Biting Us- HELP

I have been putting off writing this as I hoped we would be able to sort out Po's aggression issues on our own. He's just over a year now and has been biting us since we got him. As a pup we tried everything, from the water bottle, to compressed air, 'No', 'no bite', 'uh uh', all of it. The turning our back when he bites is a complete failure as it hurts when he bites and we're unable to ignore the behavior. We're contemplating clicker training him- but will this be a good way to train him out of attacking us for no good reason? He bites mostly as a form of play, or to get our attention. It seems to happen most when he's excited. He's fine on his leash though- never aggressive when he's on that.

A foreseeable problem we have with clicker training is his persistence to get food. If we have treats on us all the time he will be up on us, trying to get them.

Note: We've tried a trainer but none of the recommendations worked- her main philosophy was ignoring the behaviour but that's hard to do when it hurts. We were told to wear more appropriate clothing (it was summer and I was in shorts) but I think its unrealistic to expect us to wear jeans, a long sleeved top and boots in our own house especially in the heat of summer.

I just want to say that despite this Po is a great dog- he's cute and can be a sweet dog. He's a little slow on the uptake when it comes to learning new things, but we love him so much despite his annoying tendencies. We really want to figure out a way to curb his biting behaviour.

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Permalink Reply by Beth on November 23, 2009 at 8:50am

Ramona, if your dog is walking away from you when you yelp, then she is not seeing you as being submissive. If this method works with your dog, great and continue to use it! Some dogs seem to get more excited by the "yelp" sound but for those who do not, it is meant to be very successful. I wouldn't worry. Training is all about finding what works, which won't be the same for each dog.

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Permalink Reply by Lisa on November 24, 2009 at 6:13pm

Reiki, my first corgi, female and she is red and white was very aggressive towards myself and my husband when she was young like your corgi. Nothing we did changed her behavior, I mean she would attack us out of the blue, biting at our legs, (trying to herd) I suppose. I had to take my shoes off the minute I walked in the house (only me) or she would attack the shoes and not let go. One time she actually chased me and I had to get on a chair to get away from her. I also was a caregiver to my father and she was gentle as she could be with him. I boarded her only one time never again, when we brought her home she removed all of her toys from her toy box and proceeded tearing around the house. Long story short, she did out grow that behavior and this day she is very sweet. She will still let you know when she does not like something but no more biting and attacking out of the blue.