Puppy snapping

[Outbutnotoutout]

So I have whippet pup, female, about 15wks

When I push her away, if we have food on our laps say, and say no, she has started to snap.

It's a proper bite and not a puppy mouth.

I was putting her in the crate when we eat and she does settle down.

But sometimes we are sat on the sofa and she is up with us.

Ime some ddogs can be in the sofa incident free and some can't...
Our dhusky is banned after growling at a human sitting down. Our other ddogs are happy to share...
Time to relegate yours to the floor imo.
We can eat with 4 ddogs around us and they never even look at us!!

Can you teach her a “bed” command for when you’re eating and treat her for as long as she stays put?

Don't let her on the sofa
Eat at the table
Train proper discipline when food is around - settle, on a bed, with a chew or something
Puppies don't understand 'no' - you need to teach an actual command or instruction as a proactive thing - on your bed etc
She is still a puppy, you have a long road ahead instilling good behaviour - you need patience & consistency & a proactive training strategy instead of just pushing away and saying 'no' when she is doing behaviours you don't like.

So stick to crate door shut and treat, everytime we eat anything?

I use "bed" when putting her in the crate

And "settle.down" when it calm down time

Whippets are a bit precious and non floor dogs?

Or am I just making excuses?

She can have a cushion on the floor if you want.

She is mostly good

I agree with the sofa comment
Some dogs can happily be allowed on the sofa, ours couldn’t. He got very arsey when told to get off so he wasn’t allowed on. When we went away and someone else looked after him he was allowed on the sofa and was arsey again.
I know pack theory is rubbish but it’s good to establish boundaries

Sounds like you had the right idea originally. Give her a stuffed kong or a chew while you eat. Don’t push her, even though I’m sure you aren’t doing it hard, it sounds like it is creating a negative association with human hands. She’s a small baby animal why do you need to push her anyway? Just toss a treat on the floor and she will get off the sofa and have a pleasant experience. Find an APDT dog trainer too. Good luck, they are lovely little dogs.

Aww she’s beautiful

Pack theory/ dominance is indeed rubbish, they just get comfy and don’t want to give that up, nothing more to it than that . But yes it’s fine to have boundaries just make sure you are consistent - it’s not fair on the dog to be ‘sometimes’ allowed to do something like go on the sofa IMO.

Thank you

I think I have become lazy, heat and other stuff. Back to crate at every meal.

We have just started night time crate training as well.

My dog trainer says that puppies get growing pains at times which may make them grumpy and not want to move off sofas etc. Especially around legs and hips, I’d never really thought of that. He suggested luring them down with a treat and then train them to go to their bed/crate rather than handling them to get them to move.

Good point @AnxiousAndUnraveling

I will use treats and commands

Though it can feel hard work to start with, it pays off to be firm with boundaries from the start. We taught Ddog to settle when we eat (we do eat mainly at dining table) and now he's no bother at all at mealtimes.

Yea, if we eat at the table and pop her in the crate she is fine.

I've just been lazy

Yep don't give her the opportunity to do the behaviour you don't want, anticipate it and encourage her to do the right behaviour instead ie not on sofa, on her space & settle well.
She's lovely 😊

Thank you 😊

She is so much better, hasn't snapped since we changed tact

Great news!
I've learned so much about dog behaviour & body language from podcasts, YouTube and so on. It makes it so much easier to train a dog once we understand what they're trying to communicate to us & why they are behaving in a particular way.