Help...Doodle Puppy with Attitude....it gets better, right?????

[Julie Mison]

We have written about our Chewie (now 19 weeks) and his "bratty" and assertive type behavior. There has been some improvement with his growling yet he still tries to talk back a lot. For instance, if he doesn't get his way or is getting wild playing and we try to correct him...he will bark at us like he is talking back. He sometimes does it while he is snapping at the air...he really seems like he has attitude because he is mad that he wants to play or something. I actually made the mistake of barking back at him (thought that might help and show him who was boss) but it seemed to cause him to escalate.

Also, when he was wild last night and quite nippy (playing....trying to use mouth), I took him and held him (kinda on his back) and he licked me in the face. My 8yr old leaned in to get a "lick" and he kinda snapped at her instead. I have to say...he seemed excitable but is this "normal". He didn't break any skin but she said it hurt her face and it upset her.

For the most part, he has really improved and we are working with him. He starts "formal" training in 2 weeks. I guess I am looking for your thoughts, feedback, insight, and suceess stories.

Thanks...we LOVE our Dood ...just not his "tude!

[LuvMyAbby&Kaela]

I remember Abby went through a bit of a crazy stage at around 4-5 months old. It felt like she was a lippy, sassy, tasmanian devil LOL. She is 9 months old now....and soooooooo good. Sweet, soft, gentle. Just be patient with his brattiness but have 0 tolerance towards anything like nipping at your daughters face. A loud NO and a bonk with a paper towel tube (my 4 yr old invented this training method LOL) works great.

[Holly Doodle]

Our 4 1/2 month old doodle has recently started having the same attitude issues. She quickly switches from sweet and playful to growling, barking, and jumping at us. We've been watching a lot of Cesar Milan Dog Whisperer and trying to pick up some tips to correct her. It seems to help when we grab the skin on the back of her neck like mother dogs do and gently lay her down on the floor. We don't let her get up until she's calm. This seems to quickly calm her down. We've been blaming it on her teething, she's had two big ones fall out in the last few weeks, so I'm sure her mouth is achy which would make me grumpy too. Please let me know if you find anything that works! I'm sure this is just a phase that passes, but it can be very stressful to deal with! Hope this helps :).

[jamiegirl]

"This too shall pass..." I kept saying that to myself when we were going through the same things with our girl. Putting her in the submissive stage didn't work for us, though. If she was play biting before, showing her who was boss by "corrections" converted the play biting to defensive biting which was worse. What has worked for us is to break her from that mode by using anything with an obnoxious sound (I've read a lot of people here on DK use the cans with coins method) and then leave her until she's calm. In the end, I think it was time that became our friend. She is now almost 11 months old and she would have an occassional reincarnation of Jaws but other than that she is over that nippy stage.

Good luck!

[Holly Doodle]

You're right about turning the play biting into defensive biting, I didn't realize it before but we have done that....hmm thanks for the encouragement :). We've now started to put her in her kennel before it escalates to that stage, we'll have to try the loud noise though.

[F, Calla & Luca]

When Luca was young he'd get wild at times, especially in the evening, and nip. He didn't growl though. I learned to recognize the behavior as it started. Since I didn't have an upstairs crate, I'd tether him with a chain leash to a doorknob and he'd soon calm down and sleep. The time it took to calm down became shorter after we did this for some time and then the nipping behavior stopped. The chain leash was to prevent his biting through the leash.

[Lorraine Bromley]

We have been giving Neely a ball in his mouth. Then when he gets mouthy and play biting which can be too ruff he can use his head and nose but the mouth is no longer dangerous. So he gets the rough housing and play with out the issues of shredding us.