John Rosloot:
I know it must be frustrating to feel like Buddy's turned on you!
Just hang in there! The best advice I can offer is to continue
to yell at him when he bites you, "No!" or "OUCH!" -- let him
know that it hurts. Give him a hard rap on the nose (if you can do
it without him getting a chance to bite your hand), otherwise, spank
him on the rear end. Let him know you are *not* playing. They
just don't know our skin isn't as tough as theirs until they're
taught.
For what it's worth, Pogo has started to bite, too. When we first
got him, he *never* bit, but now he does often. I know he's only
playing, but he's gotten so big so fast that he's gotten *very*
strong. The first time he bit me, he was licking me on the face
(very cute & loving) & then suddenly bit my lip hard enough to
break the skin. (Boy, did *that* hurt!) Since then, I don't
give him a chance to lick me that long -- a couple of seconds,
then I move him away from my face. He's gets *lots* of praise
for being nice! He's getting the idea, but still has bitten
me twice since then, on the finger & on the leg -- not hard
enough to draw blood but hard enough to hurt. I've just tried
to be consistent about praising him for good behavior & yelling/
spanking for bad behavior. He's just *so* bouncy! He tried
to JUMP over the pet gate into the kitchen the other night --
unbelievable.
Hang in there, John!
Katie, Jeff, Bandit, Molly, Charlie & Pogo
[Posted in FML issue 0277]
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