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

[Missyschix13]

I agree with everyone above. This dog needs a professional trainer. In the meantime, please muzzle him around children. And if he is to have contact with anyone but your household. He should not be on furniture. They earn the place on furniture. I can tell my dog to get down at anytime and he moves. Small dogs are often given a pass on training because they are small. I highly disagree. Every dog regardless of size needs training. You either do it yourself or you hire someone to help you. It is never acceptable for a dog to "run your house". You run your house and they live in it. I hope everything works out. Please keep us posted. I'm fingers crossed for you!

 

[RubelliteRose]

Also agree with everyone above. He needs professional training. Does he know basic obedience - sit, stay, down, come...? Even if he does, you will probably need to start there as a refresher.
While I don't have any recommendations, if you can't find a local trainer, have you looked for a trainer who would work with you virtually? They could at least evaluate your situation and give you specific advice.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Any advice on finding a trainer? The only one that looks good to me that I have found so far is booked for a year and the rest of the trainers don't appear to have any qualifications.

You can try contacting local shelters, pet boarding facilities, etc. and see if any of them have recommendations for trainers. I got in touch with my private trainer via the rescue group we got a couple dogs from, and my MIL found hers via the boarding facility she was using.

 

[MarkRainbolt]

I had a dog once that bit me. So I bit him back and drew blood , he never bit me again. Wound up being one of the best dogs that I had ever owned.
Mark

 

[Colley12]

I wouldn't let the dog on the couch at all...if he jumps up, block and make them get off. If this dog is in your house, even if it isn't your dog....you can set a rule of no dogs on the furniture...you would probably see an improvement in he behavior with just that change...just so you feel something right away. While waiting to find a trainer.

 

[NatJ]

The two options I thought of are 1. leaving a collar and leash on him, and whenever he snaps say 'NO' and take the leash than put him in time out. Or 2. Train him not to be on the couches, tables ect where he is most likely to bite, but that is really only avoiding the problem rather than fixing it.

Training the dog to stay off the couches and other furniture might help.

Avoiding a problem is sometimes worth the effort: the more a dog does the wrong thing, the worse it tends to get, so avoiding the problem can slow that down.

And this would not just be avoiding the problem. It would also start to teach the dog that someone else makes rules, and he must obey them.


I do not think it will completely solve the problem, but training him to stay off the furniture could be a good starting point while you work on other things (like finding a trainer).

 

[ilikepigeons]

I will try out all the suggestions for finding a trainer, and in the meantime I will hopefully stop him being on the furniture.
Thanks again for all the support, I think I have all my questions answered for now.
I will let you know the end result, not sure when that is, but I will give an update then

 

[chicbaby]

many people allow their smaller dogs to be aggressive, they think its cute. it is really not normal for a dog to snap so easily, he must be very stressed and feel he has to be in charge. if he was here, our dogs would teach him to behave, and he would learn from them what is ok or not. homeopathy works very well, you can research it, homeopathy plus is a great website. you can easily put the remedy in his water or a little milk and then observe and see how it works.

you have to put him in situations where he can win without being aggressive, and make sure he is rewarded for being calm. some dogs just don't want to be around children, they are too loud and they stress them. some dogs are not cuddly and need their own space. it is not his fault this has happened. everyone needs to look at their own behavior, their feelings, dogs pick up on our stress and act out for us at times, when there are issues going on and we do not responsibly deal with them. punishment will only make it worse, because with punishment you are showing him whoever has the biggest bite is the winner. you want him to feel safe and secure, so he does not have to defend himself and his space, and find a better space for him but not a cage.

being on the couch is not the cause of his snapping. our dogs are on our furniture and they sleep with us and they would never dream of doing that. jerking his collar is a bad idea, like i said above. that will not make him feel secure. patience is the key. as i said before, it sounds like he is overwhelmed and needs down time without manipulation and too much attention. dogs are not things, they are people too and need respect, or they will not show respect. battling at this point over keeping him off the furniture is something i would not do. he is not going to understand why and it will stress him more. i would look at his diet and go to a raw food diet, with organic and good supplements. dogfood is full of toxins and can make dogs crabby too because its not appropriate for them, especially all the grains put in them.

 

[Tevian]

I think you absolutely need to take him to a vet (or whoever owns him), and have a checkup especially if this is sudden new behaviour. It could be an indicator of pain (especially the petting or being disturbed while resting), or some other condition causing sudden behaviour changes.

I also do think you should train him not to be on the couch, or to politely remove himself from the couch when you ask. Terriers are so incredibly trainable, but generally do not give a rats ass about corrections. Not to mention, his biting/snapping at you is a reaction to something happening to him, not a behaviour like barking at a window. If he is immediately turning to biting, it means that previously his other signs of discomfort, such as physical body language, or growling, have been ignored or punished, and he has learnt that the only way to get things to stop is to go the full distance to bite.
I would train him to know the words to hop off the couch, using something he finds really rewarding (cheese is a favourite in my terrier household). And also get him a super comfy dog bed that’s his own space, and train him to hang out there instead. When he’s on it, he’s safe from being touched or bothered.

With not liking being grabbed when he thinks something bad will happen, this is honestly a pretty simple fix: just add in a leash or slip leash! I carry one with me day to day as I have 5 dogs and need to be able to quickly get a handle on at least one if they’re up to shenanigans (3 are terriers so shenanigans are a given). If he is fine with have a leash clipped on, just put him on a leash and then take him to wherever you need him to. If he’s not fine with it then a slip leash will allow you to do this without getting bitten, until he learns to trust you more.

As for biting children, I agree with everyone else: he and children should not be around each other. Personally I would pick a room that guests do not readily frequent (like an office, spare bedroom, or laundry) and close him in there, either with a baby gate or just by shutting the door if he’s fine with it. Make it comfy and a calm routine with a bed and toys/food puzzles if he wants them. Make sure the kids know not to disturb him. Lots of dogs don’t love kids, but biting them is where he borders on becoming a dangerous dog.

Biting when you try and take things off him is a pretty classic example of resource guarding. It’s a hard thing to train out of a dog, especially guarding from humans. When my dogs have something I think they shouldn’t have, I always trade them for it with some of their food. Even the dogs that are fine with me taking stuff.
You make sure they’re aware of you having the reward, use a cue word like ‘trade’ or ‘drop it’, and either swap them for the item, or scatter the treats away from the item. This gives you time to grab whatever they had while they’re distracted. After a while they learn that the word means they’ll get a reward for giving up the item, so long as your reward is better than what they’ve already got.

Teaching him a better way to react to things/training him to not be on the couches, is NOT avoiding the problem. It’s addressing it! In a way that’s lower stress to you, him, and everyone else in the household. Being constantly yelled at or yanked around only adds to his stress and his knowledge that he can’t trust the people around him to be gentle with him.

Terriers do have big feelings about things, but they are also so fun to train when you are working with them, not against them. I have never had a terrier in my 15 years of owning them that didn’t respond immediately and exuberantly to being trained in a kind, fair manner.

And when you can, I would definitely seek out a professional that can help you in your home to train both the people and the dog. It will help make your home so much more calm and harmonious.

 

[AGeese]

Plenty of advice here, but you'll never train this dog until the other person agrees there is an issue.