My dog snaps- how can I stop him

Hi there,

My lab puppy Bear is 7 months old and is hyper and when he gets excited he starts barking, jumping up and snapping/biting at me.

I have read in a quite a few books about puppies that this merely excitement. He does wag his tail incessantly so i know he wants to play.

When he jumps up i put my knee up to stop him and he does give it up eventually but the snapping doesn't.

he is crate trained so every time he does snap i get him by his collar and put him in his crate to have a time out and continue this process until he stops.

This sometimes works, but despite me following through on this every time he doesn't give it up when he is exceptionally hyper.

He gets walked 3 times a day and has plenty of play time and down time but his snapping and excitement is continuing to reach new levels and i need help!

1. How can i calm him down?

2. How do i stop him from snapping?

Any advice would be great

Thank you

I am sorry you are having this problem with your pup. Unfortunatelt I am not able to help as it is a new one on me. Never had a dog that did that. However, I do know it is behaviour that needs correcting.

Are you in touch with his breeder and good terms with him/her? If so, why don't you ask them for advice. (Make clear that you are not blaming them for pups behaviour.) I used to breed dogs and I regarded every puppy I brought into the world as my ultimate responsibility, not until it was sold but for the rest of its life. If the owner ever had problems with the pup/dog, of any kind, they could always call on me and I would try to help.

I am certain there are lots of other breeders out there who feel like this.

Thank you for your reply.

Bear goes to a training class and i am still in touch with his breeder.

They have given me suggestions on how to make him stop but it's not working.

He is a very excitable puppy and the snapping only occurs when he is over excited, all other times he is very gentle and great around other dogs, babies and people.

we are giving him time outs and persevering with this in the hope that he will get the message EVENTUALLY that this is unwanted behavior.

In the mean time if any else has any suggestions i will be happy to take them on board and try them out.

Hello there,

My puppy was the same he would even bite my feet as I walked along.

My advice would not be to put him in crate as he will associate his crate with being naughty, what I did, with advice from trainer, was when he snaps or bites say 'wrong'' and have a naughty lead ready to put him on, I used to tie an old lead around my banisters in the hall to have it ready to take him straight there and put him on, leave him for 30-60 seconds and totally ignore him, then let him off, something like a naughty step fora child. This really helped me and after about 4 days of being consistent in doing this with my dog he stopped!

I hope this is of some help,

Thanks,

Paul.

There is an awesome video on YouTube I found about preventing puppies from using their teeth on you at all, by Victoria Stilwell - here it is:

Thank you for your replies but I'm afraid he has gotten worse!!

I have put another post on here explaining it all!

I just want it sorted as it is becoming a problem.

When he is calm he is such an awesome dog!

I'm exhausted!!!

Hi, sorry to hear you're having problems with Bear!

Have you considered having him castrated?

My friend had a Boxer that was terrible for biting and snapping at hands so he had him done and said he was like a different dog overnight!

It might not work for every dog, but it might be worth discussing it with your vet, and if you were planning on having him castrated anyway then it's job done! :thumbsup:

Jo

Instead of taking him by the collar and putting him in a time out have you tried saying nothing and removing yourself from the room. Just by paying enough attention to grab hold and put him away you may inadvertently be rewarding attention seeking behaviour.

I have a couple of other thoughts but I'm on the iPhone and I hate writing long replies on it, plus they're dependent in if you've tried it this way

Hi Wendy

We have been told by Bears trainer to keep an old lead on him and when he acts up to take his lead and not talk to him touch him or make eye contact and put him somewhere quiet and once he settles then to let him back in the room. However he decided to rip my carpet in my room.changed rooms and he ripped the carpet up in that one too!

So after speaking to his trainer again his bed has been removed from his ( he gets it back when he goes to bed) and he goes in his crate.

An hour and a half last night it took before he finally relaxed and settled down!! He is one determined pooch!

Today we have bought him a hard bed and popped an old quilt in it in the lounge so he can curl up in it next to the sofa and be near to us. He had numerous trips to his crate and then he got the message and snuggled up in his bed

Just got to keep following through and im praying he gets it!!

A teenage dog is exhausting! How people have kids I dont know!

Sophie xx