Obedience Puppy?

Hej !
We've got a 9 weeks old puppy, and he is most of the time nice and doesn't bite too much, we do a lot of training for the mouthing and he gets better. But there is one exception. My Boyfriend is at work from 7 to 4/5 and I stay with the dog. When my Boyfriend comes home the Puppy is really excited, thats ok, but when we want to play with him he is kind of freaking out, biting a lot (even snapping). I let my Boyfriend have some time with the dog alone, so they play but the puppy is really hard to calm down so playing is impossible (he smashed a shirt already). When we stop playing with the dog he gets upset at us and tries to smash plants, tipping his waterbowl,.. just to annoy us?! I think he needs to know when its enough, and that we are the "Boss". BUT HOW TO DO?? I want him to become a nice not problem dog. Its our first Puppy. Thanks for reading.

Hi! Welcome to the forum!

First off your pup is only nine weeks old. He's not doing anything to annoy you on purpose. That kind of thing can't have entered his head yet. But he is probably pushing his borders, as any healthy puppy should do. You've probably got an exceptionally active and intelligent pup on your hands-- a Mal/Husky cross will need a ton of exercise and mental stimulation!

You will need to curb the biting. It's normal in most Spitz type dogs, Huskys and Malamutes included, to mouth people affectionately. I wouldn't discourage this! It's a natural, normal behaviour, and most dogs do it gently and sweetly (I have been snuck up upon by a wolf hybrid, and had my hand taken-- no gentleman could have done it more sweetly). But biting must be discouraged. If he bites, hard enough even to hurt a little bit, YELP! LOUDLY! HIGH PITCHED! This will tell him that he's gone too far. End the game then, to reinforce that you've had enough. Bear in mind that bite inhibition is a thing that has to be learned, and is usually learned by six weeks, from Mum and littermates-- when was your pup removed from his family? Could he not have learned it? It's possible to teach it in an older puppy, but harder.

You say that he greets your boyfriend really excitedly, and that he is 'kind of freaking out' when they play together. It's possible the play is too rough.

Take it from me: an owner of a small, but extremely powerful, Akita Inu. My dog was taught rough play as a puppy-- this is the only way I can think to explain his behaviour. This is almost certainly why he ended up in rescue, with three owners before he came to us at 18 months old, abused and really messed up.

Do not encourage rough play with a large dog. Seriously, don't. It's awfully cute when they're little fat puppies, but that ends very, very soon. Just don't.

When your boyfriend comes home, here's a thing to try: make it as calm as possible. If he can phone you two minutes before he's coming in, so you can be ready, at the door, calm as can be. Keep voices low, happy, and calm-- and everyone sit down. Coming home is a time to relax, not to play. You can play when everyone has had a nice cup of tea-- then go all out! But if you make the homecoming routine a routine, that will help.

A Mal/Husky cross is quite a big step for a first time dog owner! Please stick with us-- we would love to see your puppy's progress!

Have to agree with above post. I certainly would not recommended a Mal/Husky for a first time dog owner. Recall and basic training should begin immediately. Some young puppies will also display negative behaviors such as food aggression, as well.

Can't let him get big with these sorts of issues, so this is your time to get to know him and to teach him he can trust you. He will learn to love and respect you if you kindly and gently teach him boundaries. Of course, house breaking etc. also is crucial now.

Don't let him mouth, if he does it, remove him immediately. If you're not aversed to saying no to him, I'd go that route in a stern voice along with the removal. You could try ignoring it or redirecting the behavior onto a toy or something, as well. See what works best for you. It's not cute when puppy gets big and the mouthing turns into painful, injury inflicting biting.

One thing I always tell new puppy owners. Regardless of whether you plan to use a crate in the future or not, please crate train. Lots of issues have arisen because people thought crates were useless and then they ended up needing to use one.

Good luck and I bet your puppy will turn out great. A little love and direction, and he will be right as rain in no time.

Thanks a lot, those are good advices, We do try to teach him not to bite by giving him toys instead and stop playing with him for a while when he is a little to rough. He is better already, he is not chewing on furnitures, or at least not much.

We get him at 8 weeks old, my boyfriend grew up with dogs, we are making sure that he is spending time outside as much as possible. We are trying to crate train him but it is a little difficult to make him stay in his crate at the moment, tomorrow we are going to buy a kong that will make it easier probably. But we think its always good to get as much as advices as we can. And we will tell you about the progress. Today he was quiet nice, not playing rough

You have a puppy, puppies bark, growl, nip, bite, chew, pull clothing etc etc. It is normal behaviour.

Please do NOT yelp, squeak, etc when the puppy bites, he will NOT "know" that he has hurt & he will not naturally stop. If you watch puppies in a litter they will nip each other & the squeak & yelp in pain & that does not stop the one doing the nipping. If you watch adult dogs & puppies, the puppy is given huge amounts of "licence" in behaviour. Adults will put up with ears, tails etc nipped & pulled & if they have had enough they simply get away from the puppy & sometimes will give a low guttural grump as they move away. Dogs that are not puppy friendly/confident will often make sure they avoid puppies altogether(my eldest dog is like this & totally ignores & does not acknowledge puppies under 6 months altogether, with the exception of his half sister who he played with from around 5 months)

I personally ignore all attempts of my puppies to treat my hands as chews/toys, because I do not react, the puppies soon realize that the behaviour is unrewarding & it very quickly ceases.


You need to train your puppy to stop playing & calm down. Offering a raw leisure bone to chew or a filled kong to occupy him will help & also when he is quiet doing some gentle T Touch type massage helps dogs relax & encourages the release of the body's endorphins.

I enforce rest times with all my puppies, which is usually also used for crate training. The bigger the dog the more rest they need as puppies, my GSDs always slept far more than my Border Coliies & Cavaliers do as puppies.

You do NOT need to show your puppy you are "The Boss" Pack or Alpha, the natural relationship between dog & human should be one of mutual respect & trust, not "master" & servant.

Thanks, oh thats also good to know, that dogs go away from puppys if they are not confident with them.He gets his vaccines in 3 days, so I wanna make sure other dogs come not too close to him by now. Anyway I was a bit afraid of the behavior of other dogs. In our Area where we live there are a lot of dogs and some are huge and don't look well behaved. I always trust the owners. I have to.
Yes, he is resting/ sleeping a lot too. All we want is to have a happy but good behaved dog, to avoid problems in the future. So we are glad to hear any advices to get a good relationship with our dog.

Puppies do sleep a lot! A vet friend told me when I got my first puppy: "A happy puppy is fat, quiet, and asleep". That certainly applied to Berkeley! He'd be up and romping one minute, and the next he would literally plop down right where he was and doze off. Puppies grow fast, and like most mammals, they do most of their growing while they're asleep, so it's best to let them get on with it. You're absolutely right to give him plenty of outside time, plenty of exercise, plenty of fun and games-- he needs all that! But too much is, well, too much. Most puppies will set their own pace if you let them. Romp/rest, romp/rest. It's all good.

You're also right to keep him away from other dogs until he's finished his vaccinations. Bear in mind that the most common awful diseases that affect puppies are parvovirus and leptospirosis, which are transmitted through faeces and urine, so it's best not to let him walk where unvaccinated dogs or wild canids (or even cats, for parvo) such as foxes may have been. I don't know how common these are in Finland, but most vets subscribe to a service that charts these diseases-- some years are worse than others. Your vet should be able to tell you how risky it is for you in your area right now, but to be on the safe side, it's best to keep him away from any possible transmitters-- and that means carrying him. Yeah, I know. I bought a pram for my puppy when my back couldn't take it any more!

That said, he will learn a lot from other dogs and other puppies and he'll have a blast doing it. It's important to socialise him with people and dogs (and everything else) so as soon as he's ready, do introduce him to nice dogs and people! If you can find a good puppy class, those can be really great, since the puppies will all get time to meet each other in a structured, safe environment, and you'll get great training tips. Any good class will let you observe before you sign up. You should look out for positive training methods only: no choking, no yanking, no 'alpha rolls'. If you don't like what you see walk out the door and don't look back.

I'm sure you'll hear and read a lot about being the Alpha or the Pack Leader, as Joedee mentioned above. The mistake a lot of people make, I feel, is that they equate being The Boss with being aggressive. That is completely the wrong way to go about it. You do want your puppy to listen to you, and you do need to be in charge-- that's a given. Sure, you'd do what someone said if you were captive to them and they smacked you around every time you didn't, but wouldn't you rather follow someone you lived with who was kind, gentle, and always made good decisions on your behalf? That's you. Just as Joedee said, respect and trust, and it goes both ways. Your puppy is a baby now and needs baby care and baby training, but he's going to become an amazing animal with astonishing abilities and great strengths. And you're an amazing animal with great strengths and astonishing abilities. It's all good!

Yes, thanks again We are very careful with other dogs transmitters. But in 3 days he get his vaccines. He is meeting a lot of people every day, when we are out (most of them they like to say hello too #puppycuteness ) But yes we are looking forward to introduce him to other dogs/puppys.

Now I will tell you about yesterday.....
He was again a bit "crazy". We want to use only positive methods. So we took all the advices, not play when coming home, calm him down first, go for a walk,..first it was good. He slept a bit then 3 hours later, when he got up (7pm) we fed him and went for another walk. When coming home, he started barking at us when we sat down.we thought ok, he is not tired, maybe he wants to play a bit, he did BUT not with his Toys, wanted to bite my Partners clothes and hands only,.. so he stoped playing. That made him upset he came to us and barked again. we tryed to calm him down and pad him, he wanted to bite,( gave him toys to bite on) he didn't take them .Someone said we should remove him, to calm him down. So we brought him on the balcony(he likes to be outside)but close the door.He started crying and scratching at the door immediately. After 3-5 minutes we let him in again and see if he is calm. He wasn't. He was mouthing again when we pad/play and when we stoped (ignoring it) then he started barking at us again. So it continued a while.Is it ok to remove him from us for a little while? how long should we do that? Until he is calm?? He sounded so sad when he was outside, we don't want to be mean to him.

Excellent, excellent post. As an owners of husky/mal/wolf crosses for the past 15 or 16 years, everything you say is correct. I know many will disagree on this site, but with such a mix you MUST be boss, you HAVE to be boss, else they will piss all over you and take the mickey! Bearing in mind when fully grown these dogs can weigh 45 kilos or more, you need to be in control. A firm, assertive but gentle approach is needed ... a yelp is great, but I actually prefer a firm, erect finger in the dog's space with a loud No!! This particular mix of breeds responds really well to "claiming their space".

I wish them the best of luck ... definitely not a mix one would wish to cut one's doggie teeth on - no pun intended!!

Great advice Myra --- esp re crates. These northern breeds surprisingly do respond very well to crates - they feel safe in them, like a den. Not a bad idea to crate train with any dog, but especially these northern types.

Gentle exploratory mouthing is acceptable, but it is my experience with my mixes that there is nothing gentle about it. Hal, my first wolf cross, would sink his puppy needle teeth into my husband's ankles, face, neck when he was trying to snooze on the grass in the garden. We nipped this in the bud immediately - it was neither sweet nor funny - and he was only 8 or 10 weeks old, a little bundle of adorable fluff!!