corvus
Posted : 10/29/2009 10:55:39 PM
The hard thing about punishment is that it really needs to happen the moment pup even thinks about chomping on you. Failing that, punishment the moment his teeth touch you should work.
Another hard thing about punishment is you don't always know if it will be a punishment at all. Our puppy Erik is a pretty intense biter as well, but fancy footwork to try to avoid his teeth just turns it into a fun game, trying to push him away with hands or feet turns it into a fun game, grumping at him makes him bite you harder just because he's an uppity little turd sometimes, and while crying out does make him remember that you're not into getting your legs and ankles shredded and the other dog has thick fur and a gentler disposition, it didn't stop him from biting the first time.
The good news is that with lots of yelping he is slooooowly reigning the biting in. The bad news is he still bites, only now he only does it when he's really excited, so he typically forgets about the whole tender skin thing and causes pain. We have a few things up our sleeves, though. I have resorted to carrying him when I have bare legs and I KNOW he's going to hammer me because he's got the 7am crazies and is tearing around the house like a maniac. But even in this state, he will sit if asked because we have really driven that home as something to do whenever he wants something. So when I just know he's going to bite me, I can ask for a sit and he'll do that instead. At this point I have a few seconds to either grab something he can bite on, or start walking reeeeeeally slowly to the nearest toy. If I move slowly it doesn't trigger the uncontrollable desire he has to grab whatever's moving and stop it.
He respects the yelp, but it's a reaction thing rather than a preventative thing. I like redirecting his teeth onto a toy because then he can bite as hard as he likes and I can walk as fast as I like. I like sits because it'll stop him before he chomps on me. I like asking for sits then tossing him a toy because it completely interrupts the "I'm gonna grab that moving ankle and BITE IT!" obsession and turns it into "Yay, chase and kill toy!" and often he'll run off grab the toy, shaking the living daylights out of it, and then bring it back to me for tug and/or more fetch. Biting me forgotten.
Don't know if any of that will help you, but sometimes you've got to be a bit proactive and distracting puppies is fun and easy.