Help! Did I do this right? Dealing with puppy play biting & growling

OK, I'd really appreciate some help here!

Harvey is eight weeks old and has been home with us for four complete days now. He does all the usual puppy chewing/mouthing/biting but it's all been friendly and playful up to now.

However, this evening (he was hungry and waiting for his dinner) Harvey grabbed the bottom of my four year old's t shirt and pulled for dear life. I told him firmly 'no' and went to disengage him, but for the first time he held onto the t shirt very tightly with his teeth and growled at us. I am certain there had been no provocation for aggession from my son - I was with them the whole time. I managed to remove him as gently but firmly as I could then got my son to leave the room. I remained in the room but refused to engage with Harvey for a period of time. However, ten minutes or so later, he did the same with the bottom of my jeans. He also urinated on the floor twice in quick succession and in two different places, despite having been outside to urinate only a short time previously and completely ignoring his puppy pad (he's usually pretty good).

He was certainly hungry (I fed him after a reasonable time gap but made him wait while I ate something first), which may have been at the bottom of this, but it made me realise I don't know the correct strategy in this situation - how and what to discipline. If it's in the book, I've not quite got to that bit yet!!! I'm sure I got this all wrong . Can someone suggest the most appropriate way to react, should this happen again? His feed, incidently, was probably three quarters of an hour later than usual (which I appreciate may be a long time when you're that small).

Hope there are some words of wisdom out there!

Hi Sarah have you had a puppy before ? Firstly, please please remember you have a young baby here, it has only left its mother and litter four days ago. A puppy of 8 weeks should be on four meals a day, it is most unfair to withold a meal as punishment, no one would you make a human baby wait to eat as a form of punishment

You have had this puppy 4 days ,yes it will wet on the floor until it has learnt what is expected of it. Can you say what are you doing to housetrain it and maybe I can help ?

It is normal for young puppies to mouth/nibble and growl when playing...stand and watch a litter of puppies and you will see what I mean. You need to teach the puppy 'bite inhibition' a process already begun by its mother ... it needs to learn not to bite hard and eventualy not at all...a valuable lesson that will be of use through the dogs life.
Reading this link may help .
click here

Harvey is indeed on four meals a day. Please don't get me wrong - there was no sense in which I witheld the meal as punishment. It was late only because circumstances left no option. Harvey's hold on my son's t shirt was quite different from his usual puppy mouth play and it concerned me that he clearly had no intention of letting him go. What I was anxious not to do was to reward this rather more 'aggressive' (although I suspect he was simply being assertive) behaviour by immediately producing food. I absolutely appreciate the road to housetraining is a long one and I fully expect accidents (I've potty trained two sons and two daughters and that was often a l-o-n-g process )- it was more that I wondered whether there was a connection between the sudden 'grab and not let go' behaviour and the wetting.

More than anything, I just wondered if there is a 'right' way of dealing with a young puppy who has hold of my son's clothing in quite a vulnerable spot and isn't willing to be coaxed to let go . . . I've no desire to be unkind or unfair to either my son or my pup .

Thanks for the link - will go and read.

At 8 weeks all my puppies were little terrors what you have described sounds perfectly normal behaviour for a pup, of that age, obviously its something that you can work on, but I would not be surprised by this behaviour at that age. puppies can get very excited when its mealtime and go a little overboard, I would just gently open the pups mouth from the clothes and tell it no once it has stopped give a little treat, if the puppy is nipping fingers etc, I found the best way to stop this was to have a treat in my hand let the pup sniff it but not give it, as soon as the pup nipped I would squeal really loud as though the pup had really hurt me and withdraw my hand I would repeat this and once the pup had stopped nipping the skin it would get the treat, I would do this several times a day. or in fact at any time I was going to give it a treat or a toy same principle applied. it didnt take too long for it to sink in, good luck time patience and consistancy is the key.

mo

Sarah there are a number of articles in the article section at the top of the page that may help you including this one on dogs and children

There are also a number of ones on training a puppy.
You ask was the wetting connected to the hanging on to the shirt..yes it could have been if the puppy was over excited. If children run around waving arms and making a lot of noise a puppy will chase them and grab their clothes.

Hi Sarah

Think about this for a second:

You grab onto something which has an exciting texture, and pull on it a bit. Suddenly your owner gets REALLY interested in you, so you tug a bit to see if they want to play. Your owner gets even more excited as you tug, so you tug harder and begin to play-growl. What a fun game!



Don't worry, most puppy growling is meant for fun only and is pretty harmless

Hi Tuti

I can absolutely see what a fun game this must have seemed for Harvey - but rather less fun for my four year old (who, for the record, hadn't been playing with Harvey but was standing quietly chatting to me at the time)!

I expect it may indeed have been harmless play-growling (and he's a gorgeous, good natured, playful pup) but his grip on the t shirt was absolute and I didn't particularly want to take the risk that it might be a more serious growl, given the rather delicate nature of where Harvey's teeth might have chosen to 'play' next!!

(Perhaps Pedigree could consider adapting their little poop-scoop thingy into the dog equivalent of a staple-remover? )

Although I've never had a puppy, I can see where the puppy is coming from.

He's used to having his littermates and his mum around and if he wants attention or wants to play he will go to each one in turn and "try it on". He's been taken away from that environment, so you and your family become his littermates and mum.

He will soon learn what you want from him, but you (and that's the whole family) must be consistent in your responses to him - he won't get confused if you don't send him mixed signals!

My "puppy", now nearly 1.5 yrs old is still very playful (except that now he's fully grown) - he's quickly learning "rough" (when he's playing too roughly) and "ouch" (when he play bites or when he paws for attention) and quickly calms down when I say either.

Someone else may be able to advise if "No" is a good word to use - you use it in many different contexts eg "No .... don't steal my food", "No .... don't pull on the lead", "No .... don't bark" etc.

Perhaps positive commands like "Off", "Leave", "Mine", etc would be better.

I agree totally Royv - 'no' is a much over-used word in training. The words which you suggest can be more readily paired with behaviours than can 'no' which is a word heard by the dog in many various contexts from training to normal conversation. The same applies with the dog's name - it is used too frequently as a command, whereas it is, or should be, merely a way of attracting attention.

Agree with royv and sb

But also I think that if your puppy is doing this as a way of getting attention, the best thing to do in this situation would be to ignore him, so he learns that he won't get attention like that, OR teach the pup a more acceptable way of getting attention, like bringing you a toy or something.

Have just read through my previous message, and it sounded slightly condescending. I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to sound like that. I was trying to write it from the puppy's point of view

Also, after having your pup for a little longer, you will be able to distinguish an 'aggressive' growl from a play growl. Archie does these scary low rumbly growls sometimes at night if he hears a noise outside, he has never directed this type of growl at a person... his play growls are a lot higher and a bit manic