CockersOnline Forum
Cocker Specific Discussion => Puppies => Topic started by: chrisnjulie on November 24, 2013, 08:31:09 AM
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Hi all
We have a 10 week old puppy , been with us for 2 weeks and he has bitten my fella and gone for me .......he growls like the tazmanian devil lol ......then bites , we then yelp and he lunges for more until he turns nasty .......we yelp very loudly and it doesnt stop himin his tracks in fact it makes him worse .......
We have an older dog who has snapped at him a few times when she's had a bone and he has a go back ......
We've never had a growly pup in all the 20 years we've kept cockers ........how are we going to get him out of it before it escalates ??
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We started off yelping, but it only really worked the first couple of times -and I later read that it can actually egg them on a bit!! We used AH! Instead which still works as a general all purpose "stop what you're doing right now". Hudson was a nasty biter, we used time outs in the pen to good effect. He never growled though so not sure about that. Perhaps will phase out with the nipping?
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Our previous cocker was a terrible grower and biter. Drew blood several times. Saying a firm no made her worse as she seemed to answer back and become angry! All we did was try to ignore her, moving away from her was only option. She grew out of it and became the gentlest soul and the friendliest most sociable dog you could wish for. So dont despair too much!
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Things got better for us once we could take Murphy out for walks. He was 14 weeks old before he could go out and the couple of weeks leading up to his first walks were bad. Though I don't think Murphy was ever aggressive when biting, it was all just play, though he did draw blood on a couple of occasions (those puppy teeth are SHARP)
Even now, he will fly down the hall and launch himself at me and clamp on my arm, but his tail is wagging when he does it :005:
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We've had a few ripped clothes and drawn blood with Hugo. Although it is very controllable as we say a firm no and remove him from whatever his was trying to bite. He does try and go back a few times but repetition seems to do the trick and he soon gets bored and moves on!
I know what you mean about the answering back! He often steps back from me when I tell him off and does one of his small barks and raises his paw at me! Like I say though, he soon moves on.
I have also found he's a lot less hyper/sleeps more now that he can get out and about meeting other dogs and going on his daily walks etc.
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Hi,
Although not a spaniel, we have a one year old lab/golden retrieve pup who behaved exactly like this as a pup. He was a complete devil >:D and a bit of a shock to the system as he is an assistance pup for a charity with guide dog parents. We found the best thing to do was one of three things: distraction (we kept tins of treats around the house and had plenty of soft toys/cloths around to get him to bite rather than us), ignoring (not possible if they are biting but can work well if they are growling) and removal (either the pup or ourselves - a house line can be useful so you don't have to pick the pup up when they are at their worst). We stopped using 'no' and 'ahhs' for some time as they seemed to just 'fire him up' more. The good news is he is a fabulous dog :luv:now but it has taken longer with him and involved some painful bites and some creative thinking along the way. Good luck
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As you may remember we also have a 12 month old clumber , she has told him off several times and he sort of knows how far he can go but he has had a go back at her even though it frightened us out of our wits lol ...
Henry our other dog is only 6 months old so very much still a puppy himself and he is the most playful laid back very good boy ........the new pup and Henry will not back down as they dont know how to so we have to step in and calm it down , but from now on we are going to have to keep a lid on the puppy play as this is where it all stems from . Its hard to say no and walk away when there are 2 other dogs there .....he will toddle off to them . So it will have to be time out in the kitchen until he calms down ......
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William was a biter as a young pup and a hard mouther to boot. We found that he got over excited if we played games with him which set off his biting and attacking fits.
Time out in the pen, and ignoring him seemed to work best for us, but he has grown out of it and is now the most gentle mouthed of spaniels.
This phase does seem like it goes on forever, with William it was several months; at times we would have been grateful for other family dogs to divert his attentions and teach him some manners!
Pups do vary in their attitudes, but at ten weeks he really is still finding his place. It is easy to think at times this pup hates me, but no its just doing what pups do, give him time and try not to re-act when he becomes wearisome, easier said than done, as I so clearly remember.
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I wish it was just nipping or mouthing........but its not !
I accidently stood on his paw earlier , only slightly ! He growled and turned his head to bite me ! I stood still and he walked off ......bit of an over re-action dont you think , what happened to the customery yelp ??
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I wish it was just nipping or mouthing........but its not !
I accidently stood on his paw earlier , only slightly ! He growled and turned his head to bite me ! I stood still and he walked off ......bit of an over re-action dont you think , what happened to the customery yelp ??
No I don't think it was an over reaction at all....you stood on him...he got a fright and he responded. The growl was a warning that he did not like something. If I stood on any of my 2 girls who are a lot older I am sure the would react the same way although they have never bitten me out of malice etc.
He is just a baby and has a lot to learn and it is your job to teach him....just like children you teach them manners and reward good behaviours and ignore bad ones. The biting is totally normal....they are not nicknamed cockerdiles for nothing :005: but it will get better...I wore gloves and ugh boots for months with Tilly and even now at 2 yrs she still mouths us albeit very softly.
Try not despair too much ...I promise there is light at the end of a very long tunnel
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..I wore gloves and ugh boots for months with Tilly
Oh yes I remember my welly boot days went on for months too :lol:
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The one thing to keep at the top of your mind is that there is very little correlation between there behaviour at 10 weeks and how they eventually turn out. Try and be consistent and above all keep your sense of humour. :D
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We have Sparkle here who is a blind/deaf collie puppy and her biting stage went on until almost 8 months old and escalated to the point that we have permanent scars on arms and legs. We tried all of the usual stuff and nothing worked. We then went with time out for a couple of minutes in the corridor with the kitchen door shut (we also restricted the amount of contact she had with us off the floor - she likes to be carried a lot). This worked very quickly and whilst she is still very mouthy, its very soft and playful now.
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We started off yelping, but it only really worked the first couple of times -and I later read that it can actually egg them on a bit!! We used AH! Instead which still works as a general all purpose "stop what you're doing right now". Hudson was a nasty biter, we used time outs in the pen to good effect. He never growled though so not sure about that. Perhaps will phase out with the nipping?
Same here, yelping etc actually made Mollie more excitable and worse! We used the 'AH' too and time out.
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Sorry to sound dumb but what is AH?
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As in the noise: "ah ah ah!" Short, sharp, guttural sound. At varying volume depending on the nature of the crime ;) Technical cocker jargon :P
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As in the noise: "ah ah ah!" Short, sharp, guttural sound. At varying volume depending on the nature of the crime ;) Technical cocker jargon :P
Ahh, thanks. I was thinking more along the lines of Assault Handgun :D
I use the ah, ah, ah method which seems to work better than a NO.
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I know what you mean about the answering back! He often steps back from me when I tell him off and does one of his small barks and raises his paw at me! Like I say though, he soon moves on.
Haha, this is exactly what Millie does, we really have to try to not laugh at her.
We have tried everything to stop her biting and the only method that seems to work for us is ignoring her. As people have previously mentioned, hen she bites just say 'ow!' or a firm 'no!' But immediately get up and walk out of the room. As we have a slightly open plan layout we walk in to the kitchen, turn our back to her and cross our arms. My partner and I both get up even if she has just tried biting one of us. We don't go back in to the other room until she has either sat down behind us calmly or if she goes back in to the lounge and lays down, this usually only takes about 30 seconds then we carry on as normal.
I created a thread similar to this one only a matter of days ago so I am far from an expert! Just hang in there and be consistent, the members on here are very helpful and have some great advice and support.
By the way, any pictures of your pup?
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all pups are different and some can be a real nightmare going through the puppy stage - it will get better but with time and patience (even though sometimes you may be at your wits end) and positive methods
it also helps once they start going out and about as they get rid of some of that energy as well
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Archie responds much better to "ah ah" than to "no". I also use it during find it games to let him know he's looking in the wrong place and that helps reinforce the fact that I say it when he isn't doing something right.
Think of it like the word at, but without pronouncing the T!
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Another AH AH user here, generally used for anything she isn't meant to be doing :D
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Well I can see myself using AH a lot in the next few weeks. The last two days have been the worst ever, just when we thought Murphy was beginning to calm down.
When I let him in from the garden now he goes straight on the attack with the added bonus of some growling thrown in too.
The cage of shame has been getting quite a hammering.
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We had a problem with Ozzy. We signed up for puppy classes and before they started we had a one to one with the trainer.
She suggested moving down in Protein strength, as apparently SOME dogs (a minority) can get headachy/growly with high protein food all the time.
We were on Canagan and moved "down" to Symply Puppy.
That - along with consistency in Crating with set offences :police:, and IGNORING at tiumes slowly paid dividends.
We now just have an overexcitable ultra friendly almost 6 month old Woolly Mammouth Cocker puppy :005: