Our 10-11 Week Old Havanese Puppy Just Started Getting More Aggressive And Snapping And Biting.?
November 12, 2009 by admin
Filed under Care & Training Q&As
Is this normal for teething? How can we stop his snapping and biting quickly?
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- Havanese Puppies And Teething
Puppies use their mouth like we use our hands. They chew/bite because they are:
Teething,
Want to play,
Bored,
Want atttention,
Greeting,
Want interaction,
Curious.
Biting and chewing humans is not okay, they should be scolded at once and all interaction stopped-30 second time outs are appropriate. You can redirect them or give them a chew toy. Ignoring a behavior is the best way to discourage it, but never allow your dog to use you as a toy or for teething! If your pup does bite you, holler, saying “ouch!” This lets your puppy know that it is not okay and that they hurt you.
Controlling this behavior now will make your life with your new puppy so much more rewarding!
he’s using his cutability to gain control of you and your household. when he starts snapping and biting, tell him NO and put him in a time out corner. no matter how much he cries or looks pitiful make him stay there for 2 minutes for the first couple of days. then increase it to 3 minutes. EVERYONE needs to be consistant . You may have to stand over him and keep putting him back, but don’t let him win. and as soon as he’s old enough, get him fixed unless your going to breed proffessionally.
All puppies love to play by being mouthy and biting or chewing anything they can get their sharp little teeth into. These sharp teeth are the reason that it is crucial for puppies to learn bite inhibition (controlling the force of their bite) during the first few months of life. Normally this is learned naturally and effectively through contact with mom and other littermates. If the puppy bites mom during nursing mom can roll the dog over to correct it or just get up and walk away. Hungry puppy learns very quickly to control those teeth if it wants to eat. Likewise when playing with littermates, if a puppy gets bitten too hard it will yelp and stop playing. Once again puppy learns that biting hard means the end of something good. Normally if puppy stays with his littermates for the first 2-4 months of its life it will learn bite inhibition.This is why it is so important for dogs to meet and play with other dogs. A group obedience class is usually the best way to properly socialize dogs, and reduce possible bad behaviours in the future even if the dog stayed with its littermates for a long time
Excellent advice from Jessie Q – right on all counts.
Your pup is simply “mouthing”, the canine form of baby teething, ignore, walk away, end play time when he does this – just as his mother would do.
As soon as possible, take pup for group obedience classes, will socialize him and help you learn to train him to be a good pet.
Meanwhile, get “Puppies for Dummies”, silly title, but great book, fun to read and very, very informative.
Have fun, good luck.