Getting to my wits end with 7-month hound mix. We are a young family (two children 9, 6) and no amount of strategies have been able to curb his want to chew on us. I’ll be clear that it isn’t biting that breaks skin, but it IS NOT gentle. He mouths hard enough to cause the kids to yelp (he’s bigger than the 6-year-old now) and my S.O. also gets pinched hard by his bites. I’ve been able to endure the biting myself to try to divert/walk away , redirect, take for walks, train, provide chewing alternative etc. and nothing seems to supersede chewing on us. We try to do our best to use up the energy but it never seems to be the answer. Forced naps feel more like punishment cause we have to forcefully get him in his cage while he tries to flip around to chew on whatever hand has the leash or harness.
We hoped the chewing would stop when he lost all his puppy teeth and we thought he lost them all (but you can never be sure). If not for the mouthing, we could deal with the other misbehaviors (occasional potty accidents, furniture destruction etc) but the biting makes it’s hard to view him in a positive light. It also makes it hard to be a family with the kids, who just want to sit and chill with their dog.
I don’t want to even think about rehoming yet BUT I won’t lie the thought has creeped into my mind. I am afraid we think the behavior will subside but find out it becomes permanent.
Please any positive thoughts are welcome. We want to get past this bump but it is really hard and we are feeling really depressed and overwhelmed. He’s not the perfect dog but he’s still a good boy.
(Writing this after another one of his meltdowns where I tried to sleep on couch with him since he was in cage for a long time. Figured it could give him some controlled-environment freedom, while I could sleep but he chose to repeatedly chew on me to the point he got put back in cage)
We hoped the chewing would stop when he lost all his puppy teeth and we thought he lost them all (but you can never be sure). If not for the mouthing, we could deal with the other misbehaviors (occasional potty accidents, furniture destruction etc) but the biting makes it’s hard to view him in a positive light. It also makes it hard to be a family with the kids, who just want to sit and chill with their dog.
I don’t want to even think about rehoming yet BUT I won’t lie the thought has creeped into my mind. I am afraid we think the behavior will subside but find out it becomes permanent.
Please any positive thoughts are welcome. We want to get past this bump but it is really hard and we are feeling really depressed and overwhelmed. He’s not the perfect dog but he’s still a good boy.
(Writing this after another one of his meltdowns where I tried to sleep on couch with him since he was in cage for a long time. Figured it could give him some controlled-environment freedom, while I could sleep but he chose to repeatedly chew on me to the point he got put back in cage)