My 16-18 week old puppy wont stop trying to dominate me

998 Views 6 Replies 5 Participants Last post by K9luv, Dec 1, 2020

Nik85

Discussion Starter · Nov 27, 2020

Hello. My wife and I adopted a puppy a few weeks ago. We had cared for a family dog after her owner passed away, guiding her to the tip old age of 15, but this is our first puppy.

Meeting him, at the shelter, be was the sweetest boy. First night home, same thing. Loving, gracious. He was so proud of the big backyard he had to roam.

A few hours into day 2 we were outside chasing the ball, when he got the zoomies. He started biting at us, not puppybiting, but aggressively biting at arms and legs. The behavior then moved inside. We have plenty of chew toys that he likes to varying degrees but we are his favorite. We've tried not giving attention, walking away, positively re-inforcing good behavior, grabbing toys or giving kisses, and making very little progress. Our friends and family keep telling us he'll move past it, but it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Are my expectations wrong? Is this normal behavior? Are there any techniques we can employ to teach him hes not in control of the situation?

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K9luv

· #2 · Nov 27, 2020

First of all your pup isn't trying to dominate you. They normally have to taught about bite inhibition. Why do you say it's not normal puppy biting?

How much napping does your pup get? A general rule is they need 2hr nap to every 1hr of play. When they are overtired, this is when you may see out of control biting and zoomies.

Pups will keep going if we don't instill in them they need a down time to recharge.

Your pup hasn't learned not to nip yet and possibly this behavior was already imprinted, so it may take a bit more to unlearn, but certainly something that can trained out with patience.

Good luck, I don't have extra suggestions because all dogs understand differently so what I do might not work on another dog.

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K9luv

· #7 · Dec 1, 2020

Nik85 said:
His naps vary day to day, but I will say that hes a very light sleeper. Generally speaking a long nap is an hour, however from8pm-8am he is generally sleeping, though we do wake him up to go out before we go to bed.

The biting seems aggressive. It happens when he is super excited or over stimulated. He has powerful jaws and getting bigger. He was fostered before coming home with us, with 2 older big dogs. From what we could suss out he didnt have much human interaction there.

I have a curious puppy as well and if we didn't create a quiet downtime for him, he would not get a good nap. He just has to know what we're doing all the time. We started putting him in his playpen to nap during the day as well, this helped him as a little pup to nap more soundly.

They get over excited and over stimulated when they are overtired. If he's not breaking the skin, he's not being aggressive, this is normal puppy behavior before they learn how to interact and play with humans. If he was being aggressive, you'd know it. Pick a method for teaching him bite inhibition and stick it out, everyone in the household on the same page and he'll get it eventually. Try to really be in tune with your pup and what works to teach him.

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