Puppy aggressive towards toys

[Kama]

We gave our 5 month old cocker spaniel some soft toys (a stuffed dog and bear). He displays a lot of aggression towards these toys. He will grab them and shake them violently and attack them like he is mauling them. Is this to be expected? Is it just his prey drive kicking in?

He hasn't show any aggression towards us. He is mouthy sometimes and will try to bite, but not hard. We are working to get him out of this habit. But, other than that, he is not an aggressive dog.

Seeing him act like this with the stuffed toys did get me a bit worried though..

 

[RedyreRottweilers]

Now now. The puppy is just enjoying himself with his toys.

However, you do need to work on the mouthing issue. Time for training class if you have not been there yet.

 

[mojozen]

That's just what dogs do. They "kill" their toys and take great delight in unstuffing them as quickly as possible especially if they have squeakers inside. It's perfectly normal, since dogs are predatory animals. Cats have similar play habits to this - although they are mostly pounce, snatch up, throw in the air, and shake.

Other than the mouthiness, I wouldn't worry about your cocker killing his toys. He's just being your average playful dog. Good luck with him.

 

[tintinabulation]

aww how cute. my Coco also tends to kill his toys. it's only normal for the little darlings.

but the part about him trying to bite... uh, not so good.

 

[Kama]

However, you do need to work on the mouthing issue. Time for training class if you have not been there yet.

They are not hard bites, he just seems to do it every time he gets very excited. But, I know we need to stop him. So, yes, we are trying to work on it. I haven't tried anything too aggressive with him yet. So far, every time I catch him doing it, I just give him a firm "NO", "STOP" in a very authoritative voice.

And we are enrolled for a training class, the first one is this week!