9 wks old and realy bites and growls

[wheels712]

my dog was 4 wks old when i got him.now he 9 wks and he is not that much of a bad dog ' however he will not let me stroke him he starts to bite and he has broke the skin its that hard and healso growls showing his teeth and then goes for me. he has lots of toys etc and i always give him them when he gets to uncontrolable i put him behind his gate and ignore him it seems to work for a bit but then he starts again.any suggestions please.

[RottsNScotts]

How did you come to have a 4 week old pup? Ethical breeders do not allow pups to go to their new homes until 8 weeks.

By not being with its mother and siblings, it has missed a ton of learning in proper social behavior within a "family" and bite inhibition. He is also coming into what many feel can be a "fear" stage and may be reacting to that as well.

Be sure to check out all the posts in the Puppy Development and Puppy Aggression sections.

[wheels712]

the person who i got him off could not cope the mother had a big litter and he wanted them gone .but thank you for replying .i do show him alot of love and attention but at the same time i try to show him he is not the boss . he seems to be getting better but not 100%.

[hokisteph5]

Redirect, redirect, redirect. I found using a chilly bone to redirect worked better for my dogs than just a toy. Alternatively, you could freeze a wet washcloth to use.

Be prepared, though. It took many times of using that chilly bone or a toy before my dogs stopped thinking of me as a chew toy.

[RottsNScotts]

Originally Posted by wheels712

the person who i got him off could not cope the mother had a big litter and he wanted them gone .but thank you for replying .i do show him alot of love and attention but at the same time i try to show him he is not the boss . he seems to be getting better but not 100%.

Okay, so we are starting with what is probably not a well bred pup - regarding temperament - as, as I said before, ethical breeders do not let them go at this age.

Showing him a lot of love and attention in a human rewarding manner and showing him who is boss is NOT what he needs at this point. At 9 weeks, he is not testing to find out his rank; pups don't have any!

Be very, very sure to read the Puppy posts and see if you can find someone in your area that would be willing to help you with your pup.

[rottcrazed]

He will be lacking in bite inhibition as well as the proper socialization that he should have gotten within his pack of littermates .... so in many ways you are SOL when it comes to it, however, with proper research in teaching him some bite inhibition and some good, consistent and fair training, you should be able to get him to be a better boy but it is going to take WAY more work than it would a pup who was with their littermates until 8 weeks of age .....

Kristi

[ODOG77]

We also had got a puppy from a BYB, although we did not get him until almost 9 weeks old. I would just be careful because my families experience with BYB was not a good one. Just remember that while some of the behavior is puppy behavior, some of it may not be. I know that this is a large breed dog so you really want to make sure that you get everything under control at a young age. Have you thought of puppy obediance classes? That may be good to start as soon as you can.

[wheels712]

hi and thank you for the advice .i been working on my pup for the past 2 wks an he seems to be getting better. once he has had all the injections i will also start to take him classes.the biting has realy settled but still struggling with growling its just going to take time and effort.