Hello all, hoping you can share your knowledge of puppy behavior. I have a 9 week old male puppy that seems to only listen to me when we are alone when my wife and kids are around it goes out the window and he gets out of control. Any suggestions?
Most puppies nip. Some times quite hard. But they do stop it. Eventually. The one thing to do is NOT tell them off or never hurt them. Just fold your arms and turn your back and leave them. A strong NO will not hurt them, just as NO BITE. But there are many ways and puppies do learn, whichever way you use. I am not an expert but I do know that what works for one will not always work for another, but something will work. Good luck and I hope that "something" works for you soon. Puppies teeth can really hurt.
At nine weeks old you have a baby who gets excited the more people there are around. More people = more fun. Puppies use their mouths to play and explore. Don't turn it into a game by running and screaming, but try, as much as possible to totally ignore it (stop dead, don't look,touch or speak to pup and don't give eye contact). Usually takes less than a second for pup to realise that teeth touch skin means end of play (rather than a game of screaming and running). As soon as mouth is withdrawn, back to play or whatever you were doing before the mouthing began. Repeat, repeat, repeat.
We used timeouts for Kingsley and it worked wonders. He's now 8 months old and hasn't come close to nipping in the last 4 months. We put an i screw into a stud, grabbed about 3 feet of chain and clipped and d-clip to it. When he nipped or jumped we'd say "gone" right away and bring him to timeout. Left him there until he calmed down for 2 min(started at 30 secs and worked our way up), we'd be in the same room as him. Then when the 2 mins were up he had to do stand-up and then a sit and he was good to go.
I'll pass on being bitten a million times before the dog learns it's not fun. I pull the puppy off by the scruff and tell him NO while looking him in the eye. Doesn't hurt him and works a charm for me. Realize many don't agree but has worked on my labby guys. The nipping never goes on more than a few days before they learn it won't be tolerated and the consequences aren't fun. Labrador dogs are pleasers and one of the worst things for them is having their owner unhappy with them. Ignoring the dog really usually isn't effective in my opinion. Or rather it takes too long for the dog to learn that way. A stick basically "ignores" a puppy chewing and biting it and the same exact stick gets chewed to bits before the dog decides it's no longer fun.
This might work on Labs, but Akita's are NOT people pleasers. They have a completely different temperament and this will eventually end badly with an akita.
Fair assessment. Nigredo - the Labrador mix in question was banned from training for a therapy program because his curly tail, black color, kinda fluffy fur, and not entirely floppy ears made them think he was an Akita (or any mix thereof) and that breed is banned from training for therapy. Due to how high they are on the bite lists here and owners saying they aren't people pleasers, it makes sense why they didn't take a chance on Nigredo. His mix was deemed to actually be Great Pyrenees not Akita so there it goes. OP - disregard my post entirely if you have not already done so.
Tikva is coming up to 22 months old but being taken from her dam and littermates at such a young age [not my fault] she missed out on basic puppy learning. However, since she was old enough she has always let a friend's grandchildren [ages 2 - 6 years old] fall over her, pull her ears, roll her over, although always under control of an adult member of their family, and is as happy as a lark. Me? She bit. Not just nipped but she bit. Not all the time but she bit, and she bit hard. I say "was" as she has finally learned - as if she did not know before - that "No bite" means exactly what I say. She will still mouth my hands but not hard, and the way she does it now is, in a way, her way of showing affection. And that I do not mind as it is frequently part of our games and I know she will not hurt me. But it was impossible for me to do the usual fold arms and turn around , not had I anywhere to put her for time out, and it did take far longer than it should have, but she did eventually learn that "No bite" means get your teeth away! I cannot, however, compare Tikva and her training with any other dog, as she was just too young when she came to me. Also because of being a chair user I had to teach her in different ways. With my Pereg, she had Lexi to teach her, and Lex instinctly knew what was OK and what was not OK. Tikki Tikva never had that opportunity.
When the pressure in their play bites begin increasing again, give a VERY loud high pitched dog YELP! sound, it needs to be so loud and high pitched as you'll want to scare them by the sound alone. This lets them know instantly that they have hurt you (though they haven't), even pretend to cry after it covering your face and I'll bet (as mine did) they come straight over to you and lick the area they bit as a form of apology. Its better they associate "regret" for biting you than you instilling the memory of physically hurting them.
Bite pressure could be a dominance thing,regardless how hard /soft ect As soon as it displeases you correct with tone of voice N funs over,just ignore for at least 30 mins Worked for me
I hardly think it would be dominance at 9 weeks old. Young Puppy’s mouthing is normal behavior, nothing to do with dominance
Well from experience my pup was 10 weeks old showing her teeth growling ect Could not even go near her toys,yeah it could not be dominance as all pups knaw,nip,push there boundaries But it's the same rule really As soon as your not happy with the pup It needs to know games over Remember a small nip on your thumb is nothing on your lip or face it draws blood
There is a very easy way to avoid the latter - do not put your face near the puppy and do not put the puppy near your face. Lifting, cuddling and kissing small puppies, especially by children, is asking for lips/face to be bitten, as the puppy cannot distinguish between what skin will bleed if nipped and what will not. It will just nip the nearest thing to its mouth.
Puppy’s have to be taught what behaviour is and is not acceptable, but the idea that dogs want to be dominant is a little outdated and not very accurate, for years the word dominance has been branded about to explain almost every behavioral problem, when a dog/puppy misbehaves it does not mean it’s motivated by a desire to have high rank. It’s just an easy option to say that a dog is ‘dominant or wants to be alpha’
