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Originally Posted by yorkieusa  I'm no pro in that department, but I'll try to toss out a few thoughts. First, when you play with them when they are around that age and the playing keeps on escalating more and more, they are going to play rougher and rougher. That's probably what happened with your daughter. In the end, she handled it correctly, but you don't want to play roughly with them. That can cause them to be more aggressive IMO. When he growled at you, it may have helped to turn him over on his back and held him there for a bit and said "no" very sternly. He's just going through a stage that most of them go through at that age. He's thinking he's the alpha. You're going to have to be mom and teach him that you're the alpha in the house. I wish Britster was here, because she, I think, could tell you how to teach him the "leave it" command. You can go to her page and leave a message asking her and she could probably tell you. Training him with that could also save his life someday if he ever got hold of something dangerous. |
Thanks for thinking of me!
I'm no pro in this department but I do agree with what everyone else said. I would NOT tolerate it. Nipping is one thing... but biting and growling is another. If he's already showing it at such a young age, it seems he wants to be the boss. You're gonna need to be firm with him and take the role as his leader.
I currently dogsit (just started) an 8 week old Rottweiler. He has started this growly thing when you pick him up, where he sort of grunts/growls in an irritated way. I simply tap his nose (not HIT, but a hard tap) and tell him "no growl!" I praise him when I pick him up and he doesn't put up a fuss to let him know he's doing the right thing. So besides correcting the wrong behavior, you also have to let him know when he's doing something right. He's so young and just learning how to live in our world.
"Leave It" can be a very useful command. I have just begun using clicker training, but you can also use a marker word such as "yes!" Start with laying down a favorite toy of his, and even if he doesn't touch it for only 3 seconds, click and/or say "yes, leave it!" and gradually increase your time that he leaves it. There's some great youtube tutorials on this, if you search username kikopup or zakgeorge21.
When Jackson was a puppy (I got him at 9 weeks), I would constantly put my hands in his food bowl (while eating, and sometimes not... if your scent is on their food, it can give you another sense of 'ownership' if you will). I would purposely put my face near his while chewing bones, or take them away, and then give them right back. He's never ONCE growled, bit, nipped, anything at anybody while chewing bones, eating food, etc. With other dogs, he will 'protect' it but he's still never shown teeth or growled or anything, he kinda just whines if another dog approaches while he's chewing bone. He shares food bowls with my dads dog no problem, etc, but I started de-sensitizing him at a young age.