Regarding My Bella Boo Bear

[Miss_Miyasa]

Hello everyone, I have been looking for a good site, were I voice some of my concerns about my puppies behavior.

She is now ten weeks old and was adopted from a pet store which fosters humaine societies puppies for adoption. We already have one full grown, 5 year old dalmationesk mix that was adopted with similar cirumstances. We actually had no intention of getting another dog, but her little face just seemed so sad, we couldn't say no. This is my first puppy that I am really attemping to raise, and am of couse, very unsure of myself.

We were told she was Saint Bernard/Boxer mix, but I didn't see the parents, so i can not be sure, but she appears to resemble the mix. As would any concerned parent, I have read every book I could get on the subject, DVR'ed the Dog Whisper on NGC.

My main conerns are nipping behavior turning agressive, inconsistancy, and socialization. I am a full time student and I work for my parents were the dog is actually going to be spending a good part of her time. (We run a mini golf course, and I when we got her as "my" dog, it was decided that she would be a good compainion for me if I am ever alone, just the sight of a large dog would deture alot of "bad" people). She is introduced to everyone who comes in, then I get her to sit and wave for them, and which point everyone fawns. But I am still concernced that this wont be enough people, there arn't many people who come in durring the winter, but summer there will be quite a few.

As I said, this is my first real puppy, how much "nipping and knawling" is normal? I have tried other tests, she lets me rub her tummy and get near her food. But at the same time, some times she gets really bittiy and starts to growl when we try to remove her teeth from our cloths. I have been doing the little mate "yelp" but that only seems to get her more into bitting. Is that normal?

Lastly, inconsitancy (which I think may be the cause of the above problem) Like I said, I am a full time student, so my mother takes care of the puppy while I am away, but it is my step father i have the problem with. Our other dog, while 100+ pounds, is not WELL trained, she has no agression problems or anything but, he insists on raising them the same, where as I want a more disiplined pooch to be at work with me. How can I reduce the dogs confusion?


Miss Miyasa

 

[Doberluv]

You can't make other people raise your puppy the way you want it to be raised. Unfortunately, there's nothing you can do about it. You'd have to be with the dog most of the time in order for it to see you as it's leader. A dog must have a good, confident, fair leader and it needs obedience training and oodles of socialization. I took my Dobe every single day somewhere where he'd meet new people, friendly dogs, new enviornments, different scenery, smells, busy streets, machinery etc.

Making certain that your dog knows who it's leaders are is essential. A 10 week old puppy isn't aggressive yet, but when she's biting, you need to remove the payoff for that. And that is playing with her. End all playtime the second she hurts you with her teeth. Give her a chew toy and walk away. Don't look at her, speak to her or anything for a mintue or two. She needs to learn that interaction with humans isn't going to happen if she touches you with her teeth.

She should get practice giving you toys when you ask. ("give") And then you give the toy back to her. ("take") It's a game, but it teaches a pup to give you items. Practice with the food bowl. Put in a little piece of something which is better than the dog food. Get her use to your hands around her food. Pat her happily once or twice while she's eating. Pick up her bowl one time and move it over a little. Don't harrass her while she's eating, but a little bit of handling her stuff will condition her to being all right with people around her things. Actually, she needs to understand that they're not her things, but yours. She should earn the things she likes by giving you a sit or down first. Obedience training is a good way to show that humans are the leaders. It should be rewarding and fun, short sessions. Commands have to be carried out or the dog won't be well trained. In other words, never give a command you can't enforce. I believe in motivation and reward training methods, not punishment. A dog has to be shown in a way it understands when we want it to do something. Punishing doesn't show the dog what to do. A lot of dogs have behavior problems and poor manners on account of people not learning how to train. So, if you can learn all you can and if your family will cooperate, your dog should turn out fine. If they won't cooperate, there's little chance of having the dog turn out the way you want it to.

I wish you all the best.

 

[aelizilly]

Great info from Dober, the only thing I would add is to plan to get your pup into obedience and/or puppy classes once he is old enough and has had his shots. These classes provide valuable socialization skills, and if you want to see how you can manage your pup around lots of people (as your shop will be in the summer time), take it to petsmart and start training classes in the distractions around that place.

I 100% agree with teaching your pup to earn everything he gets, you can check out the NILIF website at http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm, this is great information. Every since day one, "every time" I feed my puppy, he has to sit and stay before I release him with "ok" to eat. We do this before every time we go outside, and majority of time before we come inside. Establish your lead pack status by things like this and you'll have your pups respect which makes training so much more fun and easier! Good luck!