Hi everyone,
I've adopted a male French Bulldog x Australian Shepherd cross.
He's biting a lot despite having all the toys he needs.
When he bites, I give him a toy to redirect him to play, but he prefers grabbing my arm, clothes, blankets, etc. I give him a firm "no", but he just gets even more hyper and bites harder. So I tried the "ouch" technique; I was also told to try grabbing his muzzle or the scruff of his neck. These "physical" techniques really bother me as I'm not a violent person, but just saying "no" or "ouch" hasn't been enough so far.
Today, even though I take him out 4 or 5 times for about 10-15 mins each time to let off steam (he doesn't move much outside, even though I try to encourage him), he's been biting constantly. I was on the sofa and he bit my arm hard. I grabbed his muzzle, but once I let go, he tried to go for my face by jumping at me. After that, I tried scruffing him, but it was the same thing—he got even more aggressive and nearly bit my mouth.
The third time, he was super aggressive again. In between these episodes, I put him on the floor to let him do his own thing because I didn't want him near me while he was behaving like that.
I don't know what to do. I'm starting to panic because I'm a woman living alone, and he's a little male with a lot of character whose mother was apparently a bit aggressive too. I'm worried I won't be able to cope or that I'll fail at training him... I don't know if this behaviour is normal at his age (8 weeks and 1 day old). I'm dreading Christmas because he'll be around children... I'm scared for my nieces and nephews who are aged between 1 and 5. I don't want him to nip or hurt them, especially as he's already leaving quite bad tooth marks on me.
Sorry for the long post.
Tomorrow he'll be around an adult female dog. Maybe she'll keep him in line during play and he'll understand?
Thanks,
Mot22
