Puppy aggression

[Skykia25]

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Hi we have a 5.5 month old puppy who's a complete darling. Friendly loving affectionate playful well socialised, however lately she's become a little snappy. I thought when she was tired but seems whenever now.

she's fit and healthy and has regular check ups which last week was all good couldn't find any pain related reaction.

Times of snapping so far.

My daughter and her were together bad she jumped up which generally means pick me up I want cuddles and she bite her face,

My partner got bitten when he went to put his hand on her. He immediately pushed her neck to floor and she relaxed and returned with kisses but this behaviour is not normal. We don't want to have to confine her from children as she's normally superb and loves anyone and everyone.

She's perfect with food, can take away put hand in bowl, same with toys etc

Need some advice please

 

[Biker John]

Sorry but without actually seeing the dog reacting with your family it would be impossible to help. I would strongly suggest you contact a good trainer and get them to visit your home. And with snapping the sooner the better.

 

[eingana]

I agree with Biker John in that the reason for the snapping needs to be worked on with a behaviourist or trainer who can see what is happening in the 10 seconds before she exhibits this behaviour. Please do this as a matter of urgency.

However, there are also things that you can do which will show her that you don't appreciate her actions or things which will prevent her snapping and these can work wonders with puppies in curbing this because it could be a puppy stage, since she's so very young.

Whenever a puppy gets over the top in play, or makes contact (even very gentle contact, like mouthing) with human skin, or jumps up and catches skin with her claws, you need to have a very consistent response from everybody that is around her, which is to let out the biggest girlie high pitched yelp you can muster, stand up, turn your back on her and fold your arms so she can't jump for your hands in an attempt to engage you again. You don't mention her breed, but this is important whether she's a shihtzu or a great dane, she needs to know that biting, snapping, nipping, chewing, scratching and pawing humans will get you dumped on the floor and ignored for at least 1 minute.

In dog-dog play or mother-puppy play if one dog connects with another the hurt dog will yelp and then back off or retreat from play and this is a learning point for the one causing the pain. If you can replicate this then she will learn very quickly where the line of appropriate play behaviour is crossed, which can be a great help with management for the rest of her life.

The next thing to look at is how to prevent this happening in the first place. Firstly, you need to introduce a rule that jumping up gets NO attention EVER (by that I mean no looks, no telling off, nothing- turn your back on her). It's not a way to ask to be picked up, it's an antisocial behaviour that the majority of people (out in the world, visitors to the house etc) really won't appreciate and it's important for the future that she only ever gets fuss when all 4 feet are on the floor. It will take a big coordination with your family to make sure that everybody follows the same rules, but it's worth it.

Before she snaps is she getting too engaged or focused in play? Working out how to prevent this happening by calming her down during key moments in play is likely to be key to stopping this. The calming activities could involve taking her out to the toilet, focusing her with a treat in a training session, taking her toy and asking her to sit calmly before she gets it back and a whole lot of other actions. She's growing and learning all of the time, and this is the age at which they start to get rougher in play so she needs to learn when to take a time out to stop her from getting ever more wound up.

Good luck

 

[Emmagx]

I've got the same problem, 15 week old boxer puppy! I met both parents and no aggression at all lovely family pets, but if my children try handle her she growls and snaps at them with a bark, I also have another boxer (9 weeks) perfect! Not bothered about the kids handling him

 

[eingana]

I've answered your thread Emmagx

 

[poppy2714]

Some great advice, I am trying to do with my puppy she gets over excited and starts to jump on you and around you and most peoples natural reaction is to interact with her and I am trying to get them to stop as I don’t want this behaviour to continue. Can you tell me what I can do to stop her as I don’t have a space to give her time outs and I don’t want to cause separation anxiety?

Thanks for all the help!!