Puppy aggression?

[Nancythedoodle]

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Hi everyone,

Our 9 week puppy has started to nip and growl at our feet and latch on and won’t let go. We have tried ouch and wiggling toys to trade, and tried to not over stimulate her when she is latched on. Tried to ignore her and sit on the couch to which she will jump on the couch and will continue to launch at us and latch on. We have ignored her and put her to her bed on the floor every time she jumps up.

We have not crate trained her, have we made a mistake is it too late to put right? I know having a crate will give her, her own space but any ideas of how we can distract and calm the situation when she latches on? We worried it’s the start of aggression. It happens a lot after she has been toilet in the garden and came back in.

Suggestions of how to tackle this problem would be greatly appreciated

Thankyou.

 

[JudyN]

It's not aggression, and it's absolutely normal puppy behaviour, so don't worry. I wouldn't get crate to try to address it - if you use a crate you want it to be a safe place that she loves and goes to by choice, and it''ll be much harder to get that if you also put her in it whenever she nips and growls.

Have a read of this thread: Puppy biting It may tell you all you need to know, but do ask if you have any questions.

 

[Nancythedoodle]

Thankyou Judy, we struggling the most to get her off when she’s latched on. We have ordered a crate to come Saturday to give her some secure space, and are giving plenty of positive praise for the behaviour we want x

 

[JudyN]

I have heard suggestions of wearing wellies in the house so pup can't get a good grip!

 

[JoanneF]

We have ordered a crate to come Saturday to give her some secure space,

Have you seen the guide to crate training? It's a long read so get a coffee, but it is an excellent guide; written by Emma Judson who is a behaviourist who specialises in separation anxiety.

Crate-Training.docx - Microsoft Word Online

 

[merlina]

We had a puppy so savage I would watch tv lying along the top back of a Chesterfield sofa - the only safe place. Having failed to get a mouthful of me he would 'distress' the sofa's wooden feet. I ignored him. After a few months he (a working cocker) became all sweetness and light- and the sofa got a nice new set of bun feet. It's phase they go through, testing the world with the only thing they have: teeth. I'm an anarchist so enjoyed the chaos.

 

[CoCo2014]

As others have written this is NOT aggression & sorry to be blunt, but it shows naivety on the behalf of the owner.
Puppies learn by experimenting, so the nipping is the way they learn about their boundaries. If you watch an adult dog interact with a puppy, you will witness nipping, ragging, quite hard biting etc by the puppy, to which the adult reacts gently. I had a GSD who was very precious about his tail, because in his first home the kids were allowed to pull & swing on it, he hated having it brushed, but would put up with it, never showing any aggression, just signs of mild distress. However with puppies under 6 months he would allow them to use it to hang onto to get up our quite steep back steps. My bitches on the other hand handed out the discipline to each & every puppy we had from day one.
Puppies nip to get a reaction & attention from other dogs(& in my case cats, but they only did it once to my cats) & they do this to humans too.
To curb this unwanted behaviour I have never told off my puppies, but do what the adult bitches do, get up & move out of reach/sight silently everytime, my puppies very quickly learnt you mouth me I disappear. I never react to the mouthing by making any noise.
Never had a puppy still mouthing me after a week or two, the puppy may still mouth the adult dogs, but I leave the correction to the dogs