Aggressive behaviour???

Hi everyone, I have already posted about my new puppy and the problems we have with him mouthing/biting us all the time, we have tried one or 2 of suggestions that i received from here, thankyou, problem is he seems to be getting worse!! he seems aggressive if we walk away or tell him no he starts to growl and bark at us, we have tried putting him in time out and soon as we let him back in the room with us after 2 minutes he comes straight over and bites us again, I really want to stop this behaviour as we have 3 children and they are a little frightened when he behaves like this, he is going to be a big dog ( Bullmastiff x Rottweiler ) and we need to get this behaviour under control now, do you think its aggression or just normal puppy play when he growls and barks back at us? any advice greatly appreciated once again, and thankyou in advance.

Rupert did the same sort of thing when I first started using time outs to stop his biting. His definitely wasn't aggression, he just couldn't understand why a behaviour that had previously worked was no longer working so tried harder to get the same response. Apparently it's pretty common and is often called an extinction burst. There were times i'd leave the room for 10 seconds, go back in and leave again straight away because he'd start with the biting as soon as he could get to me. How long have you tried this method for?

Rupe's ridiculously vocal, he growls, grumbles, barks and screeches at us but it's nothing to worry about. Whether it's the same with your dog I don't know though, I'm not there to see it.

You should be trying one method at a time & for longer than a couple of days, rather than using more than or or swopping & changing. Consistency is the name of the game.

The time out method you are using is the wrong way round, it is you that should walk away out of the room & not you putting the puppy out. The adult dog give puppies puppy licence & when the adult has had enough of being "ragged""bombed" etc etc it will get up & walk away. No growling, no acknowledgement other than a soft"grump"& then the puppy is ignored until the behaviour stops.

What your puppy has to learn is that nipping & barking are not acceptable & unrewarding-this is done by rewarding the behaviour you want & ignoring what you don't want.

Agree with above advice, it does take time and many repetitions,(think weeks/months rather than days) but eventually it will sink in. Also quite common for the behaviour to get worse at first. stick at it, be consistent, make sure the whole family is consistent too.

Bottom line is dogs do not persist in behaviours that do not get some sort of result, being told No!! is a result. So just remove yourself from the room, turn your back on her and let her understand that her mouthing and nipping, barking and growling does not get results. ever. I did try the yelp method, which did nothing except further excite my dog. That one does not work with certain dogs.

I have a large breed, (now 13 months) and when she was a pup she often displayed similar behaviour (although not the barking). The only thing that got the message across was leaving the room, closing the doggie gate, until she calmed down.(a few minutes) Make sure your pup has good quality time in terms of playing, short training sessions, clicker is good, teach her to find the treat, engage her brain. Make up games. Also teach her patience (i.e wait for treats etc).

When I think of my zany pup, and how she is now its incredible how she has transformed into such a well behaved and calm dog.(most of the time) lol She listens, and is rewarded for doing so.

The time really does goes so fast, and when you have a full on pup trying to find her place in the world it can seem like things will get worse not better, but with fairness & consistency, you will get there.

I've not seen your previous thread so apologies If I am going over old ground.

Play biting (which is normal for all puppies and is simply how they communicate naturally with other dogs given the chance), of all the natural behaviours is the most amazing training opportunity. You can stop your puppy biting you AND you can develop a great relationship all in the same opportunity!

Remember too that play biting can be very noisy, with puppies often growling, sometimes showing teeth and making sort of scary snorty sounds. All normal and not a sign of aggression, just a sign your puppy REALLY wants to play now.

Get yourself some long soft material toys (not hard rope or plastic) and when your puppy wants to play bite direct his attention onto the soft toy. This is often easily encouraged if you tie the toy to a short rope and drag it around.

And then when your puppy has its knashers firmly entwined around said toy, and this is the secret, make lots of encouraging and excited sounds! "YEAH, GOOD BOY, GET IT GET IT, GOOD BOY ETC" and pull back rhythmically on the toy.

Too ofen owners get all hysterical and noisy when puppy bites them or their clothes but become very dull indeed if the puppy is on a toy! In the puppies mind this will lead to biting people and clothes as more interesting than playing tug woth toys. Through making the toy play more interesting and just leaving the room for 10 seconds if the puppy bites you, doing this consistently, you can turn your puppies behaviour around.

Remember play biting is great, it builds relationships and makes your puppy appreciate your presence more if you are his "fun". It just needs to be trained onto the appropriate toy. Good luck with your puppy - how exciting!

once again thankyou all for your responses, everyone is so helpful
lotsadogs your advice is great and it really makes sense what you are saying and tomorrow im going to do exactly what you are saying, he is adorable and is so well behaved and clever and we all love him lots, just his idea of fun kinda isent ours lol we will turn it around though, and thankyou all once again

Hi Marc to reinforce what the others have explined about play biting, you may find this article by the APDT of interest..

http://www.apdt.co.uk/documents/Playbiting.pdf

Hi, sorry not seen your previous post, but i agree about the extinction burst, this may be what is happening. Also, if you go down the "putting pup outside for 2 minutes" route, you must also praise, redirect onto toys, etc so that the pup does know what IS the right thing to do.

Often as owners we react to the bad and ignore the good - one of the main things we need to remember to do is to react to and praise the good behaviour!

Much easier then for puplet to understand what is required

Also a note re the putting pup outside - you may need to do this many times and for many repetitions, although some pups get the idea after a few repetitions, many do not.

Hth and if you continue to have problems, contact a member of APDT or Puppyschool or similar - someone who uses reward methods and who can either come to your home (one to one) or offer puppy classes. In fact puppy classes are a bit of a must anyway, does yours go to any? Very important to finda good class for socialisation etc, esp. for large breeds

Wys
x

some good advice given.

One thing to note, many Rotties growl when they play. Often it's misinterpreted as a threat, but the body language is different. You'll get to know your boys quirks as he grows, but if he's only growling when he's in mouthing mode, it could be (but not assured, of course) that the growls are no more than Rottie play