Puppy Biting and Growling

[Bossk Rottweilers]

I agree i have not seen the reaction in this particular pup.. i am not talking about "Macho" mode. All i do is imitate what the mother does when they annoy her.. and the reason the 18mth old male was on the bed was because he had been left at the airport at 6am and the airline had forgotten about him in 38 degree heat in a crate, and he didnt arrive to me untill 10 pm that night. So that was the reason for the laying on the bed. I didnt want to put him in the crate after having such a traumatic day already.

We do not traumatise our dogs they are exceedingly outgoing, all have very high drives not one of them has a broken spirit more oposit than that. That is something that i like in a rottweiler but i always let them know there place in our home from the start. And dominance down is not a form of abuse far from it!!

JMHO

Bossk Rottweilers

[Bossk Rottweilers]

I cant say that i agree with there being one leader... if you have children, puppies need to learn that they are not alpha over them. That children can take food off them, and the dog will allow it. How many times do we see puppies natural instinct chase a kid down the hall way. Thats ok if your 12 but not if your 2, the pup needs to be taught that you cant chase and pull a human child down, I would not put a pup into dominance down for this but there status in the pack i personally think needs to be defind. Otherwise will it be ok for them to play tug of war with " Little Johnnys" trousers, of course it wouldnt.

Every one has different training methods and every dog reacts differently, i guess we just have to pick and choose the method that works on an individual basis.

By the way just like to say I am really enjoying this forum, has heaps of information on here..

Bossk Rottweilers

[lblax]

Originally Posted by Bossk Rottweilers

I cant say that i agree with there being one leader... if you have children, puppies need to learn that they are not alpha over them. That children can take food off them, and the dog will allow it. Bossk Rottweilers

how many alphas does a wild pack have???????? do you really think a child can be alpha over and dominate the dog. your pack respects the 1 leader and there fore respects the others in the pack . you cram a dog at the bottom of the pack and constantly show it is at the bottom the only place it has to go is up and a strong dog just like a strong person will not and shouldnt stand for constant domination

[SABELLESMOM]

Originally Posted by Bossk Rottweilers

Every one has different training methods and every dog reacts differently, i guess we just have to pick and choose the method that works on an individual basis.

By the way just like to say I am really enjoying this forum, has heaps of information on here..

Yes and to the OP, nicO284, I'm sure this has gotten very long and tedious, if not confusing. So I have a suggestion. Take with you the ideas that sound like they'll work best for you. There is a printer friendly version you can print out. Then highlight the sections you find useful. Keep in mind this is a 10 week old puppy.

What ever you decide regarding the nipping stage, you will still need to get involved in actively training and exercising your pup/dog. The point is you want a well behaved Rottweiler in the end. You can make it so.

[nic0284]

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice, my boy has been behaving slightly better over the weekend although he still has his moments. I feel better knowing so many of you have experienced this and come out the other end. I guess theres a long journey ahead for me and grateful that I have the support of you all.
Many Thanks
Nic

[Dutchboy]

We had to put down our Rottie due to dominance problems.

- We got him from the same breeder. Both parents were loving and friendly.
- We had him neutered on his 6 month birthday.
- I took him to puppy training.
- Every two weeks I took him to Dog Park or Dog Beach.
- I trained him to sit in the corner when I yelled at him.
- He was always the last to go through the door.
- He had to sit without being commanded to when he wanted to come in.
- He slept in a closed off area.
- He loved to go on walks, so I used that to train him. If I had the leash he had to sit uncommanded and let me put it on him.

All this and we still had to put him down. When he was a year old he changed. He knew his training and still resisted. He started to growl and bite. He constantly jumped on my 18 year old daughter. It scared the hell out of her. His pupose in life was to protect the family, not threaten it. I tried to reinforce the training but nothing worked. I hope you have better luck.

[ARSalser]

I remember when Carolyn first got Athena. She was about 5 months old and was shy at first, but then became very playful, just as described above. Then she began to test her limits with little nips here and there as a way of playing. I didn't know how to react until Carolyn explained the "bark" or "yip" sound to me. Anytime she would nip, I would give a loud, higher pitched "yip" sound. It almost sounded like a quick puppy bark. She would immediately stop, pull away, perk her ears and look at me as if to say, "oh, I understand, you don't like that. I won't do it....for now." Later on, she would try it again. I would consistently give her the yip. Eventually, I'd say a week, maybe 2 weeks later, her nipping behavior was practically all gone. I haven't seen any nipping since. Just thought I'd share my experience with you.

[Bruce Lanthier]

Originally Posted by Dutchboy

We had to put down our Rottie due to dominance problems.

- We got him from the same breeder. Both parents were loving and friendly.
- We had him neutered on his 6 month birthday.
- I took him to puppy training.
- Every two weeks I took him to Dog Park or Dog Beach.
- I trained him to sit in the corner when I yelled at him.
- He was always the last to go through the door.
- He had to sit without being commanded to when he wanted to come in.
- He slept in a closed off area.
- He loved to go on walks, so I used that to train him. If I had the leash he had to sit uncommanded and let me put it on him.

All this and we still had to put him down. When he was a year old he changed. He knew his training and still resisted. He started to growl and bite. He constantly jumped on my 18 year old daughter. It scared the hell out of her. His pupose in life was to protect the family, not threaten it. I tried to reinforce the training but nothing worked. I hope you have better luck.

Sounds like he was killed due to ignorant owner problems moreso than puppy problems. Rottweilers need more than puppy training. They need more than artificial leadership such as who goes through the door first. You don't mention anything that was dominant. You just say that he started to growl and bite and he jumped on your daughter, which scared her. He could have been growling and biting out of fear, lack fo training, lack of leadership, lack of a responsible owner. All dogs jump on people if they are allowed to. I visited a friend last week that has 2 hound mixes. She warned me that they will jump on people and I warned her that I would teach them not to jump on me. They did, and I did and it had NOTHING to do with dominance on their part. Please do not get another Rottweiler unless you are prepared to be a responsible owner.

[wowman]

Originally Posted by Bossk Rottweilers

I have an 18mth old male who i got 3 months ago that challenged me believe me THATS SCAREY!!

Hi, new here and I don't mean to get off the subject, but can you elaborate on this situation and what exactly happened and how you difused the situation?? I'm always curious to get People's take on how to deal with those VERY tense moments!! Thanks for your time.

[Dutchboy]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lanthier

Sounds like he was killed due to ignorant owner problems moreso than puppy problems. Rottweilers need more than puppy training. They need more than artificial leadership such as who goes through the door first. You don't mention anything that was dominant. You just say that he started to growl and bite and he jumped on your daughter, which scared her. He could have been growling and biting out of fear, lack fo training, lack of leadership, lack of a responsible owner. All dogs jump on people if they are allowed to. I visited a friend last week that has 2 hound mixes. She warned me that they will jump on people and I warned her that I would teach them not to jump on me. They did, and I did and it had NOTHING to do with dominance on their part. Please do not get another Rottweiler unless you are prepared to be a responsible owner.

I tried to keep my post to a minimum. I did not mention many things that I did to train him. I trained him from the day I got him. Every day I would take him for a walk and train him to walk at my side, not pulling me (which I see often with large dogs). I always showed dominance with everything I did. What do you mean by artificial leadership? I showered him with love and attention and discipline. The only fear shown when he jumped on my daughter was her fear. If you think I was not a responsible owner, that's your definition, but I was a responsible father. And keeping a dangerous animal is not what I would consider a repsonsible owner.

[RottiNkids]

Originally Posted by lblax

a pup at ten weeks old displays a lot of this behavior redirect it to other thing dont overdisipline or over correct your pup no need to break his spirit in my opinion and definatly the last thing a puppy needs to feel is that he is in the bottom of the pack below everyone else this is complete nonsense a pack has one leader(you) and the rest of the pack respects what the leader puts values on and puts under ther leaders protection like your children. just hang in there all will calm down

I agree 110% with what you said about 1 pack leader. My 5 month old will act a fool with my kids, but when I say enough that's enough no questions asked no harm done!

[ARSalser]

From my experiences with Athena, positive reinforcement is ALWAYS more effective with than ANY negative reinforcement. Again, from my experiences, the key is to give praise, ear scratches and treats when and ONLY when something good is done. When something bad is done, gently correct the wrong and then when it is completed correctly, give praise. Eventually, you will be able to either give a hand signal or voice command, and the command (should) occur correctly. if done incorrectly, simply stand there and look at him/her until it is done correctly. Athena has waited as long as 10-15 seconds before completing a command correctly. But it's done. Remember, do not give praise when something is done half way or wrong because as we all know, Rotts are incredibly smart and catch on to your behavior patterns very quickly. Even the slightest movement and mood change is sensed and reacted upon.