New Odd Behaviour

[Louchielou]

Hi All,

Bosco has taken to barking and trying to nip us when he sits near us.

Usually starts of sitting with us nicely, having cuddles and tummy tickles, then he either starts trying to bite our hands and then barking or starts having a mad half hour running about, stopping abruptly and then barking randomly then running about again.

I have been telling him no and putting him down on the floor or putting him the kitchen on his own.

Is this usual puppy behaviour or is he just wanting more attention?

Lou.

[suki1964]

If Im right in thinking that Bosco is around 4 or 5 months Id say hes teething.

They all start biting at this age as it helps getting the teeth through.

Time outs are good and also a loud "ouch" helps. Also get him loads of things he can chew on such as raw hide (dont leave him alone with it) carrots and even cold cloths.

There are a lot of threads on biting which have a wealth of advice, just stick biting in the search and look at threads 7 days and older.

And yes they do grow out of it usually by time their teeth are all through - and then they go straight into "kevin the teen" mode

[PennyB]

And yes they do grow out of it usually by time their teeth are all through - and then they go straight into "kevin the teen" mode

...and then they start mouthing again LOL

[Louchielou]

If Im right in thinking that Bosco is around 4 or 5 months Id say hes teething.
 

He is 14 weeks old.

 

[PennyB]

If Im right in thinking that Bosco is around 4 or 5 months Id say hes teething.
 

He is 14 weeks old.

Normal puppy behaviour that needs to be dealt with positively with 'no'/'ouch', and timeouts if pup persists.

Welcome to the world of demon cockers

[nellie]

Don`t worry Lou, Oscar isn`t the only one Bonnie is doing this aswell (she is 4 months old on 3rd Feb). One minute she`s all lovey dovey the next she`s latched onto some part of you for a good old munch. We were being too soft so on the advice of our puppy class trainer we now tell her a firm "no" and put her in another room for 4 minutes time out. This always works as she hates being left out from the rest of us and she is always as good as gold when we allow her back in with us.  Hope this helps but I`ve yet to work out what to do when we are out with her and time out isn`t possible?

Rachael & Bonnie x

[Pammy]

sounds like normal puppy behaviour to me. Have a look at our faq on playbiting.

It's behaviour that with firm and consistent treatment is usually successfully controlled,  but if not controlled can become a big problem. It's a stage that can become very wearing too - so don't worry. Check the faq and also look through other posts on puppy biting to see how hard it can be - but that there is light at the end of the tunnel.  

[Louchielou]

Hi All,

Thanks for the replies. It was mostly the barking and growling I was concerned with. Although, he seams to have calmed dowm somewhat over the weekend.

Lou.

[PennyB]

You'll find that over time he goes through different phases of things. In fact as he gets older you will no longer be surprised as to the fact that he's decided to something different than he did yesterday (good or bad, and even as adults they can still think of something different to get up to which they didn't do yesterday!). I often go back to basics when this has happened if only to try to work out how to deal with any unwanted behaviour (which usually involves get them to earn everything and not get attention on demand and just basically refocus them to show that I'm in charge)