Hello everyone. Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays.

I am having a few issues with my puppy. He is very aggressive and always is trying to bite people. No one wants to play with him because he is always trying to nip peoples hand, feet, or ankles.

I am also getting frustrated. For example, if I am working or doing something on the computer he will come right next to and try to bite my arm. When I took him to the vet they told me to grab him by the scruff and close his mouth shut with 2 fingers until he submits. It works but then he starts acting up again. Another thing I do is give him a 5-10 min time out in the washroom, with the lights off and door closed.

Are you sure he is aggressive? Sounds like a bored husky puppy that wants to play. First when playing try to have a toy so he has something he can bite. If he just wants to play having something to redirect him to might fix it.

For bitting I have three suggestions

Suggestion One (What we used with Simon): The "Yelping" Method

When the puppy bites you, yell "ow" in a high pitched voice and stop giving them any attention. The noise is to imitate how puppies communicate with each other when playing. A yip means 'hey you went too far, stop'. It's one of the reasons you want to leave puppies with their litter until they are 8 weeks old, so that they can learn from there siblings. You just continue to use that method of communication to tell your pup to stop. Also by withdrawing your attention there is a negative consequence to that behavior and they learn to do it less.

Now the issue people have with this is they forget puppies take time. Also, you have to be consistent. You can't one day do it and the next day switch. It took weeks for Simon to really understand but you could see him getting better quickly.

Suggestion Two: Bitter Apple (and other deterrents)

Bitter apple is a nontoxic spray designed to be unpleasant tasting to dogs and to make them not want to chew on anything you put it on.

This only works if your puppy does not like bitter apple, so spray some on the back for your hand and make sure he is not a fan. You can spray your hands before playing with the puppy. Let it dry a little and go play. If your puppy dislikes bitter apple as much as most dogs do it will be unpleasant for him to put your hands in his mouth. The thought process is that eventually the puppy will associate putting hands in his mouth with the unpleasant experience and not do it as much in the future. I haven't tried this personally but bitter apple did work really well to deter Simon from chewing other things so it could work well.

Suggestion Three: The Parrot Tactic  

A good dog trainer I know likes to use this method with her puppies. What you do is when they bite you, push your hand further into their mouth. It's similar to the bitter apple method in that you are trying to show them that biting them is unpleasant. She told me that with parrots you want to push in and not pull out so they let go not bite harder. I have never been bit by a parrot so I can't say if it works on them but all her dogs have excellent mouth control.