Behaviour Of Puppies
Behaviours people typically encounter with a puppy
This was written to address behaviours people typically encounter with a puppy and how to handle them in a pack leader type fashion.
This is just how to deal with the nipping, jumping, and mouthing that can escalate into bigger problems.
When the puppy jumps up and grabs clothing with his teeth, or mouths your hand too hard or even when your puppy is growling when you try to take a bone from him or times when children are excited and the puppy snaps at them when they try to pet him
In these situations you don’t want to occur more than once or twice, you need to prepare yourself to understand your puppy, and you need to learn to speak dog.
If you do not, the sweet little puppy you adopted will very quickly learn he can do as he pleases.
Normally issues like this is with communication and training and is not temperamental or personality issues. Please no harsh or abusive tone towards the puppy, but being firm in a way that puppy will understand.
Families need to understand that all puppies will mouth things, including you. All puppies will likely nip and jump, or growl or snap. Whether or not they do this more than once or twice is up to you this behaviour is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.
If he has gotten away with unacceptable behaviour more than once or twice, the behaviour can and will escalate into a bigger problem, and yes, a sweet little puppy can become a terror very quickly. Again, this does not mean the puppy is alpha, it means you, the owner has been too lenient and allowed problem behaviours to continue.
It is a rare dog that does not respond to correction and training when done appropriately. Do you understand how dogs communicate? They use body language, physical contact and sound. This is what they know and understand, and this is what you need to understand to communicate with your puppy in the initial correction of unwanted behaviours.
A simple “no” will usually not suffice to make a puppy stop mouthing your hands or nipping your clothes. Saying “no” will not keep your puppy from growling at your child. To communicate in the manner that your puppy will understand, sometimes using physical correction is the best way to handle the situation. Don’t be afraid to “speak” to your puppy in the way he is designed to understand. It is better for you to find an effective way to correct normal, but inappropriate puppy behaviours than it is to let puppy get away with them.
You will seriously regret not being “alpha” enough yourself to teach puppy what you will tolerate and what you will not. Puppies are incredibly smart. No one has to tell them that your child doesn’t hold the same authority or power or ability as an adult. They feel this intuitively.
They will not respond to correction from your child like they will an adult, so please don’t expect your puppy to take your child seriously. You need to be the one to do the correction and training. You need to supervise activity between a child and a puppy. The most common problems we hear about are ones involving children.
There are two reasons for this.
One, children usually will handle puppies in ways the puppy does not like to be handled.
Two, puppies don’t see children as authority figures.
When a puppy continually mouths, nips, growls or has another inappropriate behaviour toward a child, it is not because puppy is dominant, aggressive or alpha. It is because puppy is doing what they do naturally and trying to establish pack order.
If you are allowing your puppy to be with your children unsupervised and problems occur, it is not the puppy’s fault, it is yours. You need to help your puppy and child by being close and being aware of what is going on, so you can step in and correct when necessary. ***************
Sweet little puppy growls at a child when he came close when he is chewing on a bone. (Perfect correction & training opportunity. Growling does not mean the puppy is aggressive. Growling means the puppy is communicating its displeasure in the way that dogs were designed to communicate.)
Immediately correct the behaviour of the puppy. Reached for the bone. Puppy growled. Firm NO. No bone until the puppy sits down and turn its head to one side. Then offered the bone back to puppy, it lunged for it. Hold back. Offer the bone again. Puppy this time very carefully take the bone from the hand while keeping a close eye on facial movements for correction. Let the puppy chew on the bone for a few minutes, then reached for the bone again. It growled, and the process started over again. Keep doing this until the puppy gets the picture and understands that it owns nothing and learns to appreciate what its given and it can be taken back whenever. Then when it understands praise puppy exuberantly. And give the puppy the bone.
Throughout that day and the following days, purposefully put puppy in this situation so you can reinforce the wanted behaviour. Eventually when you are confident and under supervision get the children to do the same thing always in a confident and assertive manner. You must do this with toys dinner and anything else that the puppy has to show who is boss ***************
Sweet little puppy jumped up and nipped at the clothes well then turn to one side and head away if don’t tolerate jumping up and nipping. After a few minutes, invited puppy over and asked her to sit, then give her lots of pets and love. Have something between you and her ready and she gets the hint fast.. Lots of praise for puppy this time, and then to distract her from the same routine, when the puppy sits and waits give it a toy to play with and off. ***************.
If the behaviours continue for too long, you can end up with a puppy that does develop issues. This is usually not the puppy’s fault. In the vast majority of cases it is an issue with the people for not understanding how to effectively communicate with their puppy. If you do not get the results you expect, get help, and get it sooner than later.
Do you speak dog? If not, it’s time to learn. If you want a positive and rewarding relationship with your puppy, you must speak dog!
