn to chew on his regular lead?


He's also a pretty timid puppy and it has me worried. If anyone other me or my mom approaches him he runs away to watch from a distance. If the person waits a while he'll come up and sniff and after that he'll be much better, once they actually get to pet him he's wonderful or if you pick him up and give him to them he's fine, but he's just very weary. Do you think he'll overcome this with socialization?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Southpaw]

I would put a leash on him. He might chew on and play with it at first but I would think that after he's worn it for a while, he'll get used to it and it'll get boring and he won't care. Juno had issues with leash chewing as a pup but once she learned a leave it command, she'd respond to that whenever she started chewing on it, and eventually she just stopped trying.

As for your resource guarding issue, when you take a shoe from his mouth, can't you then give him one of his toys to chew on? I guess this was something I never thought about when my dogs were pups. I was constantly taking things from them, but didn't always replace it with something else... and both of them are totally fine with people taking things from them.

 

[GoingNowhere]

you could also try turning 'drop it' into a game, so that he learns the word. Once he learns the command, you won't have to "trade" for the object so much as ask him to give it on command and then reward (treat won't need to be visible).

'Drop it' isn't too hard to teach and will be a lifesaver!

 

[Maura]

Yea, teach him give and take. It's easy enough, you hold a treat to his nose, he has to drop the object to sniff the treat. You tell him drop or give in a calm voice. He learns to drop the object when you ask. Just remember to reward him for dropping the object with treat, praise and pet, then fade out the treat. I'd also put a harness on him and a short least so that you aren't grabbing at him. A harness is less likely to get pulled off and is a better handle than a collar.