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Originally Posted by BoyMoose09  His is 8 weeks. After reading posts I fear that he is too young to be away from his mom and that maybe this is the cause of his actions. The 1st time his snipped I simply removed him from the situation because there was another dog around and I thought maybe he felt threatend, however I picked him up last night after taking him out for his potty time and he growled and snipped at me. When he snipped at me I sternly looked at him and said "NO BITE". It took him a good half hour to calm down and be able to sit with me. We do not play rough with him but are very guilty of treating him like a baby. |
I think you are correct, while many people have gotten their dogs at 8 weeks, the YTCA recommends 12 weeks because the mother teaches important socializations lessons, such as inhibition of the biting reflex, they basically learn "how hard to bite" and a dog that isn't taught this may bite too hard, and too often. I think you are teaching him correctly, you are now his mama, and you can also give him an appropriate chewing toys or sticks, to reduce the biting. One thing that worked for Joey was putting my hand further in his mouth, and saying, "No bite." I think you are right the first time he probably did feel threatened by the other dog, and it's ok to treat him like a baby, he still is very much a baby, but it's not too early to teach him that you are the pack leader.