My puppy is biting and scratching after kennel abuse. How to help?

Hello, Marshall may be having some territorial aggression like a GSD does. He may be protective of his home, you, other pets, and even babies. Therefore, when the trainer takes him and introduces him, his guard is deactivated and therefore is fine. Initial steps are to determine what triggers the behavior. Second step is to avoid the trigger. And the third step is to re-establish leadership. Reestablish leadership with your dog Many people have misconceptions about truly dominant actions from dogs. A dog that walks ahead of its owner or disobeys commands is not expressing dominance but is showing effects of improper training. We are not part of the dog’s pack as many people believe and thus we should not look for a role as the “dominant” dog. Rather you should try to attain leadership by having the dog look to you for guidance in any situation, instead of being submissive or fearful of your commands. Reestablishing leadership can be done by using non-confrontational positive reinforcement techniques. Tools such as head collars can be used to help re-direct your dog’s behavior. Avoid punishing unwanted behaviors Punishment-based techniques, such as leash corrections, alpha-rolling, shoulder jabs, verbal disrupters (such as ‘baaaaa’ and ‘tssssh’), and training discs/chains tossed at dogs, do not address the underlying motivation, require constant direction and force, and typically do no result in positive long term benefits. These types of punishments have been shown to actually increase aggressive behavior. Positive reinforcement training and behavior modification methods focus on changing the underlying emotion of the dog’s aggression, while promoting and rewarding desired behaviors. Hope this helps.

I am so sorry that you are experiencing these problems with biting with Olie. I am sure it is very upsetting for you. First of all rest assured that this is a very normal puppy behaviour. Puppies learn through play biting and it is part of our role as pet parents to help them learn limits. I would not attempt negative reinforcement such as striking Olie or speaking harshly as this will potentially create more serious behaviour issues such as anxiety and fear-aggression. Try some calm corrections and positive reinforcement. If Olie bites you, simply say in a calm voice "no" and stop interacting with her for a few moments. This over time will teach him that biting is not a desired form of play. Also try reinforcing him as he starts to play in a good way by not biting, and give him a small training treat. If Olie does manage to bite hard enough to break the skin be careful of a possible infection. Monitor your wound for heat. Swelling, or discharge. Make an appointment with your doctor if this occurs. If you are struggling with the biting after a couple of weeks of the above suggested training methods, consider puppy socialisation classes or potentially a few sessions with a behaviourist. Other games which may be fun with Olie to redirect him in he is biting too rough, are hide and go seek either with you and another person, or you hide his toys and he has to find them. Or classic fetch. I hope this was helpful!

One recommendation I have for all new puppy owners is to go to a puppy training class. Even if you've raised puppies before it's always a great refresher course for you and Olie has never been to school before. Right now she's probably a little bit too young, you do want to make sure she's had several set of vaccinations and your veterinarian says she is healthy enough to go to class. Another great resource is how to raise a perfect puppy by Dr. Sophia Yin. https://drsophiayin.com/product/perfect-puppy-in-7-days-how-to-start-your-puppy-off-right/ Barking and biting our normal puppy behaviors but they do need to be addressed so that they do not interfere with being a good companion. When she is biting tried to redirect her to a toy or other objects she is allowed to bite. Www.veterinarypartner.com also has some good articles on puppy training. Good luck and thank you for using PetCoach

This can be a very frustrating stage with some puppies! Biting and mouthing is a very normal behavior for pups this age - but if you think that what Dexter is doing is excessive, an appointment with a veterinary behaviorist would be the best option. He/she can evaluate him in person to help determine if what you're seeing is normal or not, and can show you some strategies to help with this behavior. A puppy class can be good for socialization and teaching basic obedience skills, but will likely not help at all with an issue like this. You can search for a board-certified veterinary behaviorist in your area here: www.dacvb.org

Some dogs react badly to grooming, especially if made too short. You should try putting an e-collar around his neck to prevent him from biting and causing more damage to himself. If you do not see any improvement within 48 hours- you should take Boo to the vet in order to get treated.

Thanks for using PetCoach! A couple ideas: try something like FreshPatch which essentially sends you a patch of real grass in a cardboard container. Or, try crate training since most pups will not pee in their “house”. Here is a good link for crate training. http://www.aahneenah.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/crate-training-your-puppy.pdf As far as the aggression, you’ll need to get that under control as soon as possible. Any form of aggression toward humans should be met with a firm “no” and stopping all play/walking. Practice just walking by and touching his back end frequently so that it’s normal and no big deal. Neutering often helps with aggression so keep that in mind. Finally, some dog require more intensive care so talk with your vet about anti anxiety medication or professional training.

Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! If the spray bottle technique does not work well, then leash training him and getting him trained with obedience commands is the next step. You need to train him to sit, stay, lie down, come, etc. This will give you better control over Blaze. I typically recommend having dogs like Blaze go to an obedience training course with a trainer to establish these commands. Once he learns these commands, you can command him to stop the behavior by distracting him with these commands. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any further questions and I would be more than happy to help you further.