Puppy Biting and Growling

[nic0284]

Help !!
I have a 10 week old male who is very loving (at times) However, the biting and growling (he will happyly bear his teeth) is not subsiding as I had hoped we have had dogs before and my husband has had Rotties before.But neither of us have experienced this amount of "agression". His pedigree is good and we specifically went to our Breeder because of their reputation.We have kids and I understand puppies are different around children, but the kids are not incouraging this at all and are now almost avoiding him in case of another bite.What should be a happy time is becoming a constant struggle. My breeder suggest this is normal puppy behaviour. I have tried the suggestion on these posts but nothing seems to work. If we screech when he bites sometimes he lets go at other times he just carries on, I then sternly say "NO" and he will argue back jumping up and barking If i say no even loader occassionally he will just back louder, ive tried to pacify him by rolling him over or holding him on his back in my arms and rubbing his tum but ignoring him (as advised by breeder) and this does help but at the risk of more bites. I have been advised to now take the sterner route and get his collar under his chin and gently shake my hand whilst sternly repeating no. This seems to scare the life out of him (sometimes) I need to know if this really is "normal puppy behaviour" He is due to start Puppy socializing ect next week . Ive also notice he is not answering my husband back only me and the kids. Im no soft touch and do not understand his behaviour towards me. He spends most of his time with me and need to ensure both me and him are doing the right things. Please Help with any other advice.

[SABELLESMOM]

First thing is, what the breeder told you is correct. This is normal puppy behavior and it stands true for any breed of dog. 10 weeks is far too young to label it as "aggressive."

How old are your children? You may not think so but sometimes, simply what children do naturally...inadvertently elicits his playful behavior. Children like to run. Puppies like to chase. And the game is on. Children make interesting squeeling noises. Puppies thing that's fun and want to join in.

Think about how puppies play with their sibblings before coming home. Chasing, running, jumping, wrestling, and yes, biting. How did one pup let him know he was getting too rough? They yipped...LOUDLY! And moved off, or turned around not looking at him. You can combine it with diversion.

Have you tried a diversion technique? You quickly substitute a stuffed toy or ball. Having one on you or nearby makes this much more successful. You could also toss a ball or toy. Teach him to play fetch. Play hide and seek.

You can also begin training in your own home. You could teach him to sit for a treat. you can have him sit for his meal. You can start indoor leash walking. "Sit" may even come in handy when he gets excited and nibbles your fingers again. It's asking him to do a learned behavior and forget the biting.

We also used an "UH, ah AHH! No-o-o Nibbling!" to get his attention. That's the trick get his attention and divert...or simply divert. You will find, if you put your mind to it, there are many ways you can accomplish the same thing. Clap your hands 3 times? Got his attention? Say "Let's go!" and have him follow you to the kitchen. Following becomes the diversion. If you add a treat for following you from the snack bar, even better!

Lastly, it takes time. Puppies do not learn overnight. They are still infants.
I prefer positive reinforcement over negative teaching, shaking or holding him down. I find generally these methods a bit outmoded, and I don't use them, ever.

[Bossk Rottweilers]

You have a very dominating puppy, suggest a few things
- dominance down (hold him till he relaxes)when he is naughty ( i also do this at night when sitting on the lounge)
-get him to sit for his meals.. once he does he can eat
-everyone in your family needs to be able to put him into dominance down so he learns he is at the bottom of the pack
-i grab mine by the scruff of the neck and give them a good hard shake and yell "NO CUT IT OUT!" at them if they growl
-dont let him sleep on your bed
-dont let him up on the lounges
-dont let him out the door before all the humans he must sit and wait till all humans are out before he is allowed out.
-

I had a little bitch that was 3 mths old when i got her, she got off the plane fine.. 2 minutes down the road she was growling and snarling at the kids. I pulled over jumped in the back of the car got my partner to drive us home.. used the above methods for 2 weeks and she is now a nice humble sociable puppy. Your babe doesnt know his place in YOUR PACK!! He is at the bottom YOU and YOUR FAMILY are at the top.

Does he have a crate to sleep in? Do you hand feed him food? I always do this, everyone in our family has to hold the raw meat or raw chicken and the pup takes the food from US as we are the pack leaders.
You need to think from a dogs perspective... it will take a bit of time but it will work he is still a baby. I have an 18mth old male who i got 3 months ago that challenged me believe me THATS SCAREY!! But he is now learning that we HUMANS are at the top of the pecking order and he comes after my 2 kids,5 year old bitch, my 7 mth old bitch and after the two cats.... Everyone is slowly adapting to the situation but ALL my family are involved. I have a 6 year old and a 12 year old, and they all know how to put a dog into domiance down, and have learnt the correct depth of voice required to chastise our dogs

Hope this helps

Nadia

[fruitandnutz]

It definitely sounds like he's trying to engage you (whatever reaction he might get). Does he do this all day long or is it a particular time of day - evenings perhaps?

They can nip and be quite excitable and pushy when young... at least mine was, so it doesn't sound that out of the norm to me.

Immediately after you say NO! have you tried giving him something else to chew/nip (chew-toy, puppy bone etc.), thereby re-directing him to something he can bite-on. We also used to try to tire ours out both physically, (playing with him) and mentally (training basics, like sit, come etc). When he was tired, he was a lot less bouncy.

Something else that worked well for us, was to tell him NO! then immediately remove him from the room and our company and let him have time-out on his own in another room, completely ignoring his tantrums next door. After a couple of minutes we'd let him back in the room, and if he did it again then we'd repeat the time-out, increasing his isolation time each time.

It does take a little time, but as long as you say NO! and remove them immediately AND every single time they nip you, they do make the association between the nipping and being isolated from their family. They are very smart even as puppies, but all learning (including ours) takes time and consistent repetition.

Good luck!

[Burnsway]

Originally Posted by Bossk Rottweilers

You have a very dominating puppy, suggest a few things
- dominance down (hold him till he relaxes)when he is naughty ( i also do this at night when sitting on the lounge)
-get him to sit for his meals.. once he does he can eat
-everyone in your family needs to be able to put him into dominance down so he learns he is at the bottom of the pack
-i grab mine by the scruff of the neck and give them a good hard shake and yell "NO CUT IT OUT!" at them if they growl
-dont let him sleep on your bed
-dont let him up on the lounges
-dont let him out the door before all the humans he must sit and wait till all humans are out before he is allowed out.
-

Maybe this is just my opinion but IMO "some" of these things seem a bit harsh and forceful for just a 10 week old.........

nic0284

Mine did the same. She is a mix with Labrador so her mouthing was even worse at times. I made a bunch of frozen Kong's and when she got too mouthy and teethy I removed her from the situation and gave her a frozen Kong. By the time she was done her teeth and mind got the chewing out for a while and she would be much calmer.

Jean Donaldson(sp?) has a chapter in her book "The cultural Clash" about how puppies need to chew and use their mouths a certain amount of time a day and gives lots of tricks on how to help your puppy get that out so they don't use your skin......

[NorthJerseyRott]

It may seem harsh, but if you don't correct these issue early you WILL have major issues later. The puppy's mother would never put up with that type of behavior from any of the litter puppys and neither should humans. The training worked great for us as we are moving easily into CD obedience events.

WinnsHill's Emily - CGC, TDI

[nic0284]

hello Thanks for all the advise, he will sit and wait for his food ect, generally he is obedient, i shall try to offer a chew toy at the time of every bite.

[Wally31]

I had the same thing with my boy, he was exhibiting a lot of dominance and did a lot of biting. If you yelped or screeched to indicate it hurt or for human unacceptable the more he would chew. The suggestions you have gotten are very good. In fact the same I recieved. Please read the dominance article Sticky posted, when we followed through and changed many of these things we noticed a difference in days. He was still bittie and doing these things a few times a day around four and a half months so we started using Grainners bitter apple spray every time he got excited and nippy. It took less than four days for him to almost completely stop, after about four days we were down to just showing him the bottle and he would take a step back and stop.

Our boy is seven months now and still gets excited and wants to chew on you but it is nothing more than a passing teeth rub using the flat front of his teeth in most cases to show excitement. He does it one time and if you say no biting he starts licking your hand to say sorry. He is a very loving boy and would not do anything to harm anyone. He is a giant 95# licking machine who is great with kids and loves everyone. There is hope so be patient and loving he will come out of it just follow these suggestions, train, and be consistent.

[ZeusMommy]

My male rott was this way as a pup and is still very growly- when he was little he would bare teeth and growl all the while licking us and waggin his nub- he still does it 12 years later but he has NEVER EVER bit anyone in the family- he is just talking

[Judi W]

"never bitten anyone in the family"............ does that mean he has bitten people who are not in the family? :)

I think one needs to completely separate the need for a puppy to chew, from biting. They are completely different.

For myself, biting people is just not accepted. Not even a little bit. I am neither a litter mate nor am I another dog to be treated and played with like a dog nor do I intend to confuse the pup like responding like one. I am a human and master. My skin is not designed for that type of interaction. We play tug, we play fetch but we do not ever put teeth on skin, mine or anyone else's. From the very first, even when tiny, the mouth is simply removed. It is done so calmly and with eye contact that says quite clearly that this is a bad move. Remember that you cannot teach calm thinking in an excited manner.

[ZeusMommy]

[quote=Judi W]"never bitten anyone in the family"............ does that mean he has bitten people who are not in the family? :)

NOPE never bitten anyone! There are few he should have but he never has- we just dont let ppl come up and pet him it makes him uncomfortable and i am a bit stingy with him- i like him all for me he is quite content just being wiht us

[Bossk Rottweilers]

It may seem harsh to some, but i have owned showed and obedience trained rottweilers for 16 years... i think i have some idea on what to do and what not to do. At obedience classes here our new owners are taught how to put puppies into dominance down, believe me if you dont stop this behaviour now you are going to have major problems later.
I myself have a new 18mth old male, who has obviously been allowed to growl and snarl if he doesnt want to do something.... and when i tried to correct his behaviour in my usual methods . He took it as a threat, he went down and was about to lunge at me..... now thats a very bloody scarey situation to be in. One i wouldnt wish upon anyone. So we have had to start from scratch with this dog.. it is taking time but it will be worth it. I cant put him in the show ring I cant put him in the obedience ring untill i kerb this behaviour.
But i know i can get rid of it, it called EXPERIENCE> I guess thats all i am trying to say there are lots of us on here with many years of experience USE OUR KNOWLEDGE thats why we answer your questions

Regards
Bossk ROttweilers

[Burnsway]

Originally Posted by Bossk Rottweilers

It may seem harsh to some, but i have owned showed and obedience trained rottweilers for 16 years... i think i have some idea on what to do and what not to do.

I agree your post show some experience....A lot more then me in the show ring for sure and Im not ashamed to admit that, but you have no idea if this 10 week old is actually showing dominance, if he is a dog with a reactive personality or just being a pup. You have not seen the pup in reality and following the grab the scruff and demand downs from all family members from a dog who probably isn't even sure 100% what down is, is going to send the family into macho mode and the dog into distrust mode. And those sort of meathods will send a reactive dog over the edge........

I agree with JudiW........NO TEETH ON SKIN REGARDLESS AGE........But I think this can be done without getting rough with a 10 week old.

I mean come on this isn't a 5 month old maturing or ummmmmmm lets say your new 18 month old male you let on the bed and learned real fast he would climb ranks. After 16 years experience you should have known that......... HEEHEE........just a below the belt joke but really come on we are talking about a 10 week old you can not compare that to your "NEW" 18 month old ........

[NorthJerseyRott]

I think everyone in this thread makes good points. When we took delivery of our little "speedster" at 11 weeks old, she immediatley was trying to see where she fit into the "pack". I took alot of advice from my friends here on this forum as well as from the breeder that we bought "emily" from. She has been around these guys for 40 years! And I spent a ton of time with her learning about this breed. She has breed, owned and shown/handled some of the top rottweilers in the nation. Anyhow, my point is that you need to establish your leadership role or else the dog will. We adressed these issues (yes we had some of the same issues as you) from the very start with firm, fair and reward based training. There is a big difference between firm training and abuse (never abuse these guys). Our breeder and our OB trainer share the philsophies as JudiW and Bossk Rottweilers and it has worked out great for us. Emily got her CGC at 8 months old! And her CGC/TDI at 1 year! Anyway, stick with this forum, there is a ton of information here and alot of people with alot of experience, like JudiW and Bossk Rottweilers!

[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