New puppy biting & digging: How to train her without scaring her?

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern! Biting is a normal puppy behavior and will subside with time most likely. A couple of things you can do to help stop this behavior is to stick your thumb in Tommy's mouth every time he bites and hold your thumb in the mouth until he finds it annoying. If he comes back to bite after, repeat this again and again. Eventually, I find that the puppies will just walk up and lick your hand after a while because they do not want your thumb being stuck in their mouth. If that does not work, you can use a spray bottle filled with water and spritz Tommy in the face while saying "off" to help deter the behavior. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Lucky is a puppy and this behavior is typical in a dog his age. This behavior tends to subside or drastically lessen over time as a puppy ages. For the biting, I find that whenever a puppy bites my hand, I place my thumb under the tongue and hold it there until the puppy is annoyed and then release. I repeat this over and over until the puppy loses interest in biting. You can also use a spray bottle filled with water and every time Lucky jumps up or begins biting, you can lightly spritz him in the face and say "off!" to help deter the unwanted behavior. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. I find that flipping puppies that misbehave on their back in your arms or on the ground and holding them in place for a minute or two helps. I've had some fairly aggressive puppies that this trick worked well with. Also, saying in a stern voice "off!" or "stop!" when the unwanted behavior happens can help correct this as well. I would also consider incorporating a spray bottle filled with water and using this every time the puppy becomes aggressive. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. This is undesired behavior and it is ideal to correct now while she is young and small. I would recommend leash training her and using treats as positive reinforcement for good behavior. If she stops biting you when you say "off" or "no" then you should reward her with a treat. Another training method is negative reinforcement. When she does the undesired behavior, a spray bottle filled with water is used to spritz her in the face while saying "off" or "no". If training is unsuccessful you might want to consider contacting a trainer for advice and for puppy training classes. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. My recommendation for this type of behavior is to make sure you are in control of the situation. If dogs know that you are not fully in control, they will take advantage of this. I would recommend putting a basket muzzle on her when you go outside so she cannot bite you, this way you have better control over her and she is unable to bite you. Next, I would get a pronged collar to help gain better control over her so that you can correct the behavior better. When she stops the behavior or is being good, she gets rewarded with treats. This will help reinforce the good behavior. When she bites or tries to attack you, a firm tug on the leash with the pronged collar in a downward motion and saying "off!" will help deter this behavior. I also recommend incorporating a spray bottle with water in the training and every time she does this behavior, spritz her in the face, tug on the collar and say "off!". If this does not work, then a shock collar is something to consider in aiding in training. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Thanks for using PetCoach! A couple ideas: try something like FreshPatch which essentially sends you a patch of real grass in a cardboard container. Or, try crate training since most pups will not pee in their “house”. Here is a good link for crate training. http://www.aahneenah.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/crate-training-your-puppy.pdf As far as the aggression, you’ll need to get that under control as soon as possible. Any form of aggression toward humans should be met with a firm “no” and stopping all play/walking. Practice just walking by and touching his back end frequently so that it’s normal and no big deal. Neutering often helps with aggression so keep that in mind. Finally, some dog require more intensive care so talk with your vet about anti anxiety medication or professional training.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your question. Below are techniques that I recommend to try and stop this behavior. Puppies can have aggressive play behavior which can be corrected. These are the techniques I find the most helpful. If these do not help, then I would recommend seeking a behaviorist to discuss training Indie. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any further questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. 1. When Indie bites your hand, insert your thumb into her mouth and grip under the jaw with the remaining fingers and pinch your thumb lightly against the fingers under the jaw in the soft spot of the underside of the tongue. Hold this so that she cannot get away and do this until she finds it annoying and stops biting. She will likely start licking you. Keep up with this technique and it should help. 2. Use a spray bottle filled with water and lightly spray Indie in the face while saying "off!" when she does this behavior 3. Keep a leash on her at all times and when she acts up, grab the leash and give a firm tug downward and say "off!". 4. It is important that you also reward the good behavior and give her a treat for when she stops the behavior. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please take the time to mark this question as helpful or not as it helps us to improve on the quality of our answers to other pet owners. Thank you kindly!