Pup help (long post)

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laxhcky4
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Pup help (long post)

Post by laxhcky4 » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:08 pm

Sorry for the long post, this is my first pup and I have a few issues I'm looking for help on. We picked up our pup last saturday and she's doing really well so far but have a couple of issues.

1) Within the last couple days, I feel that she is starting to test our dominance and she has been nipping at us a lot more. Its not just nipping either, she's growling and bearing her teeth. She does this more with my wife than myself but we want to put a stop to this behavior. When she gets riled up like this, I usually grab her mouth and push her upper lip on her upper teeth. Is this an alright way to handle this? Is there any other methods we could try?

2) Some of the above behavior happens in the house and I also want to put an end to the rowdy behavior in the house. We have some toys for her to play with and chew on but she works herself into a frenzy with toys, shakin them in her mouth etc. How can we teach her to be calm in the house? Just put a leash on her, keep her next to us and not let her get away with it? Should we withold the toys in the house and just give her some type of bone to chew on to keep herself busy?

When she does get wound up and bites, we will put her on her back and hold her until she calms down but when we release her, its right back to the same thing. I think she thinks its all part of a "game"

3) Sometimes she is real attentive to us and responds well to "here". Other times, shes off exploring, checking things out and won't even look at us when we call her name. I'm sure some of this is normal puppy behavior, but would like her to be more attentive to us. Should I be rewarding her more when she does come to us? We will give a couple pieces of food for a reward once in a while or else we just pet her calmly.

4) She's used to running around with a leash on in the yard and in the field. Sometimes when we try and walk her, she either stops to smell/chew everything or else she's out ahead pulling. I realize she doesn't have the attention span to Heel but is there anything we shouldn't allow her to do?

All of this said, I still want to let the pup be a pup and I do not expect her to do exactly what we want at this point. I'm just looking for a little advice so we are going about this in the right way. I don't want to be making these things worse by my actions.

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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by PntrRookie » Mon Jun 21, 2010 12:23 pm

laxhcky4 wrote:1) Within the last couple days, I feel that she is starting to test our dominance and she has been nipping at us a lot more. Its not just nipping either, she's growling and bearing her teeth. She does this more with my wife than myself but we want to put a stop to this behavior. When she gets riled up like this, I usually grab her mouth and push her upper lip on her upper teeth. Is this an alright way to handle this? Is there any other methods we could try?
IMO just about everything you are concerned about is normal puppy behavior (maybe others will chime in). The only change I would suggest is that if the above scenario is occurring "...more with my wife than myself..." then have your wife do the scolding not you - when it happens to her. The pup will learn what they can get away with and with whom. Make sure you and your wife are on the same page.

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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by snips » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:41 pm

You don't mention the age, but sounds normal puppy stuff to me. I don't think I would want one that was not a bit of a handful :D
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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by jhorak » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:48 pm

I've got a 7 1/2 week old ECS that is exhibiting the exact same behaviors-- and I'm not worried one bit! You've gotta give them time to be puppies!

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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by laxhcky4 » Mon Jun 21, 2010 1:57 pm

She is 8.5 weeks old. We have had her for a little over a week.

Ptr - I am encouraging my wife to be more forceful with the pup because she lets her get away with too much.

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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by kninebirddog » Mon Jun 21, 2010 2:27 pm

This is normal for the more alpha in the litter type pups..Testing boundaries and teeth mouth and vocal are just some of the ways these cute pups test you and I am one that will not let this continue..
I change the game by placing one hand behind the head to brace and two fingers in mouth with thumb underneath the jaw holding firm enough to maintain the hold but not to cause any pain,,I will hold this through the pawing vocalizations until the pup gives in to the restriction and relaxes not just stops trying to build up for another struggle you will feel the pup relax. Once the pup gives in I will release and then place my hand in front of the mouth I should either get the pup lick my hand or sniff and go on ..if i get the pup even try to Mouth my hand I will repeat..I have had a couple pups take three applications of this before they decided it wasn't a fun game most pup 1 or 2 times is enough.

I mother dog will also scold a pup for annoying behaviors like this with a growl and snap

Pups do not magically grow out of certain alpha via behaviors they grow into them and getting it nipped in the bud now fairly will lead to a better relation with your dog in the future

I am not a fan of pinning puppies on their backs I will lay on the sides if they have issues with other dogs in a dog whsiperer manner

but aggression towards me gets dealt with

As for the toys she gets carried away with i would take them out of the picture and stick with the chew toys that she doesn't get over board with
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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by surferdave » Mon Jun 21, 2010 5:15 pm

Absolutely normal puppy behavior, at first you're so happy those days are over, but now I miss my guys puppyhood. Be forceful without being abusive. Patience is the key. 8 1/2 weeks is still a baby, your pup is curious with a VERY short attention span. You'll see their attention grow with age. Raising a puppy isn't easy, at 8 weeks don't expect to be able to just leash them to your chair and have them sit still. As you know they sleep a lot, so rest at those times, but be ready to focus on them when they are out and about. It gets easier.

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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by Greg Jennings » Mon Jun 21, 2010 7:27 pm

The first dog, the V, was really mouthy as pup. After the standard things didn't work, when he took my hand in his mouth, I pushed it down his throat till he gagged. Cured the issue in short order.

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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by Munster » Tue Jun 22, 2010 12:42 pm

Not sure if you should start att his age, but I have found that a squirt bottle helps control the rowdy house behaviour. I didnt mind so much one dog running around and acting crazy. But now that we have 2 dogs I had to bring it all to a stop. Play time is for outside. Calm belly rubs and cuddling is for the house.
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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by gonehuntin' » Wed Jun 23, 2010 5:45 am

Do yourself a favor and teach the pup NO!. It's amazing how many behaviors you can control with a simple NO.

Don't tolerate nipping from a pup at any age. Slap it's nose or pinch it and say NO. Today's play nippers are tomorrow's bitters.
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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by Qwernt » Thu Jun 24, 2010 12:21 am

I have a very similar pup (well, behavior wise). At 10 weeks old she loved to chew on people and clothing and just about anything else. I got some great advice here and from the breeder, but most of the solutions (tap under chin, put fingers down mouth, etc) just get her mad (more chewing with growling). Then one day she was in the strawberry patch (that she knows she isn't supposed to be in, because she looks at me before going in them as if to say "and what are you going to do"). I happen to have the hose watering the flowers so I just swung it across and splashed her good. Only took 2 lesson and no more puppy in the strawberry patch. Building on this, I sent my daughter (whom puppy LOVES to attack) over to get the super soaker. Next puppy attack, daughter opens up with super soaker. Puppy doesn't attack daughter anymore 8^). I now have 3 mini squirt guns in the house. When she doesn't listen to "aaat, leave it" then squirt, squirt. And she listens. Only had to use super soaker twice in the house (related to rooms she is not allowed in) and now there is a line she knows and won't cross. Obvioiusly we don't want her to only listen to the squirt gun, so we only use it as the last resort or to REALLY enforce a message.

A second discovery we made: she really hates some aroma touch oil smells. She stops cold and backs up as soon as it hits her nose. We spend a week with this on he back of our hands and will use it on stuff we don't want her to chew.

She still loves to chew, but has gotten a TON better. Now it seems to be prevelent when: tired or bored. Add a few more toys and walks to kill the boredom, and we just need to worry about when she is tired.

Obviously I am not an expert and am somehow ruining the pup, but it seems to help me so I thought I might throw it in the ring.

But yeah, both my wife and I have scars on hands and up arms (to be fair, some are from claws instead of mouth).

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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by Greg Jennings » Thu Jun 24, 2010 9:54 am

Qwernt wrote:\But yeah, both my wife and I have scars on hands and up arms (to be fair, some are from claws instead of mouth).
House dogs' nails need to be trimmed. I dremel my dogs' nails. Works great. Dogs need to be introduced to it slowly, though. At first, just rub it on their belly without even turning it on. Then turn it on, but don't trim. You should also be teaching them to let you hold their paws. I.e., paint the picture one layer at a time.

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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by cast_and_blast » Thu Jun 24, 2010 12:17 pm

laxhky4 -

I'm in the same boat with our 8 week old GSP. I know EXACTLY the kind of behavior (nipping) that you are talking about and I'll share what has worked very, very well for me (so far) with our boy Hogan. Again, I'm far from an expert but I read this in one of the many books I've gone through in anticipation of getting the pup.

When the offending behavior happens, in this case the nipping, you can quickly and forcefully grab the pup and pin them to the ground (on their back or side)while getting right in their face and growling and showing your teeth. Yep, you look pretty stupid doing this and yep, it's tough not to laugh. The first time I did this it took the pup about 15-20 seconds of yelping and squealing and thrashing (even though I was in no way hiurting him) before he finally gave in, looked away and went still. That ended the nipping of me, but he'd still do it with my sons. They have since repeated this (he didn't squeal or yelp or thrash) and it has taken care of the problem.

Keys are - do it right when it happens and (I think) oversell the angry part. The pup comes up all apologetic with licks instead of nips - at least ours did.

The funny thing is, this is almost the identical behavior that my brother's 8 year old lab exhibited when she had finally had enough (about 20 minutes - nonstop) of the pestering and nipping of the pup during our recent visit. She grabbed him (not hard, but enough to pin him) and gave a vicious growl. Pup gave one yip and decided to modify his play to leave out the nipping. The funny thing is, both dogs got along great afterward - no fear and no grudge.

I''d say this is my $.02 worth, but given my absolute novice status it may not even be worth that. :)

Good luck - we should see if we can get our pups together sometime.

Scott

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Re: Pup help (long post)

Post by laxhcky4 » Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:30 am

After a couple of days of corrections from both my wife and I, Stella is behaving a lot better. I guess I just didn't expect the "testing" to come so quick. We tried a couple different techniques. The two we had luck with is holding her behind the head and put two fingers in her mouth until she pulled away and realized our hands in her mouth isn't fun and pinning her on her until she completely gives in. I think in the beginning we were letting her up to early, she would be calm for 10-20 seconds but in hindsight she was just preparing for another struggle. She's much more cooperative at this point. Thanks for all the advice and I'll be putting up some pics this afternoon.

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