Does anyone have advice on training a dog not to snap or bite?

[BarnyardChaos]

Eight weeks old is often too early to separate a pup from its mother and littermates. There is critical socialization training that happens at this time. The pups bite mom, and she bites them back. They bite each other, and learn that it friggin' hurts and not to do that.

I have a beagle who was, I believe, from a puppy mill. Got him at 8 weeks old, with his littermate brother. The brother's behavior is fine. But the 1st pup still (at 12 years old) suckles on a corner of his dog bed, never learned how to play (still thinks it's fighting), and can be unpredictable to snap or bite when startled.

I won't let him go to a different home, as I doubt anyone else would understand his psychotic behavior and he would be abused or injure someone. I keep him locked in the kennel when rambunctious children are present.

 

[AGeese]

Mine was a rescue too, he bit constantly when I went to pick him up, it was like bite, bite, bite, bite, not reactionary just continous. He had been adopted out 4 or 5 times prior and was only about 6 months.

When I got him home he contined to bite, they weren't hard, but need to be stopped. I held on to him, my other two dogs all sat by and whenever he would try to bite someone I would secure him in my arms it took 20 full minutes of this, and then he finally stopped.

He still has some of these little habits, but the biting has turned to licking. This case could be something else like kids pulling on tail or something is what some of it sounds like.

 

[cassie]

You need to find a good trainer. That behavior in unacceptable.

 

[Ozarkoak]

Its a whole thing. Not just breaking the nippy stuff. Dog needs a owner. You can be friends and that comes after being a master. If a dog growls and trys to bite you for taking something of his that's because he is confused on who is running the show and thinks there is a chance that he can convince you he/she is running things. That idea needs to be taken away and you AND the dog will be happier. This is where leash training becomes very important. Dogs dont want to be a leader and when they see you are the pack leader a ton of pressure will be taken off the dog. My Belgian malinois sees me as the leader. When I leave he runs all over my wife. BECAUSE she didnt follow through on the training and he is smart. There is a ton that goes into dog training. Like I have said before only thing dog trainers agree on is the other one is doing it wrong. Treats, praise, discipline and structure. It is so nuanced even the tone of your voice while giving praise is super important. Good luck
Edit: Also no one can train the dog to listen to you. 80% of dog training is you learning the other is teaching the dog. I 100% guarentee if you brought me the dog in 3 weeks it would be listening and behaving how I wanted, but you would have no idea how or what was happening and things would fall apart in very short order. When you decide on a trainer chose one that is willing to train you to train the dog.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Um. A lot of folks are telling OP to start by training the dog to stay off the couch, in order to establish his role as Leader of the Pack.

I just have one question. How, exactly, is he to do this? The dog bites. (Snapping just means you moved your hand quickly enough that the dog missed.) So friend OP goes to sit down on the couch and BAM! there's Bad Dog, already jumped up to sit beside him. This isn't affection or loyalty, it is dominance. This is where the King sits, I sits beside the King. Grr.

So Op thinks, Oh yeah. Rule Change. No dog on furniture any more. So he spends five or ten minutes explaining this to Dog, to abdolutely no effect. Dog's not moving. Finally, in an act of - what else? - dominance, OP reaches over to PICK UP Dog to remoove him from the couch. When.. -

SNAP! OWwwww! Oh yeah, there's a reason we don't do that.

IMO, the cows are already out of the barn. That ship done sailed! The toothpaste is outa the --- well, you get the picture. You can't easily untrain a dog. He sits on the couch? Guess what. He sits on the couch! We have more urgent concerns: About that biting. What to do? Call in a professional, as I add my vouce to the chorus.

 

[NatJ]

Um. A lot of folks are telling OP to start by training the dog to stay off the couch, in order to establish his role as Leader of the Pack.

I just have one question. How, exactly, is he to do this? The dog bites. (Snapping just means you moved your hand quickly enough that the dog missed.) So friend OP goes to sit down on the couch and BAM! there's Bad Dog, already jumped up to sit beside him. This isn't affection or loyalty, it is dominance. This is where the King sits, I sits beside the King. Grr.

So Op thinks, Oh yeah. Rule Change. No dog on furniture any more. So he spends five or ten minutes explaining this to Dog, to abdolutely no effect. Dog's not moving. Finally, in an act of - what else? - dominance, OP reaches over to PICK UP Dog to remoove him from the couch. When.. -

SNAP! OWwwww! Oh yeah, there's a reason we don't do that.

IMO, the cows are already out of the barn. That ship done sailed! The toothpaste is outa the --- well, you get the picture. You can't easily untrain a dog. He sits on the couch? Guess what. He sits on the couch! We have more urgent concerns: About that biting. What to do? Call in a professional, as I add my vouce to the chorus.

People talked about training the dog to stay off the couch because OP specifically asked about whether it might help. OP did not ask about how to train that behavior.

OP also mentioned the idea of keeping a leash on the dog at all times, to make it easy to move the dog without directly touching it. With a leash attached to the dog, it's obvious how to get the dog back off the couch: pull on the leash.