Hungry Pup?

[Rusty]

Hi all,

As some of you may know, I've been having "problems" with our 9 week old.

His nipping had defintely become a bite  :x  and his aggresiveness is becoming worse by the day, when we are giving him a NO when he's misbehaving, he actually attacks you with his teeth showing, snarling, growling and barking! As if to say "don't tell me what not to do cause I can bite"! I have tried a STOP IT, to see if the word NO is causing him to behave like this. Unfortunately he's the same regardless.

Obviously this makes playing and training hard as he always seems ready to "attack"! Therefore the kids are wary and aren't enjoying him as much as they should be.

He pierced the skin on my inner thigh the other night and to be honest, I could have cried, not at the pain of the bite, but the fact he bit me so hard that it hurt my feelings.

As well as that, he is always trying to "mount" things. Could there be a link here?

Anyway, straying off topic there, my query is his eating, but again there may be a link.

The breeder had been feeding the litter on Iams. So we continued with this and for the first couple of days he seemed to enjoy it. The he just stopped eating it and would sniff and walk away from his food. A friend recommended Barkers Puppy Food, so we tried that. Again the first couple of times he ate away no problems but again has now turned his nose up at it. We tried mixing the Iams and Barkers, again nothing. We are reluctant to keep changing his food, but obviously he needs to eat.

We don't give him anything other than his own food and he will get a chewy bar once a day. When trying to teach him (huh, thats a joke!) we will give him tit bits we got from the vet, sometimes he doesn't even take them!

Anyone offer any advice? I thought that this was unusual as dogs are waste disposal units on four legs, which is obviously not what I want either.

Many thanks.                    

[*Jay*]

Obviously you don't want him to become fussy by chopping and changing his food so i think you should maybe put him onto a more natural food and stick to it. Something like nature diet, james wellbeloved or burns are all very good and you should be able to get samples to try. You would have to wean him on to it slowly over a period of 7-10 days. Like i said on a previous post, my Vegas behaved horribly as a pup and his diet played a big part in that. I think it was the colours and preservatives that made him a bit hyper :roll: Once I changed over to a hypoallergenic diet, his behaviour improved almost immediately.

But I will say again that Rusty's behaviour is exactly what Vegas was doing at that age. It is upsetting but just be consistent and one day it will all fall into place.                    

[lizzy]

Hi Rusty,

I'm sorry that things seem to be getting worse for you, but I still think that this is normal puppy behaviour. When it's your first puppy or you have'nt had a pup for a while we can forget how puppy's really are.

Your pup is an animal and has just left quite a few littermates with whom he will have played rough with , he will have nipped and growled at them too. He is now in a different house with different people and he needs training and he needs to be showed what is right and what is not.

I would not play any tug of war games with him or play fighting games, I also find squeaky toys can make them hyper, so I would not be giving them to him at the moment. I know you mentioned there was not room for a crate, but it would allow you time out from him, you can go in another room and have a brew and relax for a while, without worrying what he is doing, also it teaches him that he does'nt have the run of the house and if he is growling and nipping it is somewhere safe for him to go for a while.

When my youngest dog came home at first she nipped and growled quite badly and I worried that we had brought an aggressive dog home and I did have to nip it in the bud, I was always calm with her, did'nt shout or scream but in a firm and deep voice said " No Bite " :wink:  and I would hold her still for a few seconds, I think the more we shout and push them away the more we arouse them at this just makes them worse ( I'm not saying you are doing this!! :wink: ) I'm just talking in general.

I think  I'm right in saing that some COL people have found  IAM's make their dog quite hyperactive so I think you are quite right to look at what he's eating. A good quality food is vital at this stage of his development ,
I feed my James Wellbeloved I have found it to be very good for them in every respect, their coat's are shiny and they seem to thrive on it.

Please stick with it, He will get better and I'm sure this time next month you will see a big difference in him !!


Lizzy Molly and Evie                    

[lorri]

Hi

I can still remember typing the same post as yourself only a few months ago with our Jarvis and getting lots of great advice. Jarvis has never had a problem with his food and will eat anything thats going but i gradually changed him over to burns due the fact it's a natural product and so very well recomended.

Jarvis was a complete horror after about a week at home when he really settled in and i too really thought to myself what have i done!!! and got very tearfull aswell. My son who was so looking forward to having a puppy was too very upset with the constant nipping :cry:  But for the good news Jarvis very rarely nips at all now apart from when he gets really excited and if he does he gets ignored which he hates. Try not shouting "no"but just turning your back on him or putting him in another room for a few minutes.

At our puppy training classes my instrutor taught me told hold jarvis under his chin by his collar so as he cant get to bite me and hold him like that till he calms down and then praise him it has worked an absolute treat. Loads of people told me to smack Jarvis on the nose but i didn't want to do that.

God this is a long message and i hope i've helped in some way.

Let us know how you get on and dont worry too much.

Lorraine and Jarvis                    

[PennyB]

I agree with the above posts and would say its a lot better not to keep changing food as they can end up quite fussy. Mine are now both on Burns. They both began on Royal Canin but I decided to change both my dogs and cats on to something freer from preservatives and a bit more ethical.

Demon puppies can get you down and it can seem endless. I found 'time outs' very useful as Ruby refused to acknowledge the word no when she was tiny. If I was sitting down and she started biting and then the 1st no didn't work I would get up and walk away and totally ignore her for a few minutes until she'd calmed down.

As far as training is concerned if you're not getting anywhere in a session then go and do something else (as neither you or the pup are up to it). At this stage the pup has a very short attention span and so long training sessions are futile and they are meant to be fun anyway. I agree with not rough-housing a pup in play as this can make them more aggressive as well.

Mounting is what puppies do whatever sex, so I wouldn't worry about it.

It will feel like it gets even worse but it will get a lot better.                    

[Katina]

Cruel mummy reporting in (once again ). If dogs in my house ( no matter if they are adults or puppies) refuse to eat what  I am giving them, they can remain hungry. No skin of my nose . Every single dog has started to eat sooner or later.

Puppies don't know what "No" means unless you teach it to them.  All puppies bite (it's the way have they played with their sisters and brothers), some less -some more. I simply do what adult dogs do to annoying pups. First I growl without looking at the pup, if this doesn't work I growl and bare my teeth to the pup. For most this is enough, if not, I bite them back  . I have only had one dog I had to bite back, and I only had to do it once. She looked like this  :shock:, and has never bitten me since :wink: .                    

[lizzy]

Cruel mummy reporting in (once again

Katina, I've seen that lovely birthday cake you gave your dog, you are'nt that cruel a mum!! :wink:  

Lizzy Molly and Evie                    

[Katina]

Katina, I've seen that lovely birthday cake you gave your dog, you are'nt that cruel a mum!! :wink:  

Lizzy Molly and Evie

And quess what that ungratefull dog did  :x , she only ate the topping   !!?                    

[PennyB]

Puppies don't know what "No" means unless you teach it to them.  All puppies bite (it's the way have they played with their sisters and brothers), some less -some more. I simply do what adult dogs do to annoying pups. First I growl without looking at the pup, if this doesn't work I growl and bare my teeth to the pup.

I've done this in the past and it generally works with Ruby now but with Wilf it took a little time (may be he thought I was nuts!). Still do it if they ever fall out of line, unfortunately I forget I was in public the last time LOL It was a did I really do that in public sort of thing                    

[bluegirl]

Hi,
I feed my dog a raw natural diet, I have had dogs in the past and they really have been fussy eaters and after reading my book on natural rearing I came to the conclusion, that my giving in to them, didn't help matters. This book recommends a cereal, herb raw meat and raw bone diet.If your pup doesn't readily eat the food within 15 mins of you putting it on the floor, then it should be removed. If the pup doesn't eat readily then it should be fasted for 12 hrs or more. Until I followed this book I would never have dreamed of doing this to a dog of any age, but I have followed this diet with Penny since bringing her home at 8 wks and she's the only one that is the correct weight and the only one who has never been a fussy eater.

From Karen                    

[s baxter]

rusty, my 10 wk black cocker has tried to mount, first time i thought it was a one off but now he`s had another little go, so twice in two weeks i to would be grateful for some advice from experienced dog puppy owners or breeders may be it`s normal i`m not sure but your not alone and i`m going to ask my vets wed. :roll: i just distract him from it !                    

[Jane S]

rusty, my 10 wk black cocker has tried to mount, first time i thought it was a one off but now he`s had another little go, so twice in two weeks i to would be grateful for some advice from experienced dog puppy owners or breeders may be it`s normal i`m not sure but your not alone and i`m going to ask my vets wed. :roll: i just distract him from it !

This is quite normal - most puppies tend to do it at one time or another, dogs & bitches. You don't need to consult your vet - mounting is just part of normal puppy development. You are doing the right thing by distracting your pup - the best thing to do is not to make a fuss about it but just divert your pup's attention onto something else.

Jane                    

[s baxter]

jane s thanks for your reply it has put my mind at rest being a first time doggie owner i think newies worry about anything unusual that their dog may do until they get good advice from experienced dog owners.many thanks for reply!