10 week old puppy growling at my son - need to deal with ASAP

Raksha

If a dog doesn't get to practise what they are being trained to do, they won't learn. It's a bit like being taught to drive round an airfield with no oncoming traffic - great for learning the basics for gear changing and steering, but useless for learning how to cope with other traffic. But, you also wouldn't go straight from the airfield to a busy city centre...

So you need to do the 'ground work' with minimum distractions so she will 'sit' or 'down' when ever you ask, slowly building up the distractions. Get a 'stooge' to help so you can introduce her to the idea of sitting when there is another human near by - work on reducing the distance. Then introduce movement by walking towards the person while they walk towards you and then stop when you're at a distance you believe you can ask for and get a 'sit' (the other person should stop too, and wait until she is sitting before coming towards you while you keep her in a sit - then the other person can quickly reward her - with a game if this is what she likes, but only if she keeps sitting, if she gets up, the other person walks straight past...

Myrtle0204

Hi Hon,

The jumping up is a hello and cry for attention. If you turn away as soon as she jumps up and dont give attention until all four paws are on the floor. The important thing is that it is as soon as all four paws are down - get down to her level and give her a good fuss. She should pretty quickly get the idea that she will get the attention she craves but wont get it if she is in your face. Everyone who comes into the house has to act in the same way. It doesn't take long usually just abit of perseverance :0)

minimoneysaver

I'm a big fan of Victoria Stilwell's methods. So much so that I've freeview + all of her programs and have her books. My puppy is now 10 weeks and is able to sit, lie down, into bed, be quick (wee on command), and come to call with no problems. Victoria believes that it is best to train as young as possible and I saw a program of hers today with a problem yorkie, the family at the end got an 8 week old puppy and she trained it to sit that very day! There is a web site for her too. Good luck with training. x

meritaten

Ive only read your original post OP and my first thought is that your puppy sees your son as being on the same level or lower than him in the litter!
one way of reinforcing that son is 'higher' than him is with food. arrange the dogs and kids in a line and dish out treats starting with son and ENDING with pup.
Also, I dont think your son should pick the puppy up when he does something wrong (the pup not your son!). the puppy should stay on the ground and told to sit or stay. if your son does pick the pup up and the pup growls or snaps at him the pup should immediately be put down and if your son could growl a 'baaaaad dooog'! at him? then you should crate the pup for a short timeout and let your son have the last word by again growling bad dog at him before leaving him.
SBTs are wonderful dogs with kids usually, but they do have to learn their place in the family. and if they can become boss - they will!!!

sarabe

arrange the dogs and kids in a line and dish out treats starting with son and ENDING with pup.

That is just plain silly but encouraging a child to growl at a dog is extremely dangerous advice.

blue_monkey_2

Hi all, thought I would come back and let you know how things are going. It has been a busy weekend.

First off: Puppy. We have realised that she growls at everyone if she is playing and is interupted (however, this could be because is mid-play and we just got her at that moment) and also, if she is cornered and someone tries to touch her she growls.

We have managed (touch wood) to get her out of pulling holes in the rug albeit we have a big one there now, it was an old rug, I knew we was getting a puppy so I am not stressing over it. It is why we bought 2nd hand furniture the 1st time around. I figure we have a year of 'grief' then we can buy some better looking furniture.

We have started limiting the amount of toys she has so we only have a few things out so there is not so much choice. We give the big and little dog one each but they always want to play with the same one. (Typical!!!!)

I have also started putting her to bed after an hour of being out to play. If the kids are here she flat refuses to go to sleep and wants to play so I put her in her crate for an hour. Sometimes she will sleep, other times she will just sit there watching us all.

Dog: Working on that too. She was in kennels for a month and she was calm at first and then she started getting all bouncy again. In fact I'd say she is worse but I guess it is because she had no discipline for a month - so we are back to basics with her. We do not have many visitors to be fair, the ones we do have are a little scared of her because they only like small dogs, however we are practising 'stay down' with a hand signal and it seems to be working. She gets a treat if she stays down on her 4 paws. Luckily she does not really jump up to strangers when walking but when people crouch down to her and they get a headbutt in the face when she leaps up, obviously they do not like it. What is wrong with people, you ask them not to do something but they seem to think that she'll not do it to them! Half of the problems we have are caused by other people not listening to what we are asking them to do when trying to train them!!!!! Grrrr. In laws seem to be the worst who when I say 'please can you not let her jump all over you' will do the exact opposite and complain when she won't stop!

I do not want to be made to feel inferior as we have not managed to train her in 2 days to do everything inclusing being able to jump through a hoopof burning fire. She can sit, she will stay (sort of) we have 5 minute training sessions 5 or 6 times a day. She can hold her wee as she does overnight, but she is still going in the house - I always have a mop on standby! We have a huge garden and there are certain places she can get now that are dangerous (such as into the pond enclosure which is netted but the net is not strong enough to hold her) so for the next few weeks she cannot go outside unattended at all. We cannot leave the door open for her to come and go as she pleases as it is just too cold but I take her out every 15-20 minutes where she will go to the toilet.

In regard to the growling at the dog.... my friend has just paid a huge amount of money for a behaviourist and she told her the same thing. She has to 'bark' at the dog to put it in its place - like the pack leader would - if the dog does something it shouldn't. The dog is not allowed to do loads of things such as sniff outside unless she lets it, no playing with a ball unless they want to play, be off the lead, not allowed to walk in front of her at all - she has to go first. I could go on. The dog was controlling the house (but was not aggressive to people, just other dogs) and this is what she is doing as she has been advised to do by this woman.

When she told me about the barking thing I said that I had always made a sharp, loud 'AAHH' noise at our dog and she would stop whatever she was doing, if I made that noise she knows she has pushed it and stops right away.

The bloke I called never bothered calling me back anyway but we seem to be doing OK without him.

Not sure if I have missed anything anyone asked.

On another weird note, our female puppy (11 weeks) was clearly trying to hump our other dog this morning, she is neutured. Is that weird? Or not? Our other dog never did that as a pup.

blue_monkey_2

Myrtle0204 wrote: »

Hi Hon,

The jumping up is a hello and cry for attention. If you turn away as soon as she jumps up and dont give attention until all four paws are on the floor. The important thing is that it is as soon as all four paws are down - get down to her level and give her a good fuss. She should pretty quickly get the idea that she will get the attention she craves but wont get it if she is in your face. Everyone who comes into the house has to act in the same way. It doesn't take long usually just abit of perseverance :0)

The problem with this is she can give a swift headbut! We are trying to teach her that she get a fuss only when she is calm - but's a bit of a vicious circle, calm - get excited - get clam - get excited, LOL. She is just so happy to see anyone!

She only jumps up at people who come to the house though, not a random stangers or people outside.

meritaten

sarabe wrote: »

That is just plain silly but encouraging a child to growl at a dog is extremely dangerous advice.

er - victoria stillwell did that with food on one program and I agree that as dogs are pack animals and the TOP dogs get to eat first its a good way of establishing the pecking order.

and i said to growl 'bad dog' I was rather assuming that the op would use a growled 'bad dog' when the pup misbehaved and this would reinforce the childs order in the heirarchy. perhaps i didnt explain it very well?

childrens voices tend to be high pitched and dogs tend to respond by being over excited by them - whereas a low pitched growly voice usually makes a dog stop and think. Ive lost count of the number of times I have despaired at local dog owners chastising their pets in a high pitched screetch and then wondering why the dogs are behaving badly!

ali-t

blue_monkey wrote: »

Luckily she does not really jump up to strangers when walking but when people crouch down to her and they get a headbutt in the face when she leaps up, obviously they do not like it. What is wrong with people, you ask them not to do something but they seem to think that she'll not do it to them! Half of the problems we have are caused by other people not listening to what we are asking them to do when trying to train them!!!!! Grrrr. In laws seem to be the worst who when I say 'please can you not let her jump all over you' will do the exact opposite and complain when she won't stop!

That is the bane of my life, that and people who ignore my request not to go near my big dog while saying 'I am good with dogs' and ruffling his head which he hates - cue big dog attempting to fly through the air at the person. My dog, I know what he does and doesn't like - flipping listen!! :mad:

blue_monkey wrote: »

On another weird note, our female puppy (11 weeks) was clearly trying to hump our other dog this morning, she is neutured. Is that weird? Or not? Our other dog never did that as a pup.

All of mine have done it as young pups coz it feeeels gooood they tend to grow out of it though. The current one had 'humping bear' and the older one had 'humping cusion'

sarabe

meritaten wrote: »

er - victoria stillwell did that with food on one program and I agree that as dogs are pack animals and the TOP dogs get to eat first its a good way of establishing the pecking order.

and i said to growl 'bad dog' I was rather assuming that the op would use a growled 'bad dog' when the pup misbehaved and this would reinforce the childs order in the heirarchy. perhaps i didnt explain it very well?

childrens voices tend to be high pitched and dogs tend to respond by being over excited by them - whereas a low pitched growly voice usually makes a dog stop and think. Ive lost count of the number of times I have despaired at local dog owners chastising their pets in a high pitched screetch and then wondering why the dogs are behaving badly!

Victoria Stilwell may well have done that in her early programmes but then she educated herself and I am fairly certain that she no longer subscribes to the myth.

In fact - this from Wikipedia

Victoria has become one of the most well-known dog trainers in the world due to the international reach of her TV show It's Me or the Dog, which is now shown in over 40 different countries. She is a passionate advocate for science-based, positive reinforcement training methods that enhance a dog’s ability to learn while increasing confidence, resulting in a healthy, well-adjusted pet. She is a vocal opponent of punitive, dominance-based training techniques which she says often result in quick fixes but ultimately cause more long-term harm than good while damaging the owner-dog relationship.
Stilwell has become the leading voice for the science-based dog training movement in the public debate regarding the question of what are the most humane and effective dog training methods. She represents the science-based positive reinforcement camp, which is intent on educating the public about the dangers and ultimate ineffectiveness of traditional, dominance-based training techniques. Instead, Stilwell promotes positive reinforcement techniques which she says enhance a dog’s ability to learn while increasing confidence, resulting in a healthy, well-adjusted pet. This positive reinforcement philosophy maintains that the healthiest relationships between dogs and humans are based on cooperation and kindness rather than a human dominance/animal submission methodology, which is central to what she and the vast majority of the behavioral scientific community consider to be outdated traditional training methods. Their position is that positive training helps to establish and maintain a connection that increases trust and therefore creates a stronger bond between dog and owner, because if your dog feels good about you, he will be a happier, more confident and better-behaved dog. Stilwell believes that positive training results in a dog who follows an owner because it wants to rather than following out of fear, while traditional training uses punitive methods to force a dog to behave, often resulting short term solutions which never truly identifies the root cause of the misbehavior while promoting insecurity and negative behavior.[1][2][3]
In 2010, Stilwell created Victoria Stilwell Positively Dog Training - a global network of positive reinforcement dog trainers dedicated to spreading the word about positive reinforcement techniques