11week old puppy snapping

[knat]

we have an 11 wk old cocker spaniel girl. She's great and really good but has always been nippy. The last few days she has been extremely nippy/snappy and will snap her jaws at you and most times you touch her she will nip at you. She's always getting dd's clothes. I know some nipping withpuppies is expected but everything seems to be explored with her mouth and its getting a bit extreme now. Is there anything anyone can recommend. we've tried yelping and ignoring her but it doesnt seem to be working.

She generally lieks being cuddled but of course its a catch 22 - you try andcuddle and then she nips or snaps.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

a hefty NO! (imagine child running onto motorway - THAT reaction) every single time....

And take it to training; it needs it; all dogs need it. Snapping is "normal" but it can develop. Get in control now, before it's too late and you have to post saying "the dog bit DD..."

You need to yelp like a puppy everytime her teeth connect with you skin, and then completly ignore her. You are mimiking the way her litter mates would have treated her. HTH

This could become a serious problem, especially with young children around. This kind of behaviour in such a young puppy is usually related to becoming overexcited. 'Yelping' is unlikely to help as it will excite her further and effectively means that you have joined in with her game. At the first sign of overexcitement, she needs to be removed from her human company - the 'sinbin' treatment. The best way to achieve this is to have a crate in a room that you can shut the door on. It only needs to be for a few minutes but will allow her to calm down and she will quickly learn to associate nipping with being deprived of company.
Also, make sure that noone is playing games with her that encourage her to believe that she is stronger or superior to people. I'm particularly thinking of tug of war type games.
Hope that helps!

tug o war is a great game for pups as it encourages human-dog interaction

tie an old sock in half, you take one end and dog takes the other... play ensues. When you want to stop, shout "no" and wait for dog to let go - if it won't, take it's top gums over it's teeth; it'll soon learn that no = let go.

No should be used for EVERYthing you don't want the dog to do - that way, it only needs to learn one word = I've been bad (unlike having to learn no, get off, get down, stop it, bad dog etc which all mean the same thing)

The key is to train your dog - achieve alpha status and then you'll have a perfectly balanced and happy dog who can have a fulfilling place in your family. Neglect training now and all hell will break loose - on a count down over the next 4 months IME (when dogs hit adolesence!)

PS this info comes from my mum and her boss who collectively have over 50yrs dog behaviour and psychological issues experience (mum's boss has managed to save dogs on "death row" so there is no way your dog can't be trained - not that you think there is, of course... just saying he knows his stuff )

thanks everyone. We're doing no as i have found yelping not that effective. She immediately stops and looks sheepish but is doing it again a fe wminutes later. We have started to put her in a separate room for a few minutes when she does nip - see if this helps at all. We have done some tug of war with her as she does like this but i dont know if this is a good thing to do or not. I think she does it when she's hungry/tired etc so have tried to resolve the issue first like now she's not slept much so i have crated her to settle her although at the moment she's barking her head off!!!!!

I just really want to do the right thing as she's quite a sweet thing other than this. How much exercise ie fetching games etc do you think she shoudl ahve at the moment (she cant go for walks as yet as she still has to ahve her second vacs)

Dogs generally need at least an hours walking per day, preferably lots of off-lead running around and playing as well at the beach, woods etc maybe at the weekends?

i know that you have to build up with the walking as their bones are still developing etc. I've read that 2 x 20 mins exercise (ie in the garden, playing fetch etc) is about right at this age? When she is allowed out i understand that it should be 5 mins walk for each month of their age (2 or 3 times a day) as a guide for a puppy - is this right?

Yes, 10% of their adult limit, twice a day should be done til they are about 6mo.

For example, a Bichon Frise adult only needs 20 mins a day - my mate had her pup out for literally 2 mins, twice a day; they are very lazy doggies!

As for fetching games etc, just do it for a few minutes a day - they won't build muscle tone and bone strength like walking, that's why walking is so restricted when they are small.

For instance, my mum's pup training classes are 45 minutes long and out of that they only have 10 or so minutes actual walking at heel time - the rest is learning to come, sit, down and to play.

I have had this a couple of times with young cocker spaniel bitches being rehomed for exactly the same reason.

IME it is an excitment thing and once they start to play they get like this. I took one in that put so many holes in my clothes and nearly ripped my finger off.

She DID grow out of it after 5-6 months.

We tried everything and I have to admit she was the hardest dog I have ever had to train because of the snapping as nothing seemed to work. She was SOOOOO intelligent that in the end we gave her a time out area!!! Just like with the kids. It really did work. Everythime she started up she got time out for 10 minutes.

Also........how old was she when she was taken from her mum???? Is she a pet shop dog?

Alot of pups do this when they have left their mum too young as it is something she would teach them. Taking on the role of mum and yelping as she would is important. Show your dominance over her on everything....dont let her on chairs...make her eat after you....etc....anything where you can exert dominance do so.

Look at the cockersonline website. Loads of good advice and experience with cockers there.

It is a good idea once you have stopped her from carrying out the undesired behaviour to focus her attention on an acceptable alternative. If she nips at hands remove her, firm no to her so she realises you are not pleased, but then quickly find a good toy she is allowed to use and encourage her to use her energy up on that. Praise her for this new behaviour and she will start to prefer to gain your praise and please you than to continue to nip at you. Everything you do with dogs and training should be about rewarding the correct behaviours. Also it is a good idea to remember they don't understand the actual word, but they do understand the tones you use - you could equally say "doughnuts" to them in a high happy voice and it would please them as much as saying "good girl"! It can be hard to get inside the head of the dog, but if you try and look at what the dog is trying to acheive but the behaviours it shows, it will give you a better idea how to deal with it.

im probably going to be flamed for this, but it worked for me. My little jack russel pup went through a brief phase of growling and showing teeth (Aggressive rather than play biting) a friend suggested grabbing him by the scruff of the neck. It worked, Just had to scruff him a few times and it seemed to cure him. Maybe its because thats what the mother would do? I guess it depends with your pup whether she is play biting or being aggresive. Either way if it hurts she has got to be taught that it is not acceptable. It is perfectly normal or dogs to do this. The key is to ignore ignore ignore. That means, if she does it, put her down, walk away if you can. Don't look at her, fold your arms, turn your back and ignore her - we had this problem with an old rescue rottie who used to mouth excessively, believe me when i say we had to sort that one out double quick and the ignore technique really worked. Not sure i would have attempted the scruff thing with him mind

when she nips say a loud ouch then turn away so your back is facing her and stop playing.
i had an unorthodox way of stopping my two boxers nipping as pups, they will not even attempt to even mouth me or anyone.

Aha! I have an 18 week cocker spaniel puppy - and did a thread on this very subject a few weeks ago.

He is MUCH better now. We stood like trees and made sure he knew there was no play to be had in nipping and eating our sleeves.

I said 'Grrr' at him, when he nipped either me or the dcs.

Honestly, he's getting SO much better now. Sometimes he takes my sleeves, and then remembers, and sort of pretends to chew it and then stops.

The yelping didn't work because when the dcs did it, it was a very exciting noise.

So WE STOOD LIKE TREES, and I told him to stop and he got the message.

I don't think tug games are good just yet, it's a bit oppositional for a dog of this age - and might easily become aggressive. I'd wait until he's a little bit older.

Oh and re the touching - I think it's just that they have to get used to being handled.

So take it slow, calmly, starting on the back, get the puppy used to being touched, a little bit each day. Somebody said it's a good idea to smear primula cheese on your fridge and stroke and handle them, touching their paws etc while they lick the cheese off.

Odd, but might work.

Mine still gets a bit silly when I try to dry him off with a towel, but is getting better all the time.

Yelping and ignoring him worked with my Scottish terrier: now (aged 3.5) his bite inhibition is really good. He did draw blood a few times en route though.

The other thing I did when he got a bit hysterical was to pin him down on his back until he stopped struggling. (Apparently the mother sometimes does this too...?) Not only did it display who was top dog, it forced him to trust me, I think. Wish I could still do it now, but he's two stone in weight with pointy claws... (will still lie on his back fast asleep though...)

thanks everyone. Have tried the standing still and turning back ok sometimes but other times she just carries on nipping other bits of your clothes. Am trying to do "time out" if she keeps on nipping and not respondng to no by leaving her in other room for a few minutes (although she tends to lick the glass on teh doors and bite the door frame!!!). Constantly give her an alternative to nip/bite ie say no and then give her a toy but this doesnt really work. My parents have just visited and she was constantly nippin their clothes, shoes arms hands etc! Eventually calmed down a bit but still quite exhausting (especially with a 4 yr old just as excitable and showing off to grandparents!!!)
ahundredtimes - this is encouraging i hope she does grow out of it sooner rathern than later!!!!!

horseshoe - sorry, she was 9 weeks when she left her mum and came from a very reputable breeder. I do think it is very much play/excitement but its just finding what works with her.

They are really young still knat, so give him time. It is playing, but they just have to learn not to play like that with humans. I don't remove him though - though I would if lots of people were visiting - I growl, remove from his mouth, and turn my back. Literally, and then ignore.

I put ours away if it all gets too exciting, I think they need it. We don't have a crate - but he often takes himself behind the sofa, which seems to work.

I've found training the children just as tiring as the dog actually, especially dd who is the youngest, and frequently pulls and lies on top of him and blah blah blah.

GGGRRR is most effective! Promise.

Knat that explains it. It is now recommended that they stay with their mother until at least 12 weeks for this reason! Not that there is any law against it and MOST breeders sell from 8 weeks!!!

thanks - saw some improvement yesterday. I am removing only if she keeps persisting having been told no and been ignored. It seems to help (and it is only for a short period of time). Fingers crossed it gets better. Dd was much better with her this morning and actually remained still when puppy mouthed her , puppy just walked away. You're right ahundredtimes training children is just as if not more than tiring training the dog!!!!

knat my cocker spaniel was just the same - he's get overexcited and get very bitey. It took MONTHS of work for us, and also any visitors, of 'yelping' and ignoring him after a bite. Also NEVER giving him cuddles etc as he was v dominant, give him an inch and he'd take a mile.

He was about 14/15 months old at christmas 2007 and despite all our efforts was not improving and we went to rehome him - but all of a sudden he calmed down and is now (almost!) the perfect pet.

The best training tools we had were the crate though, brilliant, we used to put him in there ti have some 'time out' when he got manic, it worked really well.

I think it's very common for cockers to be like this - but I have found with my own it's worth perservering and doing it all by the book and one day it will all slot into place I promise you.

Also try training, I know he's young but it's fine to start some training now, I found with mine that sometimes he was manic and a PITA because he was bored and full of energy, and going through a course of 'sits', 'stays', 'speak' etc would take his mind off being a sod