Mancester Terrier

Question
Hi !  I am a new puppy mom so naturally I will be concerned about a number of things.... I have a 3 1/2 month old Manchester Terrier and although he is good for 23 hours of the day... there is that one hour a day that he is pure puppy -   I don't know how to get him to stop biting and holding onto my feet and hands....  i feel as though I've tried everything,,, and suggestions given to me by trainers have only made the situation worse...wondered if you had any suggestions....  i have so many deep cuts from his razor blade baby teeth....  he does it mainly when he wants to play or if he sees me getting my coat on to leave... also another concern i have is that his ears are supposed to be erect (he's the toy as opposed to the standard)...they were fallen, than erect, and now one of them has fallen and has stayed that way for about 2 weeks.... I've heard it could be because he's teething... but i wondered if i should worry.

thank you for your time... we are grateful to have such kind people as yourself. take their personal time to help those "ignorant"(lol - I'm referring to myself) when it comes to puppy raising.

Answer
I had typed you out a nice long reply last night and then my browser crashed! So sorry for the delay.

You need to distract your dog with a toy and not use your hands as play things. You tell him NO BITES very firmly when he starts to go after your hands or feet and offer him the toy. Don't use the toy to play with him, let him play alone. If he refuses the toy and comes back after you- you tell him OFF very FIRMLY and then if he won't stop, you pick him up and place him in a time out in his crate.

Do not spank, hit or otherwise chastise him. A very firm OFF and NO BITES are what work the best. I had not had a puppy in 21 years and my dog is now 11 and I still use OFF with her when I want her to chill out. It works for everything and much better than NO.

When you are putting on your coat you have to do the same thing but you can use a tie down off to the side for him. Tell him OFF and good boy after you tie him (on a leash but where he can see you) and then when you are ready to walk to him and untie him, give him a small piece of his food. Not a treat, just a kibble. That is plenty.

The same for when he calms down and stops biting you. The biggest reasons that puppies continue to bite this way is that the owner is not consistent and firm enough. YOU have to be the boss. You are not going to make him hate you- on the contrary, you are the pack leader and are putting him in the correct hierarchy of the pack. He will love and adore you for that. Puppies play hard and bite because they are testing out their place in the pack as well as just playing. It is a natural instinct to do so.

Get him a good toy to play with or a kong that you can put some of his kibbles in. If you distract him with that when he starts to bite he will start to understand that you are not the play toy.

As far as his ears standing up, if they are not up by 4 months of age then have the vet evaluate them. I have seen them droop from teething also, but they should be coming back up in another week. He is cutting his four month molars now. His canines will come in between 5-6 months. Watch him for baby teeth retention at that time.
If he doesn't lose them you should have them removed when he goes in for neutering at 7 months.

I hope this helps. It would be nice to know what the 'trainers' told you that isn't helping.

Another thing is that you might want to read over Uncle Matty's site on dog training. He advocates the use of a high pitched voice that gets the dog's attention. I have used it at the vets and it works well.

Uncle Matty's site can be found here:

http://www.unclematty.com/training/selftrain.htm

Good luck and most of all, have fun with him!