Yes, it is good to let the dog know that all humans control his resources. So when the puppy nips at them, they need to remove themselves or the pup so that that resource, human contact, social time (very important to dogs) is taken away....the good stuff, the reinforcer for the behavior your don't want is removed. A leader controls resources...just like a good parent. Child wants something, he should earn it, at least some of the time. A boss hands out the paycheck. But the employee needs to earn it.
Basically, for any behavior you want repeated, you give a payoff. (every time until the behavior is well learned, then you give a payoff on a variable schedule. The dog will keep trying because he thinks he might get a payoff. He'll even try harder. You skip a few times, no pattern....and then you reinforce. For any behavior you do not want, you make sure the dog is not being reinforced, not by humans, not by the environment or not by being self rewarded. A payoff is something the dog likes..... a lot. This is basic. There's more to learn. Everything is contingent on an act and a consequence. The consequence must be immediate for a dog. A lot of aversives are harmful to a dog. It is necessary to set a dog up for success. When he is doing something you don't like, distract, give an alternative behavior to show him what you DO want and reward. Any behavior which does not get a payoff will extinguish. The probability of any behavior being repeated is greatly increased by getting a payoff. This is law. The job is, discovering what that payoff is. Sometimes it's hard to see.
A lot of traditional, compulsive type training methods which use a lot of aversives come from faulty, disproven wolf studies. They're trying to emulate the way a wolf acts toward the other members of the pack. The trouble is that for one thing, the things they're trying to emulate, wolves don't do. They're going by these old wolf studies which were done 60 years ago on wolves in captivity which were not related to eachother...not a natural pack. And a natural pack is a fluid thing anyhow. Wolves are not always in a pack. The need is only for hunting large game, raising young and breeding.
The second problem with this is that although dogs evolved from wolves (their DNA is very closely identical) there is compelling evidence that wolves first evolved into a solitary, non packing wild dog who lived in proximately to humans....around the outskirts of villages, scavenging for garbage basically. They lived this way for a long, long time before they became truly domesticated. Domestic dogs are very different from wolves. They've evolved, are designed to live with humans, to recognise many human cues which wolves do not, even from birth. So, the premise is, that no, we do not need to be extremely dominating and be thinking about being anything more than we would be as a parent, except we're dealing with dogs. Yes, they need to learn our ways, rules and so forth....of course. And they are very, very social animals. We seem to have a real family going on with them. But many researchers do not believe that they see us as dogs, much less.....wolves. We're human. They're designed to live with humans because of evolution and domestication.
The point is, they need to be taught how to live with humans, learn our ways and they're very good at learning these things. There is a way to teach them these rules and our strange ways but trying to be extremely dominating, harsh and squelching isn't the way. Research and practice for quite a long time has shown that "positive" methods (not a very technically correct term) work beautifully and effectively in molding a well mannered, well trained dog who is happy too. Positive methods promote a smarter dog in many trainers' and behaviorists' opinion because the dog becomes a participant in his learning, he figures things out himself rather than being forced and dominated. There are many benefits...too may to write here. But you'll get a better understanding when you read those books. Culture Clash is more on training and how dogs think based on science. The other book I mentioned will show why trying to act like a wolf or a dog is irrelevant. And it's just so very fascinating anyhow. It's good to know how domestic dogs most likely came to be and what they came to be and our relationships with them.
There are all kinds of studies and observations, experiments, long term studies which will most likely, eventually put a lot of the old dominance panacea to rest. Unfortunately, old habts die hard and some of this stuff still flourishes.
Walt Disney movies with dogs, although entertaining have really done a disservice to dogs, making them out to think like humans. This is where people expect so much from their dogs, relate to them as they would a human, have impossible expectations of their dogs, think of them in human terms; stubborn, willful, defiant, blowing them off, spiteful, vengeful and here is where and why the poor dogs suffer mistreatment and abuse. These mental states are human concepts which dogs do not have the ability to think that way. They don't share our values or morals. They're ammoral.
Puppies play rough. I don't believe that your pup is trying to hurt you. Puppies and dogs can bite eachother hard and it doesn't hurt. Human skin is extremely fragile. The pup doesn't know this. It's one of those things he has to learn over time. His payoff for biting, your attention (or your kids) must be removed immediately. Attention can qualify as touching, looking at, speaking to in any way, shape of form. All attention, all fun must be stopped at once. When he is playing nicely, even for 2 seconds, give him his favorite treat....maybe a tiny piece of cheese or hotdog, quiet, low key praise. If he bites, abruptly get up and leave the area.
Rather than go through all the different behavior problems and situations, why don't you read that book and even browse through this forum (puppy and training forums) You can do a search too on top of the page. Your problems are very common because this is how puppies are.
Be sure and give your pup some good, tiring exercise; romping hard outside and a few short walks. Avoid repetetive, long term exercise. But lots of fetch or running around in your yard. Do that several times a day. And keep working on basic obedience, 10 mintues or so at a time, a couple times a day. Get his brain and physical needs an outlet. A tired puppy is a good puppy. (not to the point of exhaustion)
Does he have plenty of hard chew toys; Kongs, Nyla bones etc? When he bites you, give him an alternative. Show him what he CAN bite and praise him for that. It takes time.
See what you can find browsing the forums here and hurry and get that book. LOL.
Here are a few other good ones for after Culture Clash and the other one: These are all written by scientists who have been studying dogs for decades, PhDs in their field etc. Karen Pryor was a dolphin trainer for sea world. She revolutionized clicker training for dogs and many other animals. This is based on operant and classical conditioning. (well, clicker training is based on classical conditioning) But anyhow, it's the science of learning and it is very, very appropriate and effective where dogs are concerned. Rather than being at war with dogs, such as the old, traditional yank and jerk methods, the dog is engaged with the learning process, not forced.
The Power of Positive Training....Pat Miller
The Other End of the Leash...Patricia McConnell
Don't Shoot the Dog, Karen Pryor
Don't be afraid to ask questions no matter how silly you think they are. We don't come automatically knowing about every subject. It takes education like anything else.
I had the computer guy here to set up my new computer and make some changes and he mentioned something about cookies. The only kind of cookies which came to my mind were doggie training cookies. I am completely inept when it comes to computers. But I've studied canine and wolf behavior for years and I've had dogs for 47 years or so, all that time to observe them and train them because it has always been my passion since I was very young...horses too. I'm very familiar with them. But I sure don't know much about computers or a whole lot of other things.
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