aggression or normal puppy stuff?

[notsosmugnow]

Hi, I'm not sure if the way my 5 month puppy is behaving is aggressive or not and would love some advice from some expert cocker owners as he is our first puppy and despite reading ALL the books    I'm still not sure about this one.  He's a sweet friendly little thing, very biddable and has been great to train so far (recall fab, sits and stays, mostly stopped mouthing everyone and everything, working on the jumping up!) but on a couple of occasions last week he has jumped up and nipped at my kids faces - this really upsets them as his teeth have scratched them which hurts, and as he does it when they approach him when he's lying down rather than bouncing about playing, so to them it comes out of nowhere. 

He's only done it when he's totally knackered and overstimulated but it is accompanied by a definite noise - cross between a bark and yelp I suppose, which sounds quite annoyed...  I'm reading it as - 'go away i've had enough' but am really worried that it might turn into something more dangerous as he gets older?  Is this normal puppy tired and cranky stuff or more worrying?

I realise I haven't been as strict recently as I was when he was tiny with making sure he gets enough sleep in the day and that the kids give him space to do that, so i am making sure he goes in his crate for naps now and when I can see him getting a bit 'past it' and also making sure the kids are more chilled around him generally and don't approach him when he's clearly tired or over excited, and there's been no more of the nipping since i've been doing this - is there anything else I should be doing as well?  I really don't want him to learn that the best way to deal with being tired and cranky is to bite someone!  He's definitely teething by the way as have found blood on his chews and think he might also be going a bit teenagery as keeps humping his bed!

I am really concerned though, as some of the stuff I've read seems to imply that puppies who do this go on to become aggressive adults as they learn that using their teeth is the best way of dealing with fear or frustration.  If I continue with what I'm doing and there's no repeat of this behaviour for a few months can I assume that he has grown out of it, or should I always be extra vigilant with him and children?

[katiebiks]

Im not an expert, but paddy did exactly this as a puppy and we dealt with this exactly as you have done, put him into his crate when he'd had enough, we had 6 little boys for him to play with at the time, he just got tired like we all do and needed some time for himself, paddy lived for 10 and a half years and was the happiest friendliest most adaptable dog, who was loved by everyone he came into contact with for all those years, please don't worry he will pick up on your calm mood and be chilled too.

[elaine.e]

Hello and welcome to COL

Sounds to me like you've got a perfectly normal puppy who has sometimes been pushed to his limits by the children approaching him when he's tired and having a rest. As he's teething at the moment he's likely to be in a bit of discomfort too, which probably makes him more likely to react.

I can understand why it must have felt shocking when it happened. I well remember the first time my first Cocker puppy growled and then snapped at me (my fault, he had a very high value marrowbone to chew on and I casually came along and took it off him). I was a first time dog owner and devastated, thinking I'd ended up with an aggressive dog. I felt reassured when an experienced owner explained that my puppy had been giving me a warning when he growled and I'd ignored it so he'd taken it a step further and snapped at me. He turned out to be a wonderful dog once I understood him.

It's great that you've already recognised that the incidents have happened when your puppy has been really tired and is resting and the children have disturbed him, plus he's teething at the moment and is probably having some discomfort with that. So well done for recognising the problem and doing something about it too. Making sure that he has somewhere secure and quiet to rest when he's tired or overstimulated is definitely the right thing. I don't know how old your children are, but teaching them to understand that he's not to be disturbed when he's resting, either in his crate or elsewhere, will really help too.

I think there's always a need to be vigilant with dogs and children, but from what you've said and the sensible things that you're doing I very much doubt that you have, or will have, a long term problem.

Now you've joined COL, you do realise that we need to know more about your puppy and see some photos too please

[notsosmugnow]

thank you both for your advice and kind words - feeling much more reassured!  Like you said, its just a shock when your sweet little pup does something like this and had me really worried that it was a sign of major problems down the line - will keep up with all the supervision and making sure the kids don't overdo it with him and fingers crossed I can make sure it doesn't happen again - he is an absolute poppet the rest of the time, really couldn't be sweeter. 

Will try and work out how to post a photo (bit of an idiot when it comes to technology!)

[elaine.e]

thank you both for your advice and kind words - feeling much more reassured!  Like you said, its just a shock when your sweet little pup does something like this and had me really worried that it was a sign of major problems down the line - will keep up with all the supervision and making sure the kids don't overdo it with him and fingers crossed I can make sure it doesn't happen again - he is an absolute poppet the rest of the time, really couldn't be sweeter.  

Will try and work out how to post a photo (bit of an idiot when it comes to technology!)

This may help with the photos http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/discuss/index.php?topic=15703.msg189160#msg189160. Took me ages to figure it out when I first joined but once you've got the hang of it it's fairly easy!

[MIN]

hi and welcome to COL (cockerdiles on line)

love your title Notsosmugnow

[notsosmugnow]

thanks! gather cocker puppies and smuggery don't go together!!

[MIN]

thanks! gather cocker puppies and smuggery don't go together!!

Nope 

[HBP]

thanks! gather cocker puppies and smuggery don't go together!!

 

Good luck!