pet training

I would say for the biting. When you play with your dog, do you play with him with your hands or do you play with him with toys. And when he is biting people is he playing with them, or is he just randomly going up to people and biting them out of no were. I must say when dogs are little, they go through that biting stage, he will eventually grow out of it, but it is good to teach him not to bite while he is still young. Now when you are playing with him if you are using your hands then you might want to switch with play time from hands to play time with just toys. Because if you are playing with him with his hands then he thinks that you are just playing with him and he figures that it is okay to bite. You have to be repetitious when you are training him not to bite. You can't just give up on it after he doesn't learn when you first tell him no. Just keep at it, and eventually he will learn that he is not supposed to bite. Another thing that I could tell you when you are playing with him and he bites you, you could yell out ouch in a loud tone, pull your hand back, and turn your back on him and stop playing with him. Most dogs hate this because they love they're play time. And if they see that they have hurt you and because they bit you you have stopped playing, then they will understand that in order for you to keep playing with them, then they need not bite. I say keep it up with the water bottle, especially if he doesn't like water, and keep saying no to him help him understand what no means. Don't praise him when he does something wrong and praise him when he does something right. I really don't recommend hitting him, because, it'll make him more fearful of you. How you can potty train him, is there is some puppy training pads that you could try on him first. Teach him to go on the training pads. If you see him about to lift a leg somewhere to go pee or squatt then quickly rush over to him pick him up and place him on the puppy pad. If he goes on the puppy pad praise him for doing so and give him a treat. Have a schedule on taking him outside for walks, and if he goes outside for the bathroom praise him once again, for using the restroom outside. Once again you have to be repitious in this as well and eventually he will learn that he should go to the restroom on the puppy pad or outside. If you have a schedule then he'll start learning that these are the set times that he should go outside to use the restroom. Now if he has an accident thats okay. He may have a few accidents on your carpet. What you can do is when he has an accident, you take him over to were he did the deed and show him what he did take his nose rub it lightly in the area and tell him no. Then take him over to the puppy pad and say you go here you place him on the pad and rub his bottom on it. Then he'll also learn that it is not acceptable to go to the bathroom on the carpet or your floor. Eventually he will learn and before you know it he will be letting you know when he has to go outside. Hopefully this will help. And remember keep at it and if you have other people that are living with you let them know what the rules of the house is and that they should do the same as well. Otherwise your puppy is going to get confused. Good luck in training your puppy.

Hi brokenankle and welcome to myLot. I think biting is a normal behavior for a puppy this age. They don't have hands to hold each other while playing, so they use their mouths. But you have to teach him he must controll his biting. He must not bite hard while playing with humans. When you play with him and he bites you a little harder, cry OUCH! and leave the play scene immediately. Ignore him for few minutes. This will make him understand that, if he bites hard, the play ends. You'll be surprised to see the difference in only few sessions. This method worked for my dog, she still bites my while we are playing, but she never bites hard. She only grabs my hand with her mouth, without hurting me. About the potty training, I don't know what to say. At 6 months he must knew he has to keep his house clean. My puppy was completely housebroken at 5 months and a half. Until that age, regardless of what I was doing to potty train her, she couldn't hold herself, especially while playing. At that age (5 months and a half) her brain was able to have complete control over the bladder. Maybe your puppy will mature a little later, I don't know. Tell us what have you done until now to puppy train him, to try to figure out what's the problem.