Puppy behaviour questions

[cnorris]

Hi my name is Christina and I am new to the forum. I have a 6 mth old female named Starlight but we call her Star.

I have a couple questions.

1. Star has been biting, not very hard but I want to break her of this habit, yelping doesn't work. What can I try that might help stop her?

2. She has also started growling, biting & pulling at my feet, ankles and pants and if i try to pick her up she jumps, growls and bites at me. This usually happens when I take her outside to do her business. I have tried stopping and ignoring her but then she just lays down and chews/sucks on my pants. I have also tried continuing what I was doing like walking and pretending shes not bothering me but that doesn't seem to work either. It is frustrating because she does it most with me, and only once in a while for my mom. She has done it in the house and a couple times when I take her for a walk. Some people say that she is just trying to play and others say that its aggression. Is she just trying to play?Could she be venting because she is not getting enough exercise? Or is it a behaviour that I need to stop and How can I stop this?

Any help would be appreciated.

Christina

[dwpmusic]

We, mainly my wife, is having the almost identical behavior with our 4mo old male Cockapoo, Petey. He can and does get pretty aggressive with her sometimes. We can't seem to find anyone to tell us what to do including the trainer we had at PetSmart. She says just ignore it or put him in his kennel. We are really at a loss also. Have you gotten any advice?

[bennyc]

I'm having identical problems. Now 7 months but has been doing this all along. If I stop in my tracks, he will now quit chewing/pulling on my pants, but I don't always have time for it and he sometimes resumes as soon as I start walking again. Also gets very hyper and nips when I am putting on leash for a walk. Interested in hearing some pointers!

[iain]

I will start off by saying that I am not a professional in any way but was able to take our puppy named Popcorn (now 5 months) to puppy training and there was a session on how to avoid this type of behaviour. The trainer stated that the puppy has to be comfortable and respectful of people.

First with the biting. She said to do what you have done (yelping) to let the puppy know that their teeth hurt you. Once the puppy understands to be gentle with their mouth they then have to be told to stop biting or mouthing all together.

She also said that we needed to work with our puppies to get them use to being touched all over in many different situations and that the puppies had to learn to respect us. The focus for gaining this respect was lots of training and not necessarily with stoping a specific behaviour but by working on general obedience and tricks to teach the puppy that they always had to listen to us.

If it is playful or aggressive it seems like a safety issue as you could fall.

I know this is from a trainer and in an ideal world. We had similar issues with my previous dog and so I have been trying things a little different this time and so far so good. Obviously he/we have things to work on but he is very gentle with my wife and I and our three children. My 2 year old can lay on him and Popcorn just lays there and cuddles.

Not sure if it will work but daily training in small sessions may help exercise the puppies mind and give them some focus and respect.

[Jack]

I have a male 10 month old cockapoo - when I took him to obedience class the instructor told us that when he tries to bite to yell out really loud OUCH. This has worked for us. Jack will immediately stop trying to wrap his mouth around my arm/feet.