FOAK: Puppies - again

Little puppy has been with us for a week now
(http://www.danbayes.com/puppy.jpg picture at 6 weeks, she's 8 and a half
now), just had her first jab and is settling in nicely. Even house training
is going well. Obviously been a retriever puppy, she wants to chew/eat
pretty much everything especially hands and feet... Normally this is ok and
she doesn't really bite, more just holds your hand with her mouth - but
often in the evening when playing she gets quite excited and starts barking
and snapping at your hands/feet and can bite quite hard (to the point where
it hurts a bit) - is this normal for a puppy? Is there something we can do
to stop her doing it or will she just grow out of it?

Cheers

 

It'll grow out of it, but probably also doesn't realise how sharp it's
teeth are, especially if you act like it's an acceptable game.

It helps that our older dog knocked the stuffing out of the pup whenever
it got carried away, within a week it knew it's place.

 

Unfortunately we don't have another dog heh - it's our first At the
moment we just sternly tell her no, but as she's only been here a week, this
doesn't do much yet heh.

 

As the other reply says, puppy needs to know when she's bit too hard or
she'll never 'grow out of it'. What works for us is screaming in pain
as if we've really been hurt. Owwwwww! and pulling the hand away does
the trick, even if you've not really been hurt. In the 'pack' if she did
it to an 'elder' she'd be barked/snapped at and soon learn just how hard
a play-bite should be. Biting her back (gently, say on the ear) is also
effective. YOU are now the pack-leader and 'top-dog'. She expects (and
needs for her mental health) to learn this. Puppies who aren't shown any
boundaries often become neurotic because they think they've become
pack-leader and frankly don't want the position and don't know how to
cope. (Very much like children really....).

 

As crazy as biting her sounds, I can see your point hehe I'll persevere
with the No and start with the howling in pain! I suspect the neighbours
already think I'm weird heh...

 

Also, don't be afraid to grab her by the scruff of the neck, and give a
stern NO if the situation warrants it. It's near enough the equivalent
of what her mum would do.

 

ginge wrote:
heh...

Seconded. A little shake (NB little) helps too. She will probably
respond by rolling over very submissively. At this point a tummy-tickle
to say 'I forgive you' is appropriate.

 

They all start off like that <http://www.bgn.me.uk/poppy/poppy.jpg>
and one day they suddenly grow legs
<http://www.bgn.me.uk/poppy/poppy4.jpg> and then end up being huge and

If you make her aware that it's not acceptable then she'll grow out of
it. Thankfully when Rosie came along she would chew Poppy up and when
Poppy had enough of her she'd put her in her place.

If you act like a chew-toy then she'll treat you like one. You need
to be aware that it's going to be a problem when you start taking her
out for walks. Everyone likes a puppy (as long as they don't have to
clear up after them), especially children. They get quite excited and
run up to you while you're out for a walk and attempt to smother your
new pet with love and goo.

It's important that you take the puppy out with you (ie. carry) now
that it's had an injection just so that it gets used to people. A
quick walk through a high street a couple of times a week will see it
exercise the mysterious FANNY MAGNET powers and it'll get used to
people prodding and poking it. It'll also get used to excited
children at the same time. It can be quite expensive to have an
excited puppy and an excited child-stranger jumping at each other.

Back to puppy training: I noticed with both Poppy and Rosie that
they'd make progress and then would start to revert back to old habits
when they got to about five or six months old which is when they're
getting to a reasonable size. It's perfectly acceptable to get
re-inforce your commands if they ignore you when they're that old to
'get a bit firm' with them. Their mother would have no problem with
grabbing them by the scruff of their neck to show them who was boss
and you shouldn't have any problem doing it either. Sometimes you
just have to get a bit firm with them when they're not doing as
they're told.

PS. It's a Labrador, take out insurance on it if you haven't already.
They're not the most healthy animals when they start to get older.
Saga and The Kennel Club both provide 'life' cover for dogs. This
means that if your dog develops an ongoing complaint (diabetes,
cancer, etc) then they'll continue to cover it throughout their life
(although they do 'review' this at 8 years old) whereas any other
insurance company would cover it until the policy is renewed next year
and then exclude it.

 

"BGN" wrote in message

Looks like a Golden Retriever to me, if so are they likely to suffer the
same ailments as a labrador?

 

Same shit, different length coat.

 

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

what have you called her? can't keep calling her puppy. (it has been
said that all puppies think their name is No! or Oy!)

 

Not entirely true. Pet Plan covers ongoing conditions although it has
a limit of £4000 per year so we didn't get the bitch's cataracts done.

 

Her name is Abby

Thanks for all the advice everyone!

 

And she did a new trick today... Took a crap on the lawn, then ate it...
Ew...

 

probably not been re-assured enough that crapping on the lawn is being a
'good girl / clever girl? so anxious to please that she's clearing up
after herself? she'll have seen her mum do it when she was in the nest.

 

As has already been said, let it know it's place. You and the family
are boss, the dog's last in the pecking order. A colleague has a mutt
that believes it's top dog cos it's never been told otherwise and it's
a real pain in the arse. It's even 'attacked' her sons and been told,
'please don't be naughty'. Set the rules and stick to them, then
you're likely to have a lovely pet.

Brian

 

Well, we make a huge happy fuss every time she does it outside, someone told
us it might be because normally their mums clean up for them. Hopefully
she'll grow out of that too...

 

Iridium secured a place in history by writing:

Hit her repeatedly with a heavy, blunt object. Works every time, really.

 

Sounds like you're doing everything right. Remember that dogs will
always eat cat-shit because there's a lot of nutrition left in it.
Hyenas will eat lion and cheetah-shit for the same reason. Abby's
digestive system is not yet mature and it may be (especially if she's
being slightly overfed) that there's still a lot of goodness in what's
passed through her. Don't worry, she'll almost certainly grow out of it.
She's gorgeous, be patient.

 

Cheers The vet said she looked like a good specimen after a full check
over heh.