snappy puppy

hi everyone, my puppy is 10 weeks old and mouths for england, she's now started to growl and snap. This morning whilst playing a game with my 6 year old daughter she suddenly left the game and lunged and snapped at my 4 year olds face. he's terrified and i just want to know that this is perfectly normal, doesn't mean she's dangerous and ways of stopping it please.

jules

How much rest does your pup get? They can quickly become grumpy if they're overtired much like human kids do!

I wouldn't worry too much at that age it's not aggression and simply play behaviour. If you are on the floor with them they will see you as a playmate. You will have to train her not to mouth which will mean sitting everyone in the family down and discussing the rules. Here is a link that will help. Also I wouldn't leave her unsupervised with your children but you could ask their "help" in training her

http://staffy-bull-terrier.co.uk/stopyourstaffypuppybiting.html

Tommy growls and snaps but it is definitely over excitement for the snapping , it just takes time to get them calm and make them learn to sit and be patient . Biggest problem for us is when Tommy comes in from the garden after playing Gladiators with Tilly and he just comes flying up on to the bed or wherever like a snappy little crocodile cos he is hyper. I am really not concerned about it as we are working on it but just be very cautious around young children, if they get hurt it would be a puppy accident and nothing else

As already stated, it is perfectly normal puppy behaviour and not aggression in any way. When she mouths or snaps, yelp loudly and completely ignore her, and if she continues, put her in another room for a few minutes. If you can see that she is getting tired and over-excited, stop the playing and let her rest. At 10 weeks, they can be very nippy and a bit of a nightmare, but as long as you are firm and consistent with your training, and everyone in the house does the same things, she'll soon get the message. She is certainly not dangerous though, and she will calm down as she gets older and with training.

Thanks everyone, i kind of knew it was just playfulness but like someone else to tell me, having lots of stick of my mum for having a 'dangerous dog' round kids and obviously it stuck in my mind.

She is lovely, we try all the yelping and stop playing and ignore her so she'll go and do something else she shouldnt so we have to go to her. Have put her in her cage a few times but dont want that to be a punishment area, but sometimes she needs to calm down.

we are getting the kids to train and play with her with supervision so hopefully she'll calm down, cant wait to take her walks to wear her out.

Thanks again for all your kind words and advice

Julia