New puppy growling and trying to bite. Advise needed.

[Blanca Busa]

Hello. I'm new to the forum and I'm sure it's been asked already and I could have found similar situations thru search but I wanted to start a thread addressing my specific dog and what yall can do to help us.

Christmas eve we adopted 'Tessa' from a well known foundation here in South Florida. She was approximately two months old when we got her. The kids promptly renamed her Princess Coco Chanel which has morphed into just Coco.
She was crate trained and semi potty trained when we got her. Beautiful little pup.



Two weeks after we got her she slipped off a sofa and broke her Tibia. She was right next to me and next millisecond whoops and over she went. She had a full cast on her leg for two weeks and a splint on for another ten days..



Throughout this time she was fine and happy. Really surprised me how well she took the hard time with broke leg. Now about a month after leg break she's growing fine gaining weight up to date with shots, back to regular puppy life as it should be for her. 99% of the time she's a happy pup. She plays with kids, licks, fetches and does what puppies do. But now she seems to be developing an aggressive behavior which I desperately need to get out of her.
Sometimes when she's laying in her bed or on the carpet by my feet I try to slowly wake her up with a few pets and a couple nice 'wake up, let's go'. When I actually go to pick her up or gently push her up she growls at me and others in the house when they do same. This isn't the play growls she has outside when we play with her stuffed animal. This is an aggressive growl and if I continue to try to pick her up she swings her head back and tries to bite me. Only in instinct do I retract y hand which I think may be that she's training me and now she knows how to get left alone? Last night she growled at me when I went to pick her up I did not hesitate, I did not draw back my arm but I continued to pick her up. She swung around and mouthed my arm. It was I guess halfway between a real bite and just placing her mouth on me. Either way her needle teeth I felt and if my five year old had done same it would definitely have made him cry or much worse. This brings me to my problem. My son will wake up and go to her bed and sit next to her and play with her in the morning. I came in other day and they were both in her bed laying down playing and licking each other but I fear I am only a millisecond away from him trying to pick her up and getting bit.
Like I said 99% of the time she's fine. She jumps. I've read how to use your knee to push her away and this has helped. I've learned to look up and wait for her to sit before I give attn when I come home. I am working with her in backyard nightly for about an hour teaching her to sit and stay and again not to jump when we play. She has a new toy, a frisbee which she loves. She brings it, we wrestle and I take it away from her. Before I throw it she has learned to sit and not jump all over me (mom loved dirty paw prints on her white pants ).
She is now right at four months old. It has cost me close to $1500 in unanticipated medical bills which I gladly paid because from the moment I saw her I fell in love. My mom loves her, the kids well aren't quite as happy as I hoped but still love her. My wife is a bit different she is not used to dogs inside and comes from a country where dogs are left outside only. They are dogs not family members. But she is even coming around. Sometimes it's that's a bad dog and she's gonna bite my son and them I'm gonna .... you! And rightfully so she would be entitled. Then other times she is hand feeding her talking sweet nothings to her. Slowly she's coming around. I came home early the other day and caught the wife sitting down outside and Coco was licking her all over he face. This is a big step for my wife because she was actually bitten by a tied up dog when young.
I love the dog. My mom and wife are now pressuring me to give her up, or back to the foundation we got her from which they will do. But I don't want to give up on her. I'm not a quitter. I made the decision to add a member to our family and want to make it work.
We have never hit her hard. I have pushed her away from our chihuahua which
has not shined on to her yet. When she has moved to bite I have yelled no or yelped and walked away. The other night she had a piece of plastic in her mouth. Up till now she would let me take it out of her mouth but when I went to take it away I had my fingers in her mouth and in an effort to keep it she growled and chomped down which caught my thumb and made it bleed. I yelped of course because it hurt. When I yelped OUCH I walked away and she came up to me with sad puppy eyes curled up by my feet, licked my toes and seemed genuinely sorry.

I'm stuck now and not sure what to do. Sorry for the long post but I wanted to try to answer as many questions you may have and give a decent background on the pup.

Please help as I dont want to give her up. Unfortunately though with many kids over all the time I can't take a chance one getting bit.

[Digston]

Your pup is adorable! I can see how you fell in love with her!

Good thing about your problem is that she is a pup and the problem should be easy enough to stop before it becomes habit.

Firstly, I would suggest looking around in your area for a animal behavior/training specialist. I find it easier to see how to correct the behaviour rather than to read how.

When my first dog was a pup we put him into puppy classes. It was more for me then for the dog, as I knew very little on how to train a dog. It was a huge help and I would definitely suggest to anyone to take the time to go to puppy classes! The trainer I went to believes in correction as well as positive reinforcement, not everyones cup of tea but it was exactly what I wanted since my dog is a stubborn lil booger. When we had issues with nipping and biting my trainer suggested we scruff him while using vocal correction. The scruffing action was very quick, just a fast grab of the scruff and a sharp "NO". Releasing the scruff right away. We found it worked well for us. We always followed the correction with slow petting and soft praise. Your pup will feed off of your enthusiasm, so if you are petting fast or using an excited voice they will think its time to play.

There are many training methods out there. Like I said before, some people may not be comfortable scruffing. Some pups are sensitive enough that just the vocal correction will be adequate.

Keep in mind that the mouthing may be because your pup is currently teething. Make sure she has lots of things to chew on to help her along with it. I used a cloth that I had wet and then froze.

The first 6 months of having a pup around are definitely the most trying. After my first pup I swore I would never do it again.... turns out I am a sucker for punishment because I ended up putting myself through it again! Be patient, and remember to never lash out in anger as it will only make your pup fearful.

[Blanca Busa]

Thank you for the encouragement. I am looking at all things possible as I am more sure than the rest of my family it can be corrected.


57 views and 1 post?

[DarKevs]

here are a couple of good reads.....

http://www.trainingpuppytips.com/Stop-Puppy-Biting.php

http://www.trainingpuppytips.com/Sto...y-Growling.php

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/puppybiting.htm


by the way...that is one fiesty looking puppy!

[Blanca Busa]

Originally Posted by DarKevs

here are a couple of good reads.....

http://www.trainingpuppytips.com/Stop-Puppy-Biting.php

http://www.trainingpuppytips.com/Sto...y-Growling.php

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/puppybiting.htm


by the way...that is one fiesty looking puppy!

Thank you. I had seen the second one but not the first and third one was a good read.

She growled at me just a little while ago She was semi sleeping outside on her bean bag and I wanted to bring her inside. I knelt down and pet her a bit, she rolled over I rubbed her stomach and spoke to her softly saying sweet nothings the whole time. After a few mins I reached under her and tried to gently roll her out of bed and that's when she growled and tried to bite me. I said 'no' firmly. Then again tried to coax her out of bed and got same result. So I walked away and went inside. A few moments later she was up and at the door wanting to come in so I let her in. 'No' loudly doesn't seem to have much effect on her? Guess being hard headed runs in the family
Any way I'm a bit leery of the 'shake' method described. I feel if I grab her by the scruff and try to shake her a bit as described she may bite me even worse?
I mean c'mon roles reversed if somebody grabbed and shook me I'd bite the crap out of them

[Digston]

Keep in mind that while you would be pissed if someone scruffed you it is normal for a dog to receive physical corrections. If a mother dog is getting mad at her pups and growling doesn't work then nipping at them is the next step. She's not being cruel, and nor are you as long as you use the correction properly. That is why I suggested speaking with a trainer, so you can learn proper technique and become comfortable with simple corrections.

There is definitely a learning curve with this stuff, just don't give up.