Re: Boy do I need help,,, newbie
I am surprised a 7 1/2 week old puppy needs to be swatted, squirted, mouth held shut, thumb held in mouth, tongue held down.
I am sorry, but dogs give puppies a puppy license until they are four to five months old. They put up with just about anything. I do not think you should. However, physical punishment of a baby is a bit extreme in my opinion.
What I would do, is yelp loudly, stand up and completely ignore the puppy. Stop the game. With puppies, if you do not punish harshly enough, they think it is a game and they will play rougher. I do not advocating physically punishing a puppy.
If yelping does not work, you can say eh! or Ah! and immediately put the puppy in its x-pen or puppy safe room, hopefully not its crate because that should not be used for punishment. What littermates will do when a puppy plays too hard is they will yelp, but if that doesn't work, they will not play with the offensive puppy. So place the puppy where it will be safe and ignore it. When you come back, praise good behavior, use a high cheary voice. When the biting starts EH! and game over.
Pretty soon the puppy will figure out that you will not play or pay attention to him if he is biting.
You also have to have chewables for your pup. It will be teething and it needs an appropriate outlet for those teeth. I would leave this in the puppy's safe place. But I would not hand it to the pup after having bitten hard. If it is biting because of teething, when you set him down in his safe place he will find his chewy think, knuckle bone maybe and go to town, but it shouldn't appear to be a reward for biting.
This puppy is still mighty young and new to your home. It takes some adjustment. Its first impression of you should not be someone who is angry and punishing. So try to be calm, even if you need stitches. Ignore bad behavior and praise good behavior. And get this puppy into a puppy kindergarten or puppy head start class right away.
Expect to be in and out of training classes for at least a year. A good trainer will have plenty of options in how to manage behaviors. You have to kind of size them up. You know your puppy better than anything and deep down you will know if the trainer is telling you something harmful. This first class should be very focussed on positive reinforcement.
If you are calm and consistant with your puppy, by the time he can do serious damage to people, he should be a calm adult. If you are overly harsh, punishing, or get angry easily, then this pup is better off back with the breeder. If you are inconsistant, or your method of correction can be perceived by the puppy as rough play, your puppy will likely hurt your grandchildren, by playing roughly.
I think you need to stop the game. If the pup continues to chew on your pant legs, legs, shoes, feet, you will need to pick him up and put him in his safe place (not crate) where he does not have access to your chewable parts.
I am a little surprised a pup this age wants to go off by itself. That is very independent behavior I think. The independent pup in the litter is often one of the more difficult pups to train. They are usually great working dog partners. But you really have to be committed to working with the dog. Other people here may have a better take on that. I would expect a pup this age to be a little more attached to you.
Now is the time, before you get more attached to this dog, to take it back to the breeder if that is possible. If it is not possible, get it into training right away. I am afraid that this pup might not be the best match for you and for what you are looking for. Can he work out? Probably. But it really depends on your behavior and commitment.
Another thing you need to work on right away is GENTLE. You do this with treats. Show the treat to the dog and put it in you fist and say "GENTLE." If the dog attack your fist, No, Gentle. when he is not biting, but sniffing, open your fist so that your had is palm up with the treat. Normally the dog will not bite you they will take the treat out of an open hand much easier than when you have your fingers on the treat and are offering your dog a treat w/fingers -- bonus! IF the pup is NOT gentle, no treat. He should get it pretty quick that if he takes the treat nicely or GENTLY he gets it. When he is really good at this, and every time your are saying "Gentle" you can then use this word for other things, like grand children GENTLE with the baby.
The dogs are smart, but 7 week old puppies are babies. They remeber your lack of control much more than commands and what they got goodies for. Their attention span is really short so training has to be two or three minutes at a time. Use the words Easy, Gentle to remind the puppy that you do not want to be mauled.
Good luck with the pup. Keep your kool. Get into training.