Sorry I have been gone, but we have been having a lot of problems with biting and I wanted it settled before I posted.

Samson started Puppy Kindergarten on Sunday. I spoke to the trainer about his insistence on biting. Samson continues to put his mouth on us, and his jumping on people has become serious. The trainers advocate putting Samson in his kennel for increasing periods of time. Samson is VERY alpha, we were beginning to think that he could be having aggression issues. This is not good, aggressive dogs are dangerous.

Yesterday I took Samson to the Vet for his last set of puppy vaccinations. I spoke to both the Vet and his son Scott, ( the practice's office manager ) who is very involved in Afghan Hound Rescue. They both "tested/observed" Samson in dominance situations and stated that although Samson is very Alpha dominant he shows no sign of aggression.

So, why the problems with the biting and not being able to get him to stop. As a matter of fact, Samson has broken the skin on my husband's hands while playing. Our beloved Vet who has been in practice for over forty years and with the highest graduating GPA achieved up to that point, looked me in the eye and said "so, get physical with him". When he acts up grab him around the muzzle and back of the neck and force him to the ground. Locking him in his kennel wont due anything. Scott told me to lightly smack Samson on the nose with a sharp "no". It wont hurt him as much as get his attention. The mother of a puppy will do the same thing, smack a puppy on the nose with her paw or step on the puppy to pin him down when he gets too "big for his britches" as my Grandmother used to say.

So the dilemma is, do we go with the Kennel system or follow the natural pack system for training Samson not to bite. For me it was a no-brainer, I will follow the natural order and smack when necessary. In the last 24 hours, the family dynamic has changed for the better. And no, we haven't been beating him. It only took three smacks for Samson to decide that biting/nipping me was not getting him anywhere. As a matter of fact, it's uncomfortable plus when I smack him it affects his jump and throws him off.

The first training episode took less than five minutes. The first three times Samson; running, jumped at me, I smacked his nose and he dropped onto the ground. The fourth time Samson ran at me, as I put my hand out, Samson kept running without jumping. He ran past me, stopped and dropped into a stay position. The down side is that like many kids who have been disciplined, Samson started acting up peeing in the house several times yesterday. Oh, the joys of puppyhood.