Advice pls

[Corey2010]

Hi I bought a jug puppy 3 wks ago. He is 12 wks old. He has always been extremely nippy and constantly mouthy in any form of cuddling or stroking or playing unless knackered. i mean maybe 100 bites a day all my arms have been marked. On another note Loves walks, is dry at night no toilet breaks,loves water and is beautiful. Also doesn't mind being left. Myself and the children adore him. The nipping is a problem has marked dd (7) face multiple times, my sons face and mine to point of bleeding. Redirected and time outs have been used. Vet advised still normal to continue training. Then there's 3 incidents all in 3 wks that have shocked me. He had my daughters ball once i went to take it of him he growled and tried multiple times to bite me. Then two days ago I was sat on sofa eating biscuits. Dog was sat by sofa. My daughter picked up to crumbs on the floor and placed them on sofa next to me. Cleaning up actually worried dog would eat it. In a second he had growled and grabbed her arm and luckily she had a big hoody on. Took me a second to get up and grab him off her. Then tonight was much worse. My daughter was sat on the floor watching tv ( short sighted ) the dog went over i was sat on sofa. He went over to the extension lead by tv. In a second growled turned bit her arm. I jumped up he circled round her went to bite her again i tapped him which startled him enough he grabbed her hair. I then managed to grab him he growled and tried to bite me all the way to cage. Hackles up. I know cage was wrong but wanted to get bk to my daughter. She sadly through all this and being 7 didn't defend herself and actually thought he was play biting. Her first dog not mine. I'm devastated. We had staffies growing up they would never have done this. Is this normal or not? He only stops when I grab him otherwise it would continue in sure if that. Thanks in advance.

How experienced are you with dogs? I ask because having dogs as a child is different to being responsible for training a dog as an adult.

In general very young puppies don't show aggression, it is usually play biting. There are a variety of techniques to deal with this, from distraction, e.g. ask him to do sits and downs, to displacement, e.g. give him a dog chew, to putting him away until he is calm.
Are you attending puppy training classes? What does your trainer say? Are you rewarding with food? Have you started with teaching 'leave it'?

However, it is possible in rare cases for puppies to be aggressive, some of what you describe does sound like resource guarding. If that is the case, you need professional help and no one on the internet can help without seeing the dog and assessing the situation. Find an APDT accredited behaviourist, they are usually good and meanwhile keep the dog and the children separate at all times.

Hi I've changed my name. Wanted to thank you though. I will phone a behavourist. I thought that is what he is doing but to attack without what he wanted even being took away or him even being touched by my daughter had shocked me. Yes I have trained dogs but none with aggression at all so this is all new to me and not what anyone would want round children. I will try though we would be devastated if he had to be sold. I'm also surprised he is like this so young. Is that common I've never seen it?

It's very very rare for a puppy to be aggressive. Most often the puppy is engaging in normal behaviours like play fighting which can look and sound scary if you are not used to dogs so it is common for owners to misunderstand the behaviour. This is why I asked how experienced you are with dogs. It is common for owners to be quite worried when boisterous puppies play, for example. It can involve a lot of teeth and noise but there is a big difference between healthy play and actual aggression.

Hopefully it will just be normal puppy behaviour and the behaviourist will teach you techniques for dealing with it. If it is actual aggression getting a behaviourist involved is essential to assess the dog.

He is fine over his stuff and food being took away. It is caused all three times by something he knows he is not allowed. Her ball my biscuits the cables. He growls but turns and bites in a second. Not bite once but growls hackles up until I manage to remove him still attacking her this time. After biting her he had hackles up trying to bite me all the way to the cage. Am shocked this time I think he ran a circle to get bk to her face. when I tapped him he grabbed her hair. He is not playing i just need to find out if he can change. If he done that as a adult he would already be pts. It really was that nasty. She never even touched him just happened to be sat by cables.

Puppies have to be taught to give up things, whether it is food, toys or anything else they have taken a liking to, like the ball, biscuits and cable. At 12 weeks old it is highly unlikely that he knows to leave things he shouldn't touch.

Growling and hackles up are not uncommon puppy behaviour and not problematic in and of themselves. They can be part of play fight and they do have a different meaning from an adult dog behaving this way.

However, the best thing is to get a professional to observe his behaviour and tell you what is happening.