HELP! FOZZY BEAR HAS TURNED INTO TAZMANIAN DEVIL!!!

[Chris & Boys]

Fozzy Bear ( 9 weeks old) has started growling at my 8 & 10 year old boys. He has also been nipping at them. This started about two days ago and I want to put an end to it as quickly as possible. Does anyone have any suggestions?

[The Berry Oaks Doodle Ranch]

Hey Sine, you sure hit your version right on the nose...we are doing just this as we speak to Guinness.He is 12wks old and has nipped since the day we brought him home.Only now his nipping can be very painful,he's teething alot also.We never give up hope and can only wait it out.Usually give him something to chew or treats in his Kong...and theres' also the Bully sticks.

[Katherine]

My last dog was a lovely, gentle soul and she always liked to "talk" - especially if she was happy and/or excited to see someone. Her 'talking' sounded very close to growling and many of my children's friends were quite nervous to begin with. After awhile they learned to hear her and would encourage her to talk back. It made quite a racket!! On the rare occasion she was aggressive, there was always a good reason - like the time a man showed up at our door claiming to be a salesman but with no briefcase, badge etc. He seemed nice enough but Molly (she was half border collie and half springer spaniel) took one look and turned into Cujo. I learned the real meaning of the word "slathering". The screen door was locked and I was talking through the upper half. Molly literally threw herself at the lower window and I was horrified until the man's demeanor suddenly changed and he then tried to open the door before taking off. I called the police and learned later he was likely the same man who assaulted several women - they never caught him. Anyway, I am rambling. Hugo likes to nip and I avoid it, redirect to a toy and/or hold his mouth closed briefly while saying no. He has pretty much stopped nipping me but the rest of them don't seem concerned about it (husband, teenage sons). They point out that he never presses his teeth just opens his mouth around their hands. Our old dog did this her entire thirteen years and it was a sign of affection but I didn't like it and she never did it to me except if she was very nervous. I thinks dogs learn different responses to different family members.

[Chris & Boys]

Wow, what a scary story. What would we do without our dogs! My GR, Boomer, "talks" when he plays too! I love it. But I have a question. Should we hold his snout when he actually touches skin or any time he attempts to nip? It's been 13 years since Boomer was a pup, so I don't remember exactly when we would do it. Because FB does mouth our hands gently, and I don't have a problem with that unless it will cause a problem for him to differenciate between biting and mouthing.

[Adina P]

There's two different things that are going on:
1) he might be playing with your hands and nipping on them or touching his teeth on them but he's not jumping are running after you. I would encourage this kind of play so you can teach him. And by encourage I mean take time to sit on the floor with him and let him sort of play with your hands. When he nips, yelp like he tore your leg off and leave the room for 10-15 seconds--walk to the other side of the baby gate or a door so he can't follow you. When you return start over... So at first you will yelp only if he nips. Later you'll only yelp for a light nip. After that you'll raise the bar to show him that humans are sOOOo delicate that even touching his teeth to you hurts like heck and he needs to be very careful because when he hurts you he loses you.

2) the other thing that's going on is that he will randomly come after you growling and nipping and barking. I think with this, he's already worked up... So what I would do is yelp and then immediately put him in his crate. Or "no" OR "ouch" loudly and put him in his crate. Or if you have a baby gate... Again step over the baby gate and leave him alone and ignore him for 30 to 60 seconds.

To me this difference between the first and second scenarios is that the first scenario is just calm mouthing and you want to teach him what pressure is acceptable: none. The second scenario is just him completely riled up and treating you like a puppy---so I think the best thing his to simply make him lose all the fun that he was trying to have so he learns that when he behaves that way it's all gone.

Keep in mind, that it nine weeks his attention span is that of a fly. You'll have to be consistent and do this every single time for a number of weeks. Don't expect them to learn just because you do it a few times.

[Chris & Boys]

Sounds good. I will share this with my boys so they are consistent with him as well! Thanks Again!!!

[Adina P]

Did you get my instructions on how to teach them to "be a tree"?

[Chris & Boys]

Thanks you all. I got a lot of good ideas from everyones posts. Last night I started the boys feeding FB and spending a few minutes with some command training. So, that worked well, and alleviated some of my sons' fears of putting their hands anywhere near him. That is, until he went after me like a starving wolf. Yes, I tried to pick him up and he started growling, showing his teeth and trying to bite my hand. I kept trying to grab him so he continued growling and biting. He was squirming so much that I layed him on his side, held his head to the floor and calmly told him "no biting" until he was relaxed. Do you think that is ok? Should I have held his mouth, or was what I did ok? My GR was never a problem for me so, I feel like quite a rookie as far as this growling/biting thing goes. Nipping I can get over, but showing his teeth really bothers me.

[Denise, Winnie, and AngelAbby]

When Abby was younger, she showed aggression towards me and what i did was push her over, rather roughly, on her back and held her there and got right in her face and yelled "NO" in her face. She whimpered, but she never did that again. I bred a dog we used to have a couple of times and that's what she did when she was mad at her pup. She didn't bite them, but she knocked them over on their back and growled in their face. You have to be the Mom now. Abby never showed fear towards me after that, and i have never had to do it again either. I didn't hurt her, just startled her and let her know that that behavior was NOT acceptable. I guess I don't know if it was right, but all the puppy stuff I have read has said that the owner takes the place of Mom after the pup gets home, and it worked.

[Sandy]

Our trainer told us that was the worst thing you could do. Sometimes a dog will play you, and go limp and submissive, only to come at you full force when you let go. They suggest getting the collar and a bit of scruff in you hands, holding the dog in a sit position, and saying NO, firmly. As the dog relaxes, gently start releasing on the collar, sliding your hands downwards. If the dog starts up as you start releasing, back into the sit and firm hold. And they must stay sitting - cannot relax into a down position. Eventually the dog will relax in the sit position. When you release, make sure you don't ignore him - play, and let him know you love him. But be firm when you have to!

[Chris & Boys]

Ok, I'll try it next time. But I don't understand why a dog would know how to "play you" laying down, but not while in a sit position?? If he is trying to bite me, how am I going to be able to get him calm enough to sit? Gosh, maybe I'll get lucky and never have to find out! :-)

[Denise, Winnie, and AngelAbby]

Well, at 9 weeks, I would think he is too young to have any of those games figured out yet, but that is just my opinion. All I know is that it worked for me. It worried me when she showed aggression. The last thing I wanted was a 60# dog that i couldn't control. My husband was also one for holding her firm until she settled down in his arms. He would let up and if she started squirming again, he would tighten his grip again until she stayed calm. This is suppose to be another way of showing the dog that you are the alfa. She listens to him real well, too. You have to let him know that YOU are the boss. Adina may have some better advice for this... she always gives such good advice.

[Adina P]

You work on Sit during the calm times...and through that training he will be more automatic in his response ...so you WILL be able to tell him sit one day in the middle of his episode.

But I'm telling you...it won't last long from now, 9 weeks. He will calm down on his own. He sounds VERY normal. If he turns into Jaws like my puppy Rosco did...the WORST thing you can do is try to physically dominate him. Just aggravates the situation. Working hard on training will be the winning solution in the long run...learning to manage him (redirect, yelp and then ignore, yelp and then plop into crate) will be the BEST thing for now.

As far as alpha stuff goes...to me it's not really that relevant. Dogs know we're not dogs. Leadership shown through training and not getting worked up over these things shows the most. Most alpha dogs are VERY calm and rarely get worked up and fight over things...they don't have to. It's the underdogs that are always tussling and fighting and showing off.

The alpha roll HAS seemed to work on some dogs...I think if you can be 100% calm when you do it and do it SOOO matter of fact that it's as if you're just doing nothing (not furious, not struggling with him, not making a big deal out of it, not staring him down) but just lightly holding him down...hey give it a shot. But if you don't win the battle and/or if he freaks out...it just doesn't accomplish much, in my opinion and may make him trust you less for the short term. With Rosco, when I tried it, because I was feeling hopeless...it WAS a mental and physical battle...he struggled for 10 full minutes once (trying to nip and everything) and I felt horrible in the end.