# Help with my cockapoo - he bites



## surfsnowgirl (Apr 18, 2011)

Hello, I am new to the forum. Last year I adopted a 12 year old cockapoo Max. Up until the past 3 months he has been great. As of today I do not enjoy having this dog. He has turned into a biter. If he gets into food and you try to get it away he'll bite. He has discovered he likes to get into the cat litter, if I try to get him out, he'll get out but he'll bite. Lastly he licks himself ALL the time where it is annoying to even be around him, if you shoo him from stopping enough he'll get pissed and bite. I am at my wits end here. Short of getting him a permanent ecollar, not sure what to do.


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## kendal (Jul 16, 2009)

hey welcome, so he didnt do this upuntill 3 months ago? could you take things off him before this ? 

im not normaly one to run to the vert but concidering his adge you may want to get some tests done. 

has anything in the house changed, rutien, new people in the house? 


does he give any worning growls before snapping, has he ever actualy got you? 
in the past year before the last 3 months did he ever do anything like this even just curling his lip. 


i would start trading games, start with toys and work your way up to food, give him a ball or toy, then you play with anouther make it very interesting your toy is better than his and he needs to give you his before he can get yours, the do the same again. 


what happens at dinner time, do you get him to sit and waite before letting him eat. if not, pop a lead hon him (have a second person with you if you feel more comfertable) and get him to sit stay, he doesnt get to the bowle till he sits and stays with not tension on the lead.


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## lady amanda (Nov 26, 2010)

I think Kendal's Advice is great, I think a vet might be a good idea, he may be trying to show you that something isn't right with him, and if nothing has changed in the house during this time then a medical thing could be the issue. 
Sometimes when dogs get older you do have to start the training process all over again, so like kendal said a trading game might be a good idea. that way he doesn't feel that if he gives somehting up it is for nothing.
i hope your little guy is ok, have patience with him, they feed alot off of our energy too....be as calm and assertive as you can be. hopefully he will turn around


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## surfsnowgirl (Apr 18, 2011)

Hey, thank guys for the advice. I've only had him since September of last year. He started biting about 3 months ago. He always has food in his bowl so its not that kind of thing. If I never had to pry him away from food I might have in my lunch bag, If I didn't care that he licked and bit himself all night and kept me from sleeping, if I didn't care that he eats the cat litter he would never ever bit me. He only bites us when we try to get him out of food, away from the cat litter or if he gets pissed cause we try and stop him from incenstant licking/biting. Nothing has changed in the house since I brought him home. I will make an appointment with this vet and see what is up. Max is just a giant pain in the arse. Will make a vet apointment and see what happens.


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## lady amanda (Nov 26, 2010)

when he is biting himself,and licking constantly is it only his privates or is it everywhere. I mentioned earlier today about the bitter apple spray and you can actually spray your dog with it to stop them from biting. 
so he hasn't always been a pain in the arse. let us know how it goes at the vet. hios moodiness could be caused by something else.
http://www.bitterapple.com/
that is the link for the spray...if he is licking and biting so much that it is causing irritation


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## kendal (Jul 16, 2009)

ah ok i red your post wrong lol. 


this is something that needs nipped in the bud. 

so you free feed as in food in his bowl all day? that needs to stop, he needs to learn that food is yours not his. set meal times and teach him the sit stay so he learns to respect you desision of when he is alowed something. 

pack order, get him off the couch and bed, keep a lead on him just let him drag it on the ground so you dont have to touch him directly, you can use the lead. 

let us know how you get on at the vets.


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## sonatalady7 (Apr 4, 2011)

Yes, Kendal is right - don't keep the food out all the time. 

If he's licking all over, he could have a skin allergy. A friend of mine had a poodle that was licking himself raw, and it was because his skin was inflamed. The vet is a good idea! Let us know how it goes!


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## weez74 (Feb 9, 2011)

Hi, welcome to the forum!

Do you know Max's history? It might be that the first few stressful months of settling in disguised a problem that was there, lurking in the background. In other words, it might not be caused by anything you have done or any recent changes, it might just be that now he is feeling settled in your house, an old problem is resurfacing. 

I agree with the others. I'd get the vet to check him over (when I was growing up, we had a dog with a bit of a grass allergy who constantly licked herself) and then you're going to have to work on re-training him.

Good luck and keep us posted.


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## Enneirda. (Mar 5, 2010)

If he is allergic, your vet will most likely tell you some great cure all sience diet brand will fix everything, do _not _believe him. Check out all dog foods on the web before buying it, vets are often misinformed. Good site for seeing the dogs rating: dogfoodanalysis.com

Make him drag a long leash like Kendal said, if he get's into something just yank him out, don't touch him.

Good luck at the vets!


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## caradunne (Nov 29, 2010)

He might have developed a hormone imbalance - that can cause behavioural changes. Good luck, poor you, I hope it gets sorted. X


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