Train puppy to be self-controlled?

Question

I am wondering if you have any suggestions on how I can train my 3 month old Retriever puppy to be a bit less wild. I train him to sit, stay and come, etc, no problem. But when he walks around the house he tends to bite on furniture and kids (gently) in a way that upsets everybody. I just figure he's a puppy but I am wondering if you have any approaches I could use to train him to not bite furniture or kids as much. He listens to my commands after training well but I have never tried to train a pup in this way. Any ideas? thanks.

Answer 1

I started to train my Bichonpoo at 12 weeks "no bite" whenever she attempted to bite me (I live alone) I would tell her firmly (without yelling) "no bite". If she was biting something that she shouldn't like furniture or clothing I would tell her "no bite" and "switch" as I gave her a toy or bone. She is now 5 months old and I have no problem at all with chewing or biting.

Answer 2

My puppy is 8 months old. She is a born herding dog, so nipping has been a natural thing for her since the day we brought her home. What worked for my family and I is that, when she nipped, we would smack her on the nose (not too hard, but hard enough to get the point across) and say, "No bites!"

Dogs noses are sensitive. A quick flick of the fingers is enough to make my dog stop biting and sneeze fervently. It doesn't hurt as much as irritate, like getting a big cloud of dust up the nose. She learned very quickly to associate "no bites" to a smack on the nose when she was a little too nippy.

When she attacks the furniture, rub her nose on the couch, table, etc. and tell her, "NO!" If she is really going at it, use a vicious-sounding noise (a "ch-ch" works for my pup). If that doesn't get your pup's attention, use that same flick of the fingers with a stern "No!" Then rub her nose on whatever her innapropriate chew toy is and repeat the command, "No!"

It's not mean--it's not painful. It's just an annoyance to the dog to show that biting people/chewing on furniture makes the nose itch.

Answer 3

First of all, get a puppy book and read fast....then you need to kennel train him, you also have to provide plenty of the appropriate chew toys.....hes teething he is going to chew on everything. If you keep something somewhat loud handy....a medium chain... a bell,.....something that makes enough noise to get his attention when he does something wrong....then when he starts to chew on something you make that noise to get his attention so he stops....then you reprimand him, call him to you and hand him an appropriate item to chew on...his bone, a kong toy etc,,,