Hi, can any one please advise me on how to stop my 10 week old pup (dog) from attacking my 6yr old bitch, he dives at her a lot the time and bites her quite hard and she is getting nasty with him as it must hurt her, he is a rescue pup found at 5 weeks old, terrier x and she is a jrt, some of the time they play ok , but i want to do the right thing and saying no sternly does not work , it does on other things but not when he is doing this. hope some one can help.

If he was found at 5 weeks old he has missed out on some essential socialisation with mum and his litter mates which is almost certainly why he is showing this behaviour. He won't of had the chance to learn what is and isn't acceptable. Hopefully your older dog will be able to teach him some manners without inflicting any damage.

In my opinion the best thing to do, if intervention is needed, is when he goes too far pick him up and hold him until he has calmed down, ignore him completly and just hold him by your side, don't fuss him as he will see this as reward for his actions, when he's calmed down put him back down and see how it goes. Repeat as necessary.

You could also try the "water pistol" trick - spray him in the face when he bites. Works for a whole manner of naughty behaviour! Might be worth a try.

Or like Cesar Millan the dog whisperer does - a nip on the neck with your two fingers simulating the mother's jaws. This might be more effective because it disciplines him like the mother would do. He missed out on the real thing so maybe you can substitute.

Oh and don't use his name to correct him because then he'll think he's done something bad every time you call him. Say "NO!" or "AAH!" or "TSCHH!" sharply as you administer the nip or the water.

Just my suggestions!

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Water pistols are a real no no for any puppy as far as I am concerned.

'The mother' would never bite her pups in a normal situation. There is never any need to as they take heed of her warnings from early on. It i somethign I have discussed with quite a few friends, as I am reletively new to breeding, and in over 100 years of combined breeding not one of us has ever seen a mother nip or bite a pup.

AJsehp has given good advice.

Excellent advice from Ajshep there. I'd just emphasise one of his points. Do the things he suggests only, as he says, "if intervention is needed". The fact that your older dog is telling the pup off when he gets too boisterous is, in fact, the best way for your pup to learn that his behaviour is wrong. Most older dogs will give a bumptious pup a sharp snap to put him back in line - usually this is just noise and in most cases the pup accepts the reprimand as a normal thing to happen and is fine a couple of minutes later. Unless the situation develops beyond this - ie the pup not heeding the reprimand or your older dog is becoming distressed by the pup's actions - then there is no real need to intervene.

I agree with Jackson - please don't use a water pistol on a puppy of this age. And I too have never seen a mum nip her pup on the neck - I've seen a mum give a pup a quick snap as I've described above, but that's different from nipping the neck.

I agree with the poster above.. my puppies are 5 weeks old now and are really testing their jaws out with their littermates... as abbie is such a softie she just looks at them like confused: haha if they are really hurting i will growl at them and they stop immediately.. and then they will go and play a nicer game usually..

your older dog may do something similar.. he/she may growl or snap but its needed..

if you sit on the floor and play with the pup.. and he tries to bite you.. do a loud YELP!! and he may just realise that his jaws hurt

Thanks ajshep and every one for your help,i will do as suggested by most of you and only step in if things seem to be getting out of hand,he is a strong willed little chap but does as i tell him most of the time when we do bits of training, and in most ways he is coming on well , i will update you in a couple of weeks and let you know how he is doing, this is a really great forum and i have learnt a lot by reading through it, thanks again, hobo

Have you ever seen Cesar Milan use these techniques on a puppy? It's bad enough and can be very damaging to an adult dog never mind a puppy.

I'm not a breeder but I am not nieve enough to think that mothers nip puppies on the neck. That is something adult dogs do to show dominance over one another.

Please don't use a water pistol on the pup however frustrated you get it is not an answer to the problem.

I would just add to my original post that it would be wise not to tell the pup off when he is acting this way as the adult dog may take this as her being told off and associate the pup jumping around her with being told off and then take a dislike to the pup. If I were in your position I would leave them to it and if it gets out of hand then intervene and remove the pup silently as I've described above.

Good luck and keep us posted! Oh and welcome to the forum!

We recently introduced a puppy to our family having already having our boy. Logan is a very submissive, gentle giant who wouldn't hurt a fly and did end up looking rather scabby with puppy bites and scratches but he just wouldn't tell her off so we did have to start intervening very slightly. When things were getting out of hand and it was obvious Logan wasn't going to put Piper in her place we started having "quiet time" where we put the pup to bed to calm her down, every time she'd be fast asleep in about 30 seconds but it seemed to really work.

Piper is now 18 weeks old and as she's much bigger Logan will now let her know if she's being too much. I think he was just frightened of breaking her when she was really tiny, but now he know's she's a bruiser and can take the odd telling off from him.

They have a fantastic relationship, still play fight, but doesn't seem to be constant mouthing anymore.

So the "time out" way definitely worked for us.

Good luck with everything, I'm sure they will sort it all out themselves

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hello,
there is a product called 'pet corrector' by roger mugford. It is a small can which lets out a hissing sound. Honestly this stuff is fab. It is not a spray all it does is makes the sound!!! give it a go, you wont be disappointed!!! x

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