8 week old puppy growling/nipping/biting question

[dal]

Hi!  We are finally members as we just brought home our goldendoodle puppy on New Year's Day.  He is doing great but I have a situation I would like some input on.  He is very nippy with mostly me (not as much with my husband or kids).  But he also gets really over excited and then starts growling/biting me.  Sometimes this starts outside when I am taking him out to go potty - he bites and pulls on his leash and starts growling and then he will come at me and jump up my leg biting, growling.

When he has to poop, he gets like this in the house but not with me - he will start pacing frantically while growling and sometimes biting his chew toys.  I don't catch him fast enough to get him outside in those cases.  When I am able to catch him in time, I bring him out and he does the above biting growling but does not poop and then will go in the house a minute after I bring him in.

I am thinking this is normal puppy behavior and not aggressiveness but I need to stop it as I have three young kids in the house (plus, it's not very fun when he's coming at me like that lol).

So far, I replace my hands with a chew toy when he's nipping - sometimes that works.  I stand straight up and ignore him - sometimes that works.  I leave the play pen - sometimes works.  He gets a time out in his crate - this always works to settle him down.  I know he needs the rest when he gets like that but I feel like I am constantly putting him back in his crate and I don't want him to have any negative associations with the crate (he really likes it - sleeps all night in it and many times goes in happily for a rest during the day).

Any suggestions for me?  Thank you!  I will also ask the vet tomorrow.  I am considering having a trainer come here to help me but maybe you will all have useful suggestions for me that I can use instead.

Attaching a picture of our cutie!

Thanks again!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

he is not growling  :)   Puppies make noises.  Guttural noises.  He is playing with you. It passes. In about 3 months but it passes.

DO NOT PUNISH him. He is playing.  Do keep putting toys in his mouth to save your arms.   Make loud screams when he bites too hard --like YELPS. Just like his siblings might do.

Puppies explore their world with their mouths.  The sounds are NORMAL     My dog, 6 makes horrendous noises.  Most dont at this age, but my boy is C h a t t y  :)

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Here is a discussion, same topic, from back in October.  This has some videos  and comments that will help you.

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/excessive-biting-behavior-...

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Dont worry about the noises right now.  Here is a guide though, to help you deal with that very trying time of Puppy Mouthing 

What to Do About Puppy Mouthing

It’s important to help your puppy learn to curb his mouthy behavior. There are various ways, some better than others, to teach this lesson. The ultimate goal is to train your puppy to stop mouthing and biting people altogether. However, the first and most important objective is to teach him that people have very sensitiveskin, so he must be very gentle when using his mouth.

Bite Inhibition: Teach Your Puppy to Be Gentle

Bite inhibition refers to a dog’s ability to control the force of his mouthing. A puppy or dog who hasn’t learned bite inhibition with people doesn’t recognize the sensitivity of human skin, and so he bites too hard, even in play. Some behaviorists and trainers believe that a dog who has learned to use his mouth gently when interacting with people will be less likely to bite hard and break skin if he ever bites someone in a situation apart from play-like when he’s afraid or in pain.

Puppies usually learn bite inhibition during play with other puppies. If you watch a group of puppies playing, you’ll see plenty of chasing, pouncing and wrestling. Puppies also bite each other all over. Every now and then, a pup will bite his playmate too hard. The victim of the painful bite yelps and usually stops playing. The offender is often taken aback by the yelp and also stops playing for a moment. However, pretty soon, both playmates are back in the game. Through this kind of interaction, puppies learn to control the intensity of their bites so that no one gets hurt and the play can continue without interruption. If puppies can learn how to be gentle from each other, they can also learn the same lesson from people.

When you play with your puppy, let him mouth on your hands. Continue play until he bites especially hard. When he does, immediately give a high-pitched yelp, as if you’re hurt, and let your hand go limp. This should startle your puppy and cause him to stop mouthing you, at least momentarily. (If yelping seems to have no effect, you can say “Too bad!” or “You blew it!” in a stern voice instead.) Praise your puppy for stopping or for licking you. Resume whatever you were doing before. If your puppy bites you hard again, yelp again. Repeat these steps no more than three times within a 15-minute period. If you find that yelping alone doesn’t work, you can switch to a time-out procedure. Time-outs are often very effective for curbing mouthing in puppies. When your puppy delivers a hard bite, yelp loudly. Then, when he startles and turns to look at you or looks around, remove your hand. Either ignore him for 10 to 20 seconds or, if he starts mouthing on you again, get up and move away for 10 to 20 seconds. After the short time-out, return to your puppy and encourage him to play with you again. It’s important to teach him that gentle play continues, but painful play stops. Play with your puppy until he bites hard again. When he does, repeat the sequence above. When your puppy isn’t delivering really hard bites anymore, you can tighten up your rules a little. Require your puppy to be even gentler. Yelp and stop play in response to moderately hard bites. Persist with this process of yelping and then ignoring your puppy or giving him a time-out for his hardest bites. As those disappear, do the same for his next-hardest bites, and so on, until your puppy can play with your hands very gently, controlling the force of his mouthing so that you feel little or no pressure at all.

Read more here: http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/excessive-biting-behavior-...

[Pat, Mary & Cooper]

This sounds so familiar!! lol Don't worry , this is normal... You already have good tips with replacing hands with toys...

Already good advices in other replies as well , the only thing I would add is instead of using the crate , our dog trainer recommended that we took ourselves out of the room or turn away from him and wait ( when he was jumping and nipping)Then give him attention with good behaviour...

Cooper still gets over excited sometimes when we are outside and if he starts nipping at me , I turn around with no reaction or walk away. Then play time is over and what doodle wants that!?

I then go back after a few seconds and everything is good.

We also use clicker training that we were trained with at Pawsitively Polite classes. Comes handy in these situations.We started the class when he was only a few months old.

Hope this helps , he really is adorable, you'll be fine.

[Katie]

Your puppy could be Bonnies twin in looks! Bonnie is slightly older, 11 weeks, and she needs so much sleep! We are a quieter family, 2 adults and 2 college age 'children' at home. Bonnie has an active time first thing in the morning, then sleeps. Is active again around lunch...then sleeps. Again around 4-7pm and then dozes and plays on and off until bedtime.

she is at her nippy-est and most hyperactive when she is overtired and over stimulated. Is it possible he is simply over tired?

Katie and Bonnie.

[Kathryn Clark]

Ours does this also before he needs to poop. If you don't handle it appropriately, it can escalate into something nasty. It did with us. After having two trainers tell us to yelp or ignore the behavior, it just got worse. I finally contacted our breeder to figure out what was happening. The breeder had us firmly tell him no and snap his collar quickly any time he growled or bit, like a mom correcting her pup by nipping the back of his neck. He wore a leash around the house for a few weeks with the handle cut off so we could correct him easily without being bitten. I know people say it's just normal puppy behavior but it really can get out of hand quickly. Whatever you do, don't ignore him when he's biting or growling, give him a firm check so he knows it's not okay. Our puppy is now a different dog since we stepped in to correct his behavior. We certainly have an alpha dog compared to most but showing him who is the boss has helped tremendously.

[dal]

Thanks everyone!  I know this will pass and he is really very sweet a lot of the time!

Katie and Bonnie - Yes, he is definitely tired when he does this most of the time.  I guess I just feel bad he is in the crate so much - not as punishment but b/c when he gets like that, he needs his own space.  He loves relaxing in his crate but I feel like I am constantly putting him in there.  But it would make sense that 8 week old puppies need a lot of sleep!

[Christy&Riley]

We put Riley's crate inside a playpen. That gave her more room to roam but gave us a break. Puppies stop and go potty so quickly I was always on high alert to catch her. This gave me a little downtime without always locking her in the crate. (We put plastic under a carpet remnant then put the pen and open crate on that for added assurance.) this worked until a few months old when she started climbing and jumping out of the pen. Then the next phase began. :-)

[dal]

Thanks again everyone for the advice.  We saw the vet today and he reassured me that Cooper's behavior is completely normal puppy play.  He gave me some tips and also gave me trainer/puppy class info for when we are ready.  He said Cooper has a good temperament and I am so happy.  Never having had a dog before, I wasn't sure if it was normal.  Today has actually been a lot better in terms of the nippy/growling thing.

Thanks again everyone!

[Tina]

I think it will get easier in a few weeks! I found lots of great advice here on bite inhibition. What I found with my pup specifically, is certain tone of voice made her bark and growl back...but it wasn't aggression, just playfulness.

I learned she responded better with positive reinforcement and softer "no" rather than a firm "NO". If I get loud (out of frustration) she immediately goes into play mode as if I'm baking at her! It took a while before we found something that worked for her. So give every technique a try until you find one that works and don't give up :)

[Dawn and Molly]

Dal, I know this is an old post, but we are experiencing some of the same things.  Just curious, on how things turned out...

[dal]

Hi, Cooper is 15 months now and the sweetest dog ever.  No more nipping.  He will still make noises when he's running around with a toy in his mouth or something but it's all playful.  He has turned from the craziest nippiest puppy into the sweetest calmest dog.  That said, it took a lot of training.  So worth it though!

Hang in there - the nipping passes.  It actually took Cooper longer than most I think to completely stop it but even he eventually did.  And as he got older, the nipping did not hurt at all but we still redirected every time to get him to stop altogether.  Good luck!!