We recently brought home an 8 week old Dogue de Bordeaux puppy after losing our Lab to Lymphoma. We also have an 18month old son and 4year old daughter. We were aware there may possibly be a few more "dominant" tendencies with this breed and it was advisable to socialize him as much as possible (as we would look to do with any breed anyway)

Cooper has settled in well, although has been nipping alot which i accept is normal puppy behavior but we've been trying to reduce it by yelping, folding arms and ignoring him, and putting him other side of the stair gate to time out.

However he's been growling alot whilst nipping, and also if he thinks you may remove him from the room he sometimes growls aswell, which is hard to tell if its "play" growling or P**s off or im going to bite growling

He just had a bath and was sat on the sofa next to my girlfriend (he was in a "playful""growly" mood), my daughter who should have been in bed run downstairs into the living room with us and Cooper growled at her and jumped off the sofa to chew/nip her.

I hope it doesn't sound like i'm over reacting, im aware puppies bite although we are trying to reduce this, but the growling worries me a little, its not much of a problem now but i dont want him carrying on like that at 50+kg and hopefully if its something that can be stopped i assume its easier to deal with now whilst he's learning, thanks

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DDB talk, like Rotties and SBTs so be careful you are not confusing the two. However I would suggest that you get your pup off the sofa, unless of course you inted on providing him with one that is solely his?

This is because there will not be ROOM for anyone else than him on the sofa.

Your dog is a dog, not another child.

Have you prepared a set of house rules that you have all agreed to and which are published on teh fridge etc?

If not, I would suggest you do so now.

The liberties you can get away with with a labrador are not those you can take with a DDB

i dont think you are over reacting and i think its good you are thinking about this now. he needs to get out with some other doggies and be told off a bit and put in his place, hes got too big for his boots and hes going to have big boots one day

i've only ever met Bordeaux's who are very cuddly affectionate dogs and i hope someone on here has some more practical examples for you but doing a lot of training with him will help him to learn that you and your family are the boss and that you are fun, lots of sitting and waiting for things, my german shepherds love this and i think it has helped them to really know that i the mummy even though they sleep on our bed and sit on our sofa and are cuddled ALLLLL the time. my partner also likes to play 'fighting' games with them where the aim is for him to get them on their backs and their aim is to not. some people will say this is a really bad idea (and mine are girls which might make a difference) but Trouble especially is very pleased to play these games and has not problems when she ends up on her back, she gets a cuddle out of it at the end too

good luck though, it's good to see someone being conscious of the size their dogs WILL get and the implications small things on a large dog might have

Thanks for replies, we've tried to socialise him as much as we can, my daughter had a birthday party when he was 10weeks old, we had it at our house and cooper was in our busy house and was settled and even fell asleep on busy kitchen floor. We took him to families house for a couple of hours and he played with their jack Russell. I've also taken him to work and he's behaved well. We don't leave him with kids but when supervised he can be good with them but normally ends up trying to play fight with them as he does my and my gf. His booster was late (11/12 weeks) so he's only just been allowed for walks so this may help. He's a bit dubious on his walks so far and has to be led by a treat, yesterday some kids were playing football outside and he tried to hide by my car but the kids stopped playing when they saw him and ran over to fuss him and his tail wagged and he seemed to be happy to greet them. Our lab never growled at me or my kids but I acceapt it's not only a different dog but a different breed. I know what you mean about the "talking" he does growl when play fighting which doesn't seem very aggressive although he does get carried away and his nose wrinkles a bit more (like snarling) at which point he is put out of the room, he then normally whimpers to come back in and normally calms down for a while. A list of rules seems a good idea, our little boy is a bit of a caveman and cant say much yet, he also retaliates to being nipped by cooper and they playfight which I try to discourage but unfortunately this means cooper and my son have to be separated more than I would like

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Have you tried speaking to your breeder? A decent breeder should be happy to give you on going advice and support no matter what and throughout the dogs life, so any worries etc. Maybe contact her.

Second suggestion DDB Welfare, although Welfare is also breed Rescue, they will offer help support and advice or answer any questions about the breed. its run by people who have usually owned them for years and know the breed inside out and are happy to help. Why not give them a ring, honestly Ive found over the years that Welfare and someone knowledgeable and does it purely for the breed they love, are usually great and happy to help Here is a link with contact details ad have a look through the website too there is often general traning help and advice thats breed specific too
Contact Us

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I know its hard but letting the kids roughouse and playfight is not always a good idea especially on the floor at the dogs level. Puppies in the litter jump on each other bite and growl in play, he could be treating the kids especially as litter mates, the wilder the play its just going to hype him up more and be rough with them.

You really need to make him start to work for stuff, he gets treats and attention for listening and doing as you ask ONLY. You should be able to achieve this by doing formal training with him, even 2 or 3 10/15 minute sessions a day. Vital one to learn is obviously a sit but a sit wait is great, it can improve his impulse control and learn him to focus. Teach the Sit, when he has that realiable then instead of immediate treating as in a sit when the bum hits the deck, start saying wait and then give the treat. Then build up the time between the wait and him getting the treat longer and longer, so he has to control his impulses.

Practisse getting him to come to command as well, using a treat to lure as you say the come at first if need be, then you have a way to move him about and getting him to go to other rooms without any hastle.

Behaviour you dont want he doesnt get anything treats attention nada. Stuff you do want he gets praise and attention, you need to be consistent though every one needs to make him work for stuff. You can even assisted get the kids to train him, so he is taught he has to sit and do as they ask too, for them. You should find the kids will get a kick out of it too. Get him to play structured games, with a ball and encourage retrival instead of the wild roughouse stuff.

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I dont have experience with DDB's but I just wanted to give you a little support. My GSD was very mouthy as a pup to the point of broken skin and scratches. She also growled, snarled and pounced while chewing on your limbs.
I was a little worried, I'd never had a pup that was so loud and persistant with their biting but it did stop by about 6 months old like my breeder had said.
We constantly redirected with a toy and praised when she was quiet and gentle and it eventually faded away.
Its in our nature to be wary of a growling dog but some puppies are more land shark then others and it does get better

Think I will give them a call to be on the safe side. We have been doing about 15 mins an eve training (any longer he wonders off to sleep) he's learnt to come, sit, and lay, I'm also teaching him stay at the moment and obviously all these commands will be ongoing as if you don't have a "decent" treat or he is not in the mood he won't listen so will keep repeating the training. I'm hoping he will grow out of it but it worried me a little as he does get grouchy. I noticed even at 8 weeks he got under our bed, I led down to get him out and he took a aggressive stance and snarled at me, he's always been grumpy, want to get it sorted though

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I would have a chat to them, honestly you cant beat a breed specialist, whats usually good with welfare too, is because its welfare they have usually had every problem behaviour wise known to man either because of rescues coming in, or personal experience with the breed. A lot of it is probably over zealous, hyper over the top behaviour. There are a couple of things you have said though about him being hesitant and unsure on his walks, I know he hasnt been going out long, but if he is a slightly nervous, uncertain pup or continues to be, stressy dogs can be a little bit more reactive to things. Could be because it is early days. I notice you said too that he was a bit later going out and socialising, that could have an impact too. They do have fear periods as well, with a fear period, its usually an outgoing brave pup, suddenly becomes uncertain and even fearful of sights sounds and situations again, and it tends to be a phase and the phase handled correctly they soon pass through it and get back on track. A fear period is different though to a dog who is unsure from the beginning and continues to be all the time.

Did you see him with the litter and mum? You can sometimes tell a lot or get an inkling how they react within the litter, You can get the ones that trample over the others and push their way forwards and couldnt care who they trample in the process, ie pushy little devils, you then get the sort of middle for diddle outgoing but laid back to a certain extent, and then you can get outsiders ones that hang back or separate from the litter, these tend to be not so outgoing. Obviously there is ones sort of inbetween these but just to give you an idea of sort of extremes.

Dont know a lot about DDB but I should imagine that, they would need early socialisation and early training and kind yet firm but fair handling to get the best out of them. Bit like the Malamute really, and if you do lapse I should think they could be a bit of a handful not necessarilly in a nasty aggressive way, just a rule the roost way for want of a better description.

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He cowers a little when being walked and a car drives past, he sometimes just stops, we bumped into a lady with a beagle today and they said hello to each other and were well behaved. when he stops i try to lure him with treats but sometimes he's determined and digs in, what would be the correct thing to do if the treats don't work? i drag him a little and sometimes he starts to walk again, other times it doesn't work, i had to carry him a little today.

The litter were all very chilled out when we viewed them, the parents were more active than the pups, they all sat and stared.

Going to contact DDB welfare like you said for some advice.

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