New puppy.....Help!!!

First off, we are animal lovers in our house. I would never harm an innocent animal intentionally. But with that said, our new pup is about to drive me/us past that point! This dog is more than a handful. He is 2 1/2 months old, shelter dog, said to be a Terrier, Collie and Pit Bull mix. He was the sweetest thing at Petco when the local shelter had them there. He was sooooo tame and loving. Now that we have him home he acts like he is on speed! Constantly biting any body part he can get a hold of. We are crate training him. Came home today after him being cooped up for about 4 hrs, and he had chewed his harness in two. He bit my cell phone (which was clipped on my belt) after trying to get him off my hands and every other part of my body and broke my cell phone case. He trys to bite the carpet, furniture and anything else he can get his mouth on! As fast as you get him off one thing he has something else in his mouth. I have a 12 year old minature Aussie that I trained from 6 weeks old and he was a handful too, but dont remember him being this bad. I have had to put in back in the crate a couple of times already just so I wouldn't hit him! We are trying hard to train him properly, but me and my wife have been pushed to our limits and we have only had him for 2 days now! He doesn't seem to listen. Can this dog be trained? Here is a pic, I had a hard time just getting the pic as he will not sit still for more than 2 seconds. Any advice will be greatly appreciated. I love animals and want to keep him, but at the rate we are going, I dont know if we can handle him. I dont want to have to take him back, these dogs that were at the store were on thier last days before being put down. He is as cute as can be but damn! He is actually our daughters dog as she was told we would get her one once we got settled in our house and that was 3 years ago, so we finally gave in. She doesn't really have that much time to deal with him with school and band functions so we are stuck dealing with him. Please let me know if I'm just being too impatient, this dog is a terror!

 

maybe i'll get bad rep for saying this, but i know a lot of people here feel the same but won't say it - you have to hit a dog. i've never beat a dog or anything like that, but i've trained plenty. when they bite at a young age like that the best thing to do is grab them by the mouth and pull their lip onto their teeth and squeeze (just a little) that helps them learn that biting actually hurts. accompanied with the words "no" of course. i've always been fortunate to always have outside animals since i live in a very rural area. but the tearing up stuff and all that is just part of the puppy stage. i've got a 6 month old lab that is finally getting out of that stage now.

 

maybe he needs to play more and get some energy out?

 

^ that too. that was part of what i meant to say when i said mine were always outside. though a lady i know trains dogs for blind people (whatever that program is called) and hers stay in the kennel a lot at young ages. it all depends on the dog to. . . . he/she is very cute too btw.

 

my apbt needs a lot of excercise to be peacefull

 

This ^^^
And some of this.
jgwheeler17 is not wrong here, it's all in how you do it. I always used one finger, bopped my puppies on the nose with a stern "no biting". I used that same finger anytime I used the word no. It got to a point if he was doing something wrong I could just make a noise and point my finger at him. He knew if he saw that finger I was not happy with him.

 

and as for the chewing on things, there are different things you can buy from pet stores to keep them from that. i know for our outside things we will put hot sauce on things they don't need to be chewing on. . . . though at the same time at those young stages they need to be chewing on things. keep plenty of toys around it.

 

Try using a rolled up newspaper, or something that makes a loud noise. The point is to get his attention. Puppies chew that is just part of their development, get him a piece of rawhide to chew on. Also take him outside and run him, use up all that young energy. Just be patient and consistent, the puppy will make mistakes, try not to give him the opportunity.

 

As far as burning up energy, he was just neutured and shelter said to keep him from strenuous activity. We have plenty of toys around and it seems he gets bored with them and turns to us.

Does anyone have an opinion on the breed based off from his pic? I can see the pit in him, some of the colors of a collie but nothing of a terrier.

 

all my dogs have been neutered and after a couple days let em run! though that lack of testosterone will help him calm down too. good luck. and as for what kind, i can't tell past what you said. all mine have been strays so trust me theyre all trainable.

 

Thanks. As I type, the running/burning energy seems to help. MY daughter just got home right after the opening post and gave him a lot of playing and he seems to be calmer for the moment. I need a fenced yard.

 

Give him some time and he will fit in with you all. I have a dobey that is high energy and snips at the boys once in a while , but once he is discilpined, usually a push to his left hip, he knows . You might try a shock collar. The Police Department uses them on training there dogs. It is humane because your not frying them, you are just shocking them. good luck.

 

A tired dog is a good dog. Hoe about a tennis ball on a rope, hung from an appropriately sized tree branch or clothesline? Give him room to run with it once he has a good bite...

 

i'm having the same problem. I found that lots of chew toys and showing him that this is his and chew on this only and not my things. repetition is the key. give him a few days after his chop job and run him burn energy.also i gave my dog a stuffed animal and that helped.

 

He eats and tears up everything we buy him! He eats the fuzz off tennis balls, stuffed animals don't last 10 minutes and all the stuffing is all over the place and even his harnesses some how get chewed, been through 3 or 4 so far. Told my wife I was going to pull the spare tire off my truck to see how long that would last him. This dog is costing a fortune. He is getting calmer but when he gets wound up look the eff out!!!! God I cant wait until the puppy stage is over!!!

 

Just a heads up, that bitter apple spray doesn't always work, for some reason my bichan/shitzu fell in love with the stuff and went for anything it was on.

Also, + 1 for hitting the dog, a quick 1 finger smack to the nose is all you need. Accompanied by the usual "No"

 

i dont condone/ believe in using animal violence, but i am not afraid to issue a stern warning where one is due. that being said, a slap on the butt neck or hip are all very affective. a slap if far different than that of a closed fist and is only hard enough to let them know it was wrong, not to hurt the animal

 

get ahold of cesar milan. he will show the dog whos boss

 

It's all about patience, man.

I am going through the same thing with a 4.5 month border collie/lab mix right now. We keep her crated while we're at work, and take her on a walk/to the dog park afterwards. It's true, a tired puppy is a good puppy.

Luna (that's my dog) still tries to bite pants legs, arms, hands etc. - especially when we are playing - but I just take my forefinger and thumb and put them on either side of her snout and apply a little pressure. Not a squeeze, just enough to get her attention. And always with a sharp "no!" She has gotten a lot better about at least stopping when she gets riled up.

Also -- chew toys are your friend. Get some Kongs, rawhides, tennis balls -- whatever he'll play with -- and keep them around. You'll want enough to rotate every week or so, otherwise he'll get bored with them. Constant chewing also keeps him calm and eliminates excess barking, which also comes from too little stimulation.

Finally, if there are things you definitely do not want chewed, try sprinkling a tiny bit of cayenne pepper on it. Puppy will learn really fast that chewing that particular thing is not fun. But be sure to keep a fresh bowl of water around.

 

check these out, the ultra balls are indistructible. We found these after ours cept tearing up tennis balls and my dogs love them even more then tennis balls. As far as the training goes most dogs love attention, so if they are doing something that gains your attention they will keep doing it. Try to look for the good things your puppy does and praise him for that and it wont take long till he figures out what you want.
http://www.chuckit.com/#/product/specialtyballs