I move into my new home Monday, the one with the fenced in back yard so it won't be a problem for long as constantly as it is now. At the moment I have been staying with my dad who also has a fenced in yard and was okay with me having Malfoy here till the house was finished. My issue is with how my mom interacts with him, she lets him gnaw on her hands and doesn't reprimand him biting at her. She claims he is 'hungry' and feeds him despite me telling her over and over again to not do that. I think I FINALLY convinced her about the food, that it will make him not appreciate it and he will stop trying to earn it and simply expect it.

I still have a lot of issues with the biting though. I am with Malfoy 80% of the time but sometimes my mom comes over which I am totally cool with, she love Malfoy and wants to snuggle him and gives him attention if I have to be gone for work or out at drill like today. UGH. I just had to stop typing to go get Malfoy from her because she told me she was feeding him Taco Bell. I tried to tell her yet again, she cannot do that. She has chihauhaus that frequently get bits of what she is eating which is her choice. I'm guilty of doing it too but I have since seen what it does to their behavior and while it is bearable in a 10 pound dog, it will not be tolerated in a 60 pound one. I tried to tell her for like the fifth time tonight not to do that. She claimed she hadn't fed him any, he crawled over to her and her plate but if you have him on the couch while you eat...I feel it's expected and you should put him down and redirect him to a toy.

Pardon my rambling, I am just fired up over it. Original question is: How do I get through to my mother to get on board with how I am teaching Malfoy it is not okay to bite?

My method is this, when he bites I first yelp out and in a stern tone I tell him, 'Malfoy NO! No biting! Ow!' He stops sometimes but when he tries to go in and do it again I repeat it and redirect him to a chew toy of some kind and encourage him to it, when he chews on it actively I pet him and tell him what a good boy he is, keep him engaged with it for a minute or so. This usually works. When it doesn't and he loses interest in the toy and tries to bite at me again I swat him on the muzzle with two fingers, it's not hard at all but it is enough to get him to stop for good.

At first I too had issues with smacking him on the nose, I didn't want to hurt him by any means but I do see it as a necessary evil because he can't grow up and bite people. If he bites a small child it will not be okay with the child's parents. I told my mother this and she still says she can't hit him. What are some ideas you have on either how to get her on board or something that could potentially be equally effective for her to do.
Note: A spray bottle doesn't work too well, it gets him to leave things alone but not stop biting. Plus I don't want him to fear water more than he already does.



On a positive note he is doing good, he doesn't bite at me nearly as much now nor at my boyfriend who follows through with my training wishes. He still loves me and is attached to me so I feel I am not damaging him. I have taught him to sit inside (haven't tried it outside yet) and he can lay down as well, not quite as good as sit but he is getting there.

I had to resort to tapping Lucian on the snout as well. Nothing else worked. I'm surprised your mom lets him bite on her, those little puppy teeth are sharp! Tell it won't be so cute when he's 40lbs, and has his adult teeth, lol. My mom nipped it in the butt with a rolled up newspaper once. She didn't hit him hard, just a tap, and he got it real quick to stop biting my mom. Other people still let him do it, despite me telling them not to. I would simply remove Lucian from the room, and the person he was biting. I baby gated him in my kitchen until he calmed down. Most of his mouthing happened when someone came over, and he got excited.

I don't understand why she accepts him doing it, I don't want him to gently gnaw on me let alone bite. He will try to chew up her computer cords and other pricey objects and still nothing. She is very much against physically punishing him for it but it works, he isn't actually hurt and forgets it happened five seconds later.
I explained that husky's are a mouthy breed, it's something they do and with how young he was when I brought him home it's something he is even more likely to do if I don't break it right now. She rolls her eyes and refuses to comply. I don't want to 'ban' her from being around him while I am training him but I also don't want the efforts I am putting into proper training damaged.

The idea of removing him might work out, do you think doggy time out would have a positive effect?

I've had issues with my family being consistent with training but that's mainly with Kay's jumping up, mouthing, licking, and barking. Kay is a really annoying dog. But she's getting better, luckily. I have not found a way to convince them to do what i say. They don't feed table scraps though so i haven't had issues with that. My mom gets mad when Kay is jumping on her and licking her but i just say she doesn't jump on me. Then i get the "Whatever!" and eye roll, lol. If they would listen in the first place we wouldn't have this problem.

Time outs work pretty well for Lucian. I've seen it work well for other dogs too. They get to understand if I do this, I get taken away from where I want to be. So then they stop the behavior that's causing them being put in time out. Too bad it doesn't work as well on kids, lol.

I gave him a time out for getting real rowdy and bitey when I was trying to brush him. Short attention span I know but not an excuse to bite. He was in there for a minute, in the bathroom with the lights off for thirty seconds before he started to cry. I waited a little more and then let him out. Instantly he was calmed, came out and let me finish.

Until Keeonah was right near 10 months and in my mind had worked out the bulk of our basic training program, I didn't let anyone else spend any time with her without me there. If I had to be at work for an extended period of time, I would occasionally let one of my roommates take her out just long enough to go potty. The rest of the time she was crated. It is such a young and impressionable age for pups, that I didn't trust anyone else but myself to do it properly. Also, It is an important time period for growth and bonding between the dog and owner. It is when your pup grows to understand that all direction comes from you, and you only.

For me, if ANYBODY; family or not, does not respect my wishes for my dogs, then they loose time with them. Kennedy and Sheba are MY dogs. If people don't listen to what I want done with MY dogs, then tough luck. If my mom told me she doesn't want me taking my little sister to..oh I don't know, to a certain movie, then out of respect I wouldn't take her there. I expect the same respect for my "children". Tough love is sometimes the only thing that gets across to our family or friends who mean well.

Probably not the answer you wanted to hear, but I'm sure you knew it all along. Sometimes you just gotta do what is best for you and yours, even if it hurts people close to you.

Sheba&Kennedy wrote:

Probably not the answer you wanted to hear, but I'm sure you knew it all along. Sometimes you just gotta do what is best for you and yours, even if it hurts people close to you.

It's not that I didn't want to hear it, I was hoping it wouldn't have to come down to it. I think it may be for the best though. He does so well with me, he responds when I teach him commands and tricks, and I can't trust family members to follow through with my wishes so...gotta do what I gotta do.


@MyKeenoh, how many hours a day do you work/leave her in the crate? It makes me feel like a jerk to leave her in there for too long. This weekend I had drill and had to be gone for 12 hours each day, it felt wrong to make him stay in his box that long so I allowed my little brother to take him out.

Lucky me got laid off with virtually zero warning Friday so I am going to have plenty of time to spend one on one with him in our new home.