advice taming the devil pup!!

[katie deeley]

Hi there, i need any tips advice on my pup tyson, we got him at 6 weeks old from a breeder who had lots of very good tempered rottweilers and amazing bloodlines. We have had him for a week now and he has really come out of his shell, I have another dog who is 1 and a half (a female boxer), they get on great playing all day, Im just worried that tyson is becoming very aggressive towards her, he stalks, terrorises and just bites her all day. She puts up with it and wont tell him off!!! I really dont want this sort of behaviour to contribute to how he will be as he grows up. I want to have a calm docile gentle giant, not a devil dog. I am telling him the 'no' command which he does listen too when he feels like it, but sometimes if i smack his nose or point at him he will charge at me and snarl and even bite me in a very dominant manner. I am just worried he will over dominate my other dog.Any advice people???

[Anne]

Firstly congrats on your new pup but he should never have been taken from his mother and litter mates at 6 weeks of age. He was way too young and didn't have the opportunity to learn bite inhibition from his litter mates. Ethical breeders do not sell pups at 6 weeks of age, the earliest they allow the pups to go is 8 weeks. Your puppy is displaying normal puppy behaviour for his age with no litter mates to learn from.

Please do not smack the puppy on the nose or anywhere else. You need your puppy to trust you when you put your hands on him and he's learning that when you approach him with your hands he needs to protect himself. If you continue to smack him he will fear you and all sense of trust will be destroyed. What are you hoping to achieve by pointing at the puppy?

Training and redirection is what this pup needs. Teach him to sit and to come when you call him. 'No' isn't a command. If you must say 'No' then immediately give him something else to do such as sit. Otherwise he

Can you take this pup back to it's mother and litter mates for another couple of weeks or have all the puppies been sold at this young age? If this is so then I would suggest crate training your pup to at least give the other dog a break. You could also leash the puppy to you so you are in control of his movements.

[katie deeley]

Thankyou for your reply, I have tried crate training and he does settle down after a while but mainly cries for ages. All is litter mates have gone now, the reason he gave me for lettig him go early was because they werevery big for there age and eating well etc, he is the same size as a 8-10 week old pup at 7 weeks old now, plus there was 5 in his litter.But i do agree he mus have been way too young to leave them,I just dont want it to get out of and, he knows sit and come but just wants to play with my other dog all day, I suppose i will have to give him more one to one, would that be better for him??

[Nishasmom]

How much time are you spending playing, training, and exercising your puppy? It sounds to me like he has too much energy, and is finding ways to have fun by himself (terrorizing older sister).

He needs structured exercise (at this point in his life a romp in the backyard will do), and mental stimulation. Try to do these things away from your other dog...he needs the one on one time with you.

As Anne said, please NEVER hit your puppy ; you will give him a reason to fear you, or to not come when called.