We have an 18 month old male Bichon whom we rescued when he was 11 1/2 moths old. We have two problems.
First: He will NOT come to his name. He WILL come in the house. When training outside, he will come to commands if there is a treat/food involved, but if there is none after 2 times, he quits.
Second: When we go to pet him, he turns his head and tries to bite us. The bites are not harmful, but they are bites nonetheless. When he gets his teeth on us, he stops.
I have tried several ways to stop this and it's getting more and more aggravating and showing no sign of lessening.

A puppy trainer told us to pull him away and say no bite. Yeah, that's not working. I've said it so many times, I'm sick of it. Any suggestions on either/both of these??

does he have the same name as the shelter? sometimes if a dog is traumatized and then they go to a new loving home they won't respond to the old name due to fear of being "in trouble". If the little one has the same name. i would suggest changing it. I had to do this with a doberman we had. After a bit and treats when we called his name, he took right to it.

as far as the biting I will leave that up to someone else.

[chevy & karen]

Don't ya wonder what they are thinking at times....
I had/have a stubborn one also.. Use yummy treat's to train, he's still young so it take's awhile and who know's what he went through before you rescued him...

as for the biting I used the "No Bite" also.. I looked right in his eye's when he would do it and say "No Bite" and walk away. It take's awhile but they do get it. Be patient some are a little more stubborn than other's...

I never thought of the name change but that makes sense.
And the person we talked to the day we picked him up said something like, "You know, I don't know about this one..." and shook his head. Read that as warning I suppose.

I will work on the name change with my family so that they are in on it. Thanks!

I am so glad someone else had success with "No Bite". I think you are right...STUBBORN!

I have a little dog that does the same thing. He's a rescue dog as well and i suspect he escaped a bad situation since he reacts that way. Anyway I saw this article with tips for preventing dog bites. Thought it might be helpful. http://my.arfie.com/profiles/blogs/n...ite-prevention

Is he doing this playfully or because he doesn't like to be touched? You might want to try the same technique that worked on a rescue I fostered for awhile... she "mouthed" when playing and I would wrap my hand around her mouth and hold it shut lightly and say, "no" or "no bite" or "no biting". It worked like a charm. If it's not really playful and seems like it's out of fear, it might be awhile before he stops. Try to pet him where he can see your hand at first instead of touching him where he can't see you - if you're going right for his back he might instinctually think you're about to hit or hurt him.