PLEASE HELP... with my aggressive puppy!

tandraig

ok - but sound aversion covers a lot of ground raksha - from you growling no to banging a pot to divert a dog quickly. I am not saying make the poor thing go deaf - but sometimes a loud sound will distract the dog. sometimes shaking a box of markies would get my staffies attention like nothing else would!
perhaps i shouldnt have called it sound aversion maybe sound distraction would be better?

foreign_correspondent

Agree with Raksha on this - collies can be very sensitive and have very long memories!

OP, do the RSPCA have ther own behaviouralist, or one they can recommend?

Raksha

Another thought came to me at 05.00 this morning.........

How about hand feeding? Feed your pup all meals by hand, small handfuls to start with. If he hurts you with his teeth, withold the food for a few moments until he's behaving 'nicely'. You can then go from offering small handfuls in a flat hand to feeding individual pieces in your fingers.......

I wouldn't even use a sound 'distraction' - even clapping hands can be too much - if it's enough noise to interupt a behaviour, it's enough to cause problems. And lets not talk about 'rattle cans'

tandraig

I agree with you raksha about the hand feeding - but think you may be a little oversensitive about sound diversion. but then we can agree to differ - its up to OP what she thinks will work.

Raksha

I'd rather recommend techniques which I know will 'do no harm' when dealing with problems over 't net

Lemony

Thank you all so much for your helpful replies.

I've been reading quite a lot of information on the subject (books as well as the net) and I'm not so worried about him now. I mean I still want to stop him hurting me, but I'm certain he isn't being aggressive. Let me explain what happened at the puppy party...

There were 4 puppies at the puppy party, and that's including mine. Two of them were cocker spaniels and one was a jack russel. They were all 10 weeks old except the jack russel who was 12 weeks old. Well mine is estimated to be 10 weeks old but he was TINY compared to the others. He was literally half the size (or less) than the jack russel which makes me wonder if he's actually a bit younger than was estimated by the RSPCA. I don't know what breed he is as he is a cross breed but the vet thought he was a collie cross and the RSPCA thought he was a terrier cross. He was very friendly at the party towards people (and luckily there were children there too), but he hid under the chairs when it was time for the puppies to play. The other three were confident and were playing together and running about, but mine was unsure and when he was approached by the other pups he was nervous and barked at them. He did eventually play and run about with the others, but it took him a while. Also, I noticed that he kept going into the play bow position and was barking at the others to play, and when they ignored him he tried to nip their faces. None of the other pups were behaving like that. From what I observed, I'm fairly certain that mine is less socialised and was probably taken from his mother too young. There were also some discrepancies on his paperwork - when I was told he was seven weeks old they wrote 8 weeks on his papers (there are lots of mistakes on his paperwork so I'm not convinced they got his age right)!

Must just tell you that despite the above, the dear little fellow did me proud at the party. The nurse picked up a spaniel to demonstrate 'brushing' but it didn't like being handled and growled at her. Then my pup sat on her knee and she demonstrated how to clean their teeth, and bless his little heart he was as good as gold (he's used to it because I handle him like that a lot... plus let's face it... he's quite used to having hands in his mouth... ).

So basically I think he has not learnt bite inhibition and the books seem to suggest that if they haven't learnt it by 4 months of age they never will. So I have to sort this out quickly. I think I'm supposed to let him mouth me and chew my fingers but when it gets too hard I'm supposed to squeal or growl to make him stop. My pup seems to think this is encouragement so today I also tried to use my flat hand as a barrier in front of his face as a kind of gesture. There did seem to be a slight improvement but this evening he kept nipping my arm for attention which I controlled in the same way. Apart from the biting we had quite a good day today overall. I managed to hoover the whole of the upstairs with him behind me without any fuss from him, and I taught him to 'give' using his sausage toy and treats. He was very good and by the end of 10 minutes he would release the toy the moment I asked. We also tried 'sit' but he wasn't quite so good at that, but I didn't expect him to do as well as he did so I'm very pleased with him. I can also get him to stop barking sometimes by using the command 'enough'. Plus we had no houstraining accidents today until about 5am this morning when I took him out for a wee (he will wee when I say 'do wee wee') but then he came straight in and did a poo on the carpet! Anyway, as I'm typing this he is in his cage asleep (I can see him as I left the kitchen door open) and he only whined for about 5 minutes when I left him which I think is brilliant for a puppy of his age - especially considering he was abandoned!

I like the hand feeding idea Raksha. And by the way, he doesn't startle easily!

... and now I'm off to bed for some sleep! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

~Chameleon~

Sounds like you might have hit the nail on the head there with him! Is there any way you can arrange to get together with a group of puppies or young dogs on a regular basis? How often are the puppy parties held? I'm sure he would benefit enormously from it.

On the subject of training, at his young age keep the sessions very short, even 10mins is a long time to expect him to hold his concentration. Just a few mins at a time and always end on a positive. Try not to teach too many commands just now either, the biting and house training are enough for him to be going on with for the next week or two, then move on to sit etc once he's grasped those.

He certainly seems to be coming along nicely so well done to you for your patience and persevering :T

This is a critical time in a puppy's life and where so many get badly treated by being kicked/slapped/thrown out for displaying behaviour like your wee fella has and we wonder why we have so many damaged dogs in society

Lemony

Thanks Chameleon. Yes, I could see how someone without the time and patience could easily 'lose it' and end up hurting a puppy for it's manic behaviour. I know that no matter how much he hurts me I have to stay calm and not react to it (although it's difficult not to swear when he nips really hard, lol).

When I first started the training session he was more interested in the treats I had and it was difficult to get his attention at all! I think overall he is doing really well for his age. I'm going to alter his halter collar later (I need to fold a bit in half and stitch it) so that when the weather improves I can take him for his first walk. That will be interesting...

Regarding socialisation, I'm thinking of putting an ad up in my local vets asking if any other puppy owners would like to meet up for a cup of tea so the puppies can play (plus we can support each other with any problems). I'm also thinking of taking puppy classes but it will depend on where they are held as I don't have any transport.

fran2491

forgive me if anyones said this allready i havnt read the whole thread,but with out boxer to get her not to bite we were told to hold her jaw basicly your thumb goes in there mouth on the bottom of the jaw and fingers on the outside and hold them as tight as you can for a good 5 seconds,because they dont like the feel it instictivly teaches them no biting,which for us with kids around was important we only had to do it with our girl a handfull of times and she soon learnt biting was a no no from just 14 weeks old,as for the other stuff sounds like a normal pup to me hun they take a lot of work and you must assert yourself as the pack leader or you will have your work cut out when older and will get walked all over. to assert myself as pack leader i was basicly the fun police as my hubby called it! didnt play with her just did the cross bit:eek: my hubby was the play unit and took her on most walks at first, once she had got the hang of it she lernt i could play aswell but could turn in to boss mum if she stepped out of line:rotfl:

tandraig

sounds as if you got it right lemony - heneeds socialisation and play with other pups! as he is fine with people (including kids) I dont think you should worry too much. and if you can teach him even one command in the short time youve had him - I would say you are doing well!
you dont really know his history or how soon he was taken from his mum or littermates - sounds too soon to me - but if you can make up for that....then to me you will have a really fantastic dog.