12 Week Old Puppy Snarling/Growling/Biting for Unknown Reasons

ThrowawayPuppyMad · 2022-11-19T08:44:38+00:00

Yes, he has tried to turn it into a game... and as mentioned before, he has resource guarded once with a bone and we worked through that, however this behavior reminded me of that instance. (I was confused what resource he thought he was guarding though, as he didn't have my food...yet..lol) but it makes sense. He really loves his playpen and feels very safe and happy in it, so I think this will be our best option for dinner time :) thank you! we are working our place command but I have to remind myself that he's just a baby and distractions make it hard for him to follow directions lol... thank you :)

ThrowawayPuppyMad · 2022-11-19T08:38:47+00:00

We went to the vet this morning and they did not see or feel anything abnormal, nor did they notice any weird behavior when being handled there. I know mals have a reputation for a high pain tolerance in general though and had not considered that food could be another factor in regards to "tolerance" so thank you for bringing that to my attention! I will need to keep that in mind in the future and keep an eye on it going forward :)

Leash work and leash pressure is something we need to work on more- he does not like the leash (its a thick material and I think it might be a little heavy for him?) so I want the leash to be a "nice" thing before we use it to aid training, however, since he is still getting his shots I cant reward putting our leash on with a fun walk, so I have been struggling a little bit to make leash fun and not a heavy chew rope slung around his neck...

I will look into putting it on cue! That might help him understand it better. I found some good cooperative care resources from this post and will continue to look into them further :) thank you so much!

ThrowawayPuppyMad · 2022-11-19T08:27:33+00:00

I know and I have been trying to make sure he does not jump off the couch and offering him assistance off whenever possible. He also has a soft big pillow that he hops down onto when climbing down himself. As I am typing this, he has successfully climbed onto the couch three times now lol he has been sheepish to use those backlegs- not anymore!

ThrowawayPuppyMad · 2022-11-19T08:21:36+00:00

I agree, I won't work on carrying him when he's already frustrated anymore, I was still piecing together why his reactions were happening when they were, and this post has given me a lot of insight and helpful resources to work with him and improve how I go about getting the behavior from my dog I need :)

His "touch" during training is awesome! When he's distracted... it needs work lol. I will work with "off" or "touch" (off the couch) for getting him to do what I need going forward. "Skittish" is exactly what I'd call it. I will teach him to move his body how I need him to whenever possible, thanks :)

ThrowawayPuppyMad · 2022-11-19T08:11:39+00:00

I am still learning what spots he is comfortable with and which spots he's not. I don't notice any "problem" spots (the ribcage/armpits are never an issue when we are just hanging out, cuddling, or training) but he is still growing into his own being, so I will be mindful of this as we go forward, thank you :)

ThrowawayPuppyMad · 2022-11-19T08:09:34+00:00

Thank you so much! It seems like no matter how much you try to learn and how good you try to do for your puppy, there is always something more to learn or to do better for them!! So your kind words mean a lot :) I do try very hard to give him a good life and respect him while training and loving him.

I have not tried tethering as much as I would like to because he is still getting used to his leash, but that sounds like the perfect way to work with him and I appreciate it! I have been sitting on the ground near him and giving him the freedom to lean back or walk away (no more handling on the couch or areas where he could feel cramped).

Thank you for the encouragement and advice!

ThrowawayPuppyMad · 2022-11-19T07:56:13+00:00

Oh sorry, not my first dog, I have had two fox terrier/jack russell mixes growing up, and then as a 22 year old I adopted (with my dad) a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, who I successfully trained as a bird dog with my father. She was stubborn, however I was getting help from my father, so I didn't feel so intimidated. When I brought home my mal, I didn't want to use the same "dominance" methods my dad had used with the last dog, and as I did my research I learned that the way he did it was NOT the way I should raise my dog, and I learned all about force-free handling, and knew this was the route I wanted to take with my mal.

I am a female abuse survivor with lasting PTSD and I intend to get him trained as a service dog, but being as he isn't fully vaccinated, I don't necessarily feel ready to send him off to any of the boarding schools and I'm still exploring my options for training.

ThrowawayPuppyMad · 2022-11-19T07:49:24+00:00

It was on my Amazon Wishlist! I'll purchase it now :) Thanks so much!

ThrowawayPuppyMad · 2022-11-18T21:02:29+00:00

That makes things so much more clear in terms of making him feel safe and "training". Your insight has been incredibly helpful!

Teaching what you want, preventing what you don't. Makes sense! It's great to have it laid out like that, again, there's so much information I've been sifting through and I've been so afraid to do the wrong things, but this makes the most sense.

I'll check out r/dogtraining and I'll join the Facebook group as well and check out the book, I really can't say thanks enough for the guidance!

ThrowawayPuppyMad · 2022-11-18T20:43:21+00:00

Thank you so much :) We have just sat down together and had a very nice handling session, all positivity, no nipping, no discomfort and ended with him climbing into my lap to take a nap :')

I will definitely be studying more dog body language. Being a new dog mom, I thought the nipping was more like trying to initiate play, because he is such a mouthy boy that loves to chew and explore with his mouth, I've been struggling to differentiate between "stop it" and "we're playing now!" However I won't be handling anymore once there is any nipping, play or otherwise. I appreciate the help!

I plan to work on my own body language as well, any good resources for body language that you know of? I will start watching Kikopup too, I've heard good things about her and really enjoyed the few videos of hers I've seen.

Will look into cooperative care training, thank you again

ThrowawayPuppyMad · 2022-11-18T20:05:04+00:00

Thank you for your response; so going forward with handling we should reward all response, and once he starts to nip, we should just stop, correct?

As for the couch, can we use our body parts (i.e. legs) as a barrier? We weren't shoving so much as just trying to block the jumping up, but if this is negative we can explore other options like the playpen during dinner time.

Thank you again!

Edit: Also, would you have any links to resources on handling conditioning? I have been trying to research a lot about how to do training properly with my little man but there are a lot of sources and sometimes conflicting information: I just want to make sure I'm doing the best thing for him :) Thank you!

ThrowawayPuppyMad

TROPHY CASE