We have had our 10 week old puppy for 2 weeks now (picked him up at 8 weeks) and truth be told he has been an absolute nightmare. He is pretty good at sit, learning stay and good at his toilet training with only a few accidents. However, he constantly howls at us when we try and correct his behaviour, we are using positive reinforcement but a large part of the day he lunges at us and tries to bite us, drawing blood frequently. in these times we cannot calm him down, even though we try and stay calm ourselves and ignore him he just lunges again as soon as we go back to him. We have tried to speak to a trainer to get them to come and help us but we have tried everything we can think of to soothe him, not overstimulate him but train him and give him as much exercise as we can until he is allowed out. my worry is that our friends have a puppy from the same litter and he is the total opposite, obviously he is still a puppy but much more calm and not frenzied 24/7. He has plenty of food but not too much, treats, kong and is being crate trained. when he is calm he is a lovely dog but that is around 10% of the day at this point. I don't know what else to try and i am at my wits end of being anxious and crying every day because i feel sick about what hes going to do next. What should I do? I have tried so hard to be prepared and research and ask the experts but I am becoming more and more fearful he needs much more training and attention than we can give him (despite my partner and I working from home - he does have time alone when needed). any advice gratefully received.
Buster is now 15 weeks old, I have had him since he was 8 weeks. Quite a similar situation although no howling and I would say that his biting "attacks" only happen about 50% of the day. I have just recently started hand feeding him almost all of his meals and it has made quite a big difference - if I could do it over, would definitely start this from day one. It takes a bit more time however it makes him much calmer, more responsive to me and slows down his eating. Also, I have implemented a much more structured daily routine of exercise and play time for about an hour followed by a rest in his crate for about 1 1 1/2 hours. The biting has not stopped entirely, but is happening much less often and when it does he responds much more quickly to "off" and stops it.
Holly I am in the same boat. My Sophie is 14 weeks old and I got her at 7. Her biting is out of control and she's learned some commands but gets very frustrated when I try to correct her behavior. The vet said she is an extremely high energy puppy. I have to be very careful with what I do with her....any type of "exercise" or "play" gets her very wound up and she gets very bitey. I am trying to teach her to be calm but it's a very tedious task and it doesn't happen overnight. I hired e behaviorist because I thought she was being aggressive with all the lunging and biting. The behaviorist said she's not aggressive, she's just out of control and has no manners. She explained the biting is normal and assured me she's not aggressive. She also explained that while early on I was teaching Sophie commands, I was not providing the right leadership. Not providing the right leadership made Sophie stressed because she felt she had to be the leader to survive. She said dogs do not want to be the leader, it's stressful for them. She also said that I wasn't teaching Sophie self control and that puppies can't do that on their own, it's a learned behavior. So when she was getting amped up, she doesn't know how to calm down. It's up to me to teach her. She advised me to add more structure, many more rules, and to not reward bad behavior which I was doing by mistake. She advised me to be more calm when dealing with her and try to act consistently calm even if I don't feel it. I wasn't making Sophie sit and wait for meals, leash, to go outside etc. Once i started doing that and adding more boundaries, I have a very different dog literally within hours. She went from aggressively biting me at 90% to about 20%. That was 2 weeks ago and the biting is still there but it's only at certain times of the day and not non-stop. It's still frustrating because no one wants a puppy who bites and it makes interacting with her work, and not fun, which is disheartening. I love her to death but I can't wait for this phase to be over! Her biting is a little worse lately but I still have some leadership things to work on, for example, not letting her pull on the leash, and making her wait at thresholds. Both of those are challenging to deal with and as a working single fur mom, I don't have the time during the day to spend 20 minutes every time I take her out during the work day and working on leash pulling. So I have her coming back this Friday to help me. I will say, it's exhausting and I was afraid of Sophie before I called the behaviorist. I even considered bringing her back to the breeder. The day before I called the behaviorist, I cried all day. Every time I interacted with Sophie she bit me and my hands were a bloody mess. I didn't even want to deal with her. I know now she could feel that energy. Since I understand how she learns now and what she needs to feel secure and confident, I'm less stressed because I realize if she's doing something, it's up to me to figure out what and what I can do to help her. I'm still exhausted, stressed but I try not to show it. I'm also no longer afraid of her, but I don't enjoy being bit because it does hurt! If you can find a positive reinforcement dog trainer who specializes in behavior and you have the money, get one. This isn't stuff they teach out in puppy classes and puppy classes just got Sophie more amped up. This was the best money I ever spent and I'm confident in another month or so I will have a different puppy if I keep working with her on showing her my leadership skills. Also, I purchased an ex-pen because I work from home during the day and didn't want her stuck in a crate for hours. I can't leave her loose because she bites and gets into a lot of things. It took her a week to get used to being in the pen in my living room but honestly, it's a lifesaver. I take her our for scheduled potty breaks, play time, training, and relaxing time but most of the time she's in there. It makes things much less stressful for both of us. When she behaves and doesn't bite, she gets more time out of it with me. When she gets bitey, I put her calmly back in it without talking to her and she self-settles. Consider getting one if you can. It's also easier to put her in there than a crate as she can't bit me as easily when I put her in there. Stay strong, it will get better. These are just things I did...I'm sure others will also add their experience but hang in there.
I am a huge fan of hand feeding. (Snuffle mate are ok occasionally). Also structured train\play and rest times are brilliant. Chris
