Last Chance Puppy Training

Question
Dear Ms. Hartwick,

We have a puppy who is just now 12 weeks old.  He is a pure retriever, half Lab and half Golden.  Recently, my mother got out of the hospital after five aortic bypass surgeries and is experiencing neuropothy in both of her feet.  One of the problems is that our puppy, Tagg, has a bad habit of play-biting.  Although he doesn't bite down hard, he still has his puppy teeth, so he tends to puncture when he bites.  The other main, and most fearful, problem is that he tends to stand, walk and run in front of people when they are walking.  More times than not, he gets tripped over.  My mother has just given him away to my aunt, but she can't keep him due to her work schedule, so she's returning him tomorrow.

This is it, he HAS to learn to stop biting people, and definitely he has to STOP tripping people when they walk.  What can I do to quickly, and kindly, break him of these habits before my mother takes him to the humane society?

I'm desperate for your advice.

Sincerely,
Tracy

Answer
Tracy,

Ok the biting has to stop, but remember he is still a baby and needs to learn what he can chew on. Have you gotten him loads of chew toys? When he bits skin give a loud yell "OUCH"!!!! this will startle him into stopping his action, tell him no bite! If you do this every time his teeth is on you it should help.
Train him to be at your side, lure him to your sides and make him stay there, if he goes in front of you correct him back to your side.
This is not a quick fix to your problem, I think you should enroll him in obedience training, you will see better results when he knows what you want of him.

Good luck

Lorie