my teenage pup is a tearaway

dollparts

I've posted about my little baby before, and since then we have enrolled her in a puppy training class. The class itself is very good but she is way too distracted to benefit from it at all. All in all I am paying the money for the summary sheets we are given at the end of class and I work from them during the week.

She's a 6 month old staff btw.

Well, we've had our garden landscaped and we have had an area created exclusively for her use. It measures 9ft x4ft so she has ample space to run about and as it has a picket fence, she is still very much part of anything that is going on when she is out there. It is brilliant for the times when I do not have eyes on her and I know she is safe and secure.

Unfortunately I have 2 issues. Today she has been digging underneath the fence next door and has chewed fairly big chunks from the bottom of their fence. I have filled it in with some bricks and sprayed the bottom of the fence with bite-stop training spray. I am waiting for the neighbour to say something, I am not sure how visible the damage is on the other side, if at all.

More worryingly is that she has bitten my daughter 3 times in the past fortnight. Whilst she hasn't broken skin she has knocked her to the ground and the bite she had today was near her eye across the bridge of her nose.

Each time she does it is is unprovoked. In fairness, my daughter has had to be told repeatedly that the dog is a dog and needs to be treated as such. We have ironed those problems out now and IMHO she is behaving correctly towards her not trying to cuddle every five mins etc. The thing that worries me is the dog's attempts to bite are getting more dangerous and I feel it os only a matter of time before blood is shed.

I have canvassed several opinions on this and generally the advice is 'nip it in the bud', do not tolerate this, discourage etc etc.

The trouble is one the damage is done, it's done. I have never had any reason to believe that she is aggressive and each time she has bitten dd there has been no cause for the behaviour. I'm very worried that this will get worse and something more serious will unfold.

We love her dearly but I have to think quickly about what I should do.

What would you do?

Sagz_2

Ask your Vet to refer you to a behaviourist, you need expert advice NOW (your insurance may cover this).

Also talk to the trainer of the class you go to, if you are not getting value from the lessons then you need extra help.

Good luck x

viktory

Have to say, if it were me having to make this decision I would have the pup rehomed. Immediately. Your child comes first.

Training takes time and if the pup has already bitten your child three times then that suggests to me that there might not be enough time.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

To be fair, a nip from a 24 week old dog is something that is unintentional and probably to another puppy, would be normal play - a strong no every single time she gets her teeth out would let her know it is unacceptable. Obviously leaving the two of them together and letting your DD treat the dog as a doll is, as you recognise, something to stop. I note that you call her your baby - she might have a misguided sense of her importance here, as she's actually your dog.

In a dog social setting she would be chastised for nipping. An aggressive bite from a two year old dog is a completely different matter.

Have you tried talking to the behaviourist at puppy classes? Have you considered a different class if you are convinced it's a waste of time?

Most animals (human included) can be quite objectionable at this stage of development, and getting rid isn't always the best option (and not just because it proves to the vocal few that people who get Staffies shouldn't have dogs).

I am sure this can be stopped without the usual death sentence that putting the pup into a shelter would be.

Mupette

Alarm bells would be ringing for me.

but i don't feel that re homing is going to cure the pup, its just pushing the problem onto someone else.

nor is destroying the dog either, we take on these pets are part of our family, if i got rid of ds when he bit me as a child or had him put down there would be uproar.

behaviourist sounds like a very good option, and maybe change the puppy classes too

cyberbob

You don't state how often you walk your dog. A lot of what your describing sounds to me like she's bored and has energy to burn so upping her walks may calm her down at home. As others have said speak to your vet or a behaviourist

Chocmonster7

Are you giving her any toys to play with or food while she is in the fenced off area, the digging sounds to be a symptom of boredom.

foreign_correspondent

You posted a couple of months ago, saying:

dollparts wrote: »

My girl is now 20 weeks old. She has been with me for the past 10 weeks and has settled in with no problems-eating well, healthy etc...

She completely ignores all commands, and completely ignores me or anyone else. She jumps, nips and bites at my daughter and makes a beeline for anyone 'small'. I regularly have our neighbours little son in to play while she visits her Mum in hospital and Mimi bullies the poor child until he retreats to the stairs to escape her.

This needs dealing with before it goes on any longer - for the sake of the dog and your daughter - you were asking re: residential training - lots of people advised that getting a decent trainer to work with at home would be better - Raksha, who is a dog trainer, advised that she was a little too old for puppy class...

You got quite angry towards some of the people who had offered an opinion on the thread - however, lots of good points were made, and I am sure all were well intentioned. Looking back at the thread, I think there was some very good advice there. I can only repeat my advice given there - to find a good trainer to work wth on a one to one - she will have less distractions than in a class. You may want to look here: http://www.apdt.co.uk/

I suggest you tackle this problem urgently - but please make sure to work with someone who uses positive training methods - you cannot find an answer to this on the internet, you need to find some useful support as you have not managed to tackle this on your own yet, and the pup is getting bigger.

dollparts

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

You posted a couple of months ago, saying:



This needs dealing with before it goes on any longer - for the sake of the dog and your daughter - you were asking re: residential training - lots of people advised that getting a decent trainer to work with at home would be better - Raksha, who is a dog trainer, advised that she was a little too old for puppy class...

You got quite angry towards some of the people who had offered an opinion on the thread - however, lots of good points were made, and I am sure all were well intentioned. Looking back at the thread, I think there was some very good advice there. I can only repeat my advice given there - to find a good trainer to work wth on a one to one - she will have less distractions than in a class. You may want to look here: http://www.apdt.co.uk/

I suggest you tackle this problem urgently - but please make sure to work with someone who uses positive training methods - you cannot find an answer to this on the internet, you need to find some useful support as you have not managed to tackle this on your own yet, and the pup is getting bigger.

I did not, as you put it, get quite angry. I was not happy with the inferences that were made about my attitude towards training my dog. The last thing someone needs when they are dealing with matters such as this is someone coming along and making assumptions.

Granted there was some good advice there too, but naturally the unhelpful presumptions are amplified when you are asking for advice and then read replies with questions full of smart mouthed comments.

I didn't enrol her in a puppy class as the trainer herself said she was too old for the group so she was placed in a junior class. It's her last one this week and I am going to look into hiring a one to one trainer asap.

dollparts

Chocmonster7 wrote: »

Are you giving her any toys to play with or food while she is in the fenced off area, the digging sounds to be a symptom of boredom.

I have bought her plenty of toys for her area, and spend a lot of time out there with her myself. She is not left out there for long alone, most of the time she sits under the table with me whilst I work (from home) or follows me around the house.

I walk her twice a day, we spend approx 90 minutes at the country park in the morning and a walk in the evening for 30 minutes or so.

dollparts

Norbertsmum wrote: »

Ask your Vet to refer you to a behaviourist, you need expert advice NOW (your insurance may cover this).

Also talk to the trainer of the class you go to, if you are not getting value from the lessons then you need extra help.

Good luck x

I have checked my pet insurance policy and it does cover behaviourist costs so I have made an appointment with the vet and will discuss this with them.