Help with a snarky puppy?

[JollySipper]

My neighbor recently took in a puppy to foster for the local rescue. The pup was only about 2 or 3 weeks old when she was turned in to the rescue. She is now going on about 8 weeks. She was separated from her mom and litter mates way too early. Puppies learn their manners from interacting with the litter and mom. Their mother corrects their behavior. She's never had that 'correcting'. We can already tell she will need a male owner, and someone with experience with an unruly dog.

She is very "mouthy", as in she likes to bite, especially my neighbor, who the puppy thinks is her mom. She also is starting to 'hump', like her toys and stuff. That's a sign of wanting to have dominance.

She is a very sweet pup, but she needs some correcting. Anyone have any ideas as to what to do? I know we have a bunch of animal lovers here, hopefully someone can offer some advice.

Thanks.....

[ksnow]

You answered your own question. She needs correction. At this point the correction is going to be physical. I am NOT advocating abuse at all. Firm, physical correction. E-collars can be a great tool if used properly. Correction straight from "mom" is best however. There is a huge difference in being an animal lover and doing what is best for the dog and society. Some dogs need more correction than others, If she is biting "mom", how long til she bites someone else, possibly a child? "Mom" also has to be dominant. Lead the pup, do not let her lead. Make her wait for commands to do everything like eat, go out the door, get in the car, etc. My dog will stare at his dish forever until I tell him okay." Then he will eat.

I own a hunting dog with a very strong prey drive. He is a handful and tests his limits every day. You have to be the alpha dog full time. It is hard work and no one in the family can slack off.

[afx]

 

[TonyK]

Tough situation but Kyle has some good advice (except I don't like E collars). My experience with 2 dogs and the dogs my brother and sister-in-law have had shows that constant leadership are the key. I'm always telling my dogs what to do and they listen. I think it's the same concept with children as they want guidance and structure. A schedule and consistent training will hopefully do the trick. Stern voice commands when the dog does something wrong should work and lots of praise for good behavior. I still give praise for simple things like the dogs taking care of business before we turn in for the night.

It is too bad about the early removal from the litter but I'm guessing the new owner can still make it work. There's got to be some help on the Internet too.

[Ace-Garageguy]

1) Never hit an animal, no matter how strong the motivation. All it does is create a fearful, hand-shy personality.

2) Someone mentioned stern voice commands. Stern is the key. LOUD. Shouting can actually work well, as dogs have acute hearing and don't like loud, particularly when it's unexpected. Shouting works with cats too.

3) In extreme cases, some animal trainers recommend using a squirt gun to "correct" behavior, but only if you can squirt the animal when it's doing what you don't want it to do. I had a male unfixed cat that would spray in the house occasionally. After a few squirts that he never really associated with ME, he quit doing it inside.

4) Talking to animals, or punishment after the fact, doesn't work at all in my experience. They don't understand human speech (though they do respond to tone and volume), they don't reason abstractly (that's not real common among most human's abilities either), and they don't associate punishment with unwanted behavior if it's not given at the time the infraction occurs.

5) Kindness is great, but kindness doesn't always beget kindness...a truism with people too. The cat I have now, raised from an abandoned 3-week-old kitten, used to bite and claw during play, just as if I was another cat. It was cute when he was little, but now he's a big strong tom, and he can hurt you. He's responded very well to shouting when he occasionally forgets himself, and is still very affectionate without constantly opening up my hands and ankles...but any kind of rough play brings out his natural aggression, and his claws. It's necessary for ME to make allowances for HIS innate makeup.

6) Different animals have different personalities, from birth, just as humans do. My last cat had a hardwired compassion circuit. Though she was an accomplished fighter and dominated the cats in the neighborhood, she seemed to understand that putting her claws out while playing with PEOPLE would hurt them. She never did. She was also very careful about how hard she'd bite...never enough to break the skin...except once when I accidentally stepped on her tail. She deserved, and got, a pass for that one.

[JollySipper]

Cool, guys.... Thank you much for the advice. My neighbor has plenty of experience with dogs, but they've been mostly Rottweilers, which are laid back and eager to please.... I'm thinking maybe she's not the ideal home for this pup.

[Oldcarfan27]

Might have to see a trainer to get professional advice.

[JollySipper]

I think the trick with this puppy will be to not let her get riled up to where she's wanting to bite..... I played with her this morning and just didn't play very rough, kinda kept it low key. She was fine with that! Correcting her with a stern voice makes her pause, but her attention span is still a little short......

 

[espo]

Ideally the pup should be put in a "mom and litter" situation. The older dog or even dogs will straighten out the pup's behavior much faster and more naturally than a human can. A lot will depend on the dog's breed and even then, they will have their own personalities.