Help PLEASE Puppy Attitude / Biting is he aggressive or “Normal!”

sarabe

devotee wrote: »

Hmmm yeah suppose, but then should I have then just left him to mess up my rug? Have taken bones off him before, this is the first growling I had!

Growling is a little way along the line of communication so it is possible that he has previously shown signs of being uncomfortable about you taking his bone but the signs were so subtle that you didn't notice. Things like turning his head away, yawning, blinking, licking his nose.

devotee

sarabe wrote: »

Growling is a little way along the line of communication so it is possible that he has previously shown signs of being uncomfortable about you taking his bone but the signs were so subtle that you didn't notice. Things like turning his head away, yawning, blinking, licking his nose.

No never happened and I know as he's always close by me. The thing is he growled when I moved from the sofa - he was just below me on the floor - he must have read my mind :rotfl:

catlou

sarabe wrote: »

Dogs need to bite, it's in their nature. It's their way of relieving stress. It's why you need to play tug with him and give him an outlet and put the biting under your control.

Thanks -Yes I understand that and I'm trying to play tug etc. with him as much as possible - but I'm just struggling with knowing what to do in the meantime when he bites as I can't play with him all the time!? Hopefully with playing tug more he will stop biting soon but until then I need something to do when he does...........

cheepskate_2

Not read the whole thread but have you tried to put him in the sumissive position when he bites. i'm sure at the moment he isn't giving real aggression but maybe he hasnt learnt the human signs when younger.

When he does this growling you push him to the floor onto his side with the hand kept on his side to keep him down. Do not let him get up until he is calm, you may need to use your other hand to sort of keep his head down a bit to make it more difficult to get up. , have your body slightly over him as well. Once he is calm let him up but dont pet him just go about your normal buisiness and you can clap him later. If he gets up and starts again put him straight back into sub position and no talking to him.

This is what mother or another member of the pack would do to the unrully pups and it is really just asseting your higher pack status , withoout making him become scared.

Another thing is to give him a sharp;, but not forcefull or nasty jab to his shoulder blades when he is doing this and command him down. Our dog is high and forgets we dont want to do what she does and this little jab spurts her attention

When you order your dog you do not use it's name as that is you talking to it and it does tend to get them a bit excited, which i think is more what your dog has , with a little bit of thuggish behaviour thrown in.

Also what most people tend to do when trying to train theior dog is to use their name repeatedly and the command gets more and more exasperated the more times you have to tell them, this can set the dog off high.

I wouldn't at this stage advocate the ignoring him , what a fun toy your hand is and he can keep playing all night, his pack in the wild would certainly not ignore him.

Raksha

Do NOT try to push this dog in any way at all. He's already showing he's not comfortable with you being so close, so to get yourself in so close that you are in physical contact is asking for trouble. He's not afraid to growl and has no bite inhibition - this could be the final push that he needs to go over the top.

What works for one dog doesn't work for all.