How can I stop my dog from biting family members including myself?

I can understand you anxiety.

But human rules are for humans and doggie rules are for dogs.

Dogs work in packs. And there are ways and means to tell your doggie that you are also the member of the pack and infact the leader of the pack.

Yelling 'No' etc might help but not completely. You HAVE TO establish yourself as the leader of the pack along with your hubby and son. This is called as the 'Alpha Status'.

if you cant afford an obedience school atleast try to spare enough time to be patient with your dog and teach him yourself using innumerable free online help.

A few i can think of...

1. Make sure it is you who would be feeding your doggie.

2. If you growls or barks, ignore him and hide the food bowl. Come back later after 10 mins and try again. That will teach him to respect the leader. No respect, no food.

3. Ask your hubby to react whenver he growls on any family member. He should immediately ignore the dog and should not pet it. Petting is a way of telling the dog that what it's doing is right.

Please search the net and i am sure you can find many ways to teach your dog basic manners.

He will learn, i am sure.

All the best !

He is tring to show you that he is the alpha male and unfortuntly its going to take a lot of work and a lot of patientce for you to correct this to make it tolerable for you both. First you need to make sure that your dog is never around your child alone, he might see him as a threat and bite. I would try crating him he might now like it at first but he will learn to deal with it. I would crate him in another room from where your husband sleeps. When you get home from work go over to him and talk to him and let him out take him outside and bring him back in and don't let him near your husband feed him and take him directly back to his cage, make his stay there until he is done eating, let him out and play with him for a little while but when you are done then he needs to know that you are done and don't let him control you. I have crate trained my dog that didn't like men very much and I got him on her routine and slowly she came around and was able to be out of her crate when any of my husbands friends came over. When you are able to afford getting a trainer I would recommened getting one that will help you on aggresion. Good luck and hope this helps you.

This is a big dog, and you have to show him who is boss, or it will only get worse for all of you.

your husband sleeps all day, you are at work, when does the dog get socialized, walked and played with.

this is very important with any dog, but one this size needs it even more.

if you cannot get the dog trained, then I suggest you find a good home for dog, so he can be trained and socialized properly.........

he needs to be gotten under control now.....

Breeder/show/handler 15 yrs

can you take him to obedience classes????????

I am probably going to get all kinds of hate messages from PETA and others, but you have to discipline the dog so it knows who is in charge. The dog also has to realize that your son is not to be messed with! Check with your local shelter, they may have a low, or no cost, obedience classes! Much cheaper that trying to relocate the pet or worse yet euthanizing it! One other suggestion is to have the dog sleep elsewhere. Dogs are kinda strange and it may feel that it has to protect your sleeping husband! Good luck!

Sounds like the dog needs more exercise and training. If you don't know about the breed, why own it?

Sounds like hubby is "alpha" and you are nothing to this dog. You need to teach him that it's you and your hubby, your kid then the dog. Teach him NILIF - Nothing In Life Is Free! Make him do something for his food (ex. sit), make him sit by the bed before being allowed onto it (if he gets to sleep on the bed). Better yet, don't allow him on the bed at all, he thinks it's "his" spot. Make him lay beside the bed or outside the door. Don't allow him to bark, growl or "get nasty" without denying him something he enjoys.

Basically, read up on your breed and get some good training books.

If he is biting you then you should be concerned about your son as well! Do not put your son in harms way!

Does the dog get any exercise? These are big dogs and big dogs need a lot of one on one attention at exercise!

If you can not afford obedience school or training then I don't think it is safe for you(or him) to own a dog that bites.

Not allowing him on furniature is a start. Start to impliment Nothing in life is fee!. anything the dog wants he must do something to earn it. Wants outside Sit first. eat, sit first ect. any affection should also be earned that way. You and other members should be feeding him his meals each day. They tend to respect their food source. There is nothing that can stop him frim biting anyone if he does deside to. One can only hope to modify his behavior.

1. Grow Balls (you have to be dominant to own an alpha dog)

2. Pop him on the nose, look him in the eye and say NNOO!

3. Kennel him.

ok so dont do this if it is a hard bite, but when we got our dog, one of the things they told us to do is this: when they try to nite you, just grab their mouth. leave your hand in his mouth until he learns that you are totally unafraid of his teeth. that worked for my dog. both of them actually, but they didnt bite me hard enough to break the skin in the firat place so pleasse, if your dog bites hard enough to do some damage, dont take this advice.

call a vet and inject with anti-rabies