Biting, growling HELP! 7 weeks old

I'm finding it difficult to prove to Reggie who is boss & he's starting to growl & bite- with a 20 month old toddler this isn't good!

I know he is still so young & is still settling in but it's getting to be an every day thing. He has a hyper hour or so where he snatches, runs behind furniture- getting stuck. Jumping up, chewing etc. When we go to correct him with a firm no & move him away he growls & turns his head to bite us, showing his teeth, sort of snarling.

It's getting very frustrating as I am unsure what to do with him at the point, I obviously don't want to hit/hurt him but at the same time I can't just walk away from it as he will think he's won or he's dominant over me.

This morning he was extra cheeky & he bit me twice, I put him out in the garden for afew mins so I could have a breather & sort my son out as he had gotten worked up over me chasing Reggie, trying to be firm & put him to bed- didn't work once!

So I'm after some (more) advice please- what can I do to help stop this?

I know the hyperness is probably boredom & it's just him burning off energy as he's still a you g pup, but what can I do- he's not allowed on walks yet, I can't go out in the garden to play at the min- my son is still so poorly & just wants constant cuddles & hubby has this sickness bug where he's pretty much living in the bathroom to be close to the toilet!

Here's a link that should help

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

Make sure to supervise any interaction with your child and be patient and consistant. Also be aware of the teething phase as well.

hes being a pup

Thanks Jstaff, I've had a read through & will be continuing with all the advised as we are already doing

Steve, I did mention that I'm aware he is still a young pup & this is probably quite normal but it's just the fact that he is beginning to snarl at me, my husband & my child. I've never experienced this with other pups before.

I came on here for advice as I'm sure the best place to ask about staffys behaviour is to experienced staffy owners, this is new to me so I appreciate you all taking the time to read & reply.

Nothing wrong with asking. We've all been first time handlers before

When he nips, don't try to push him away - that will be taken as an invitation to play & will reinforce the bite. Say "No" and completely ignore him - don't even look at him. If he carries on, put him out of the room for a few seconds. But you'll have to do this every time, and you'll need to do it for your son as well!

It really will get better, although you may have to keep on at it for a while because he never learnt bite inhibition from his siblings.

Typical puppy if he bites say no and put him out the room ,staffys hate to be ignored

When you say put him out of the room do you just mean in the kitchen or in his room- with the stairgate on?

We usually put him in his bed but he just runs out again, so surely it would be the same thing if we just put him in another room?

If you put him in his bed, he will start to see his bed as a place of punishment.

Whichever room you're in, put him outside & shut the door for a few seconds. Once he's calm, let him back in.

Yes Caryll is right put him out of the room you are in leave him there for a minute then when he is calm let him back in.Olly was a bugger for nipping etc when we got him from the rescue but this worked as staffys hate to be away from you,we did this with our last two and it worked ,but you have to be firm .

7 weeks is far too young to have left his mum. If I'm not wrong pups can leave their mum and siblings at 8 weeks. I have two staffies. When Harley was a puppy he was such an angel, he didn't give me any problems. My girl muffin was a bugger. She used to play fight with me and nip me hard, she also snarled (in a puppy way). This stage only lasted a few weeks. I never put her out outside, I just stopped playing with her and completely ignored her. Does your pup have his own toys? When he nips you say no in a stern manner and give him one of his toys. He will soon realise it's ok to bite toys and not hands. reward him when he stops nipping and starts playing with his own toys. Remember your pup is not nasty or trying to hurt you, he's just trying to get your attention. Having a pup is lovely but can be hard sometimes.. you must be patient and show him loads of love. Soon he will grow up and all his puppy naughtiness will be a thing of the past.

Hitting won't work so even though it's frustrating, don't resort to that. What you're already doing is right, just that it takes a while for them to get the hang of it, especially since he's younger. Loki was biting and being a pest for quite some time, it was worrying cos I thought it was aggression or that it'd never stop, but everyone here reassured me and told me to stick with it and he's much better now some dogs learn quicker than others. Reggie might take longer to understand, but he will as long as you stick with it. Stay strong and stubborn

they all learn ,and staffys are quick learners its amazing how quick they do.

I have removed some posts from here this forum WON'T advertise or supporting abusing pup!!

noah had a problem with biting (only me!!) but he was an only one and his 2 siblings died, so he had no play fighting etc, so i came on here and asked advice, i was told by a few, say no!! ignore him etc, i did this for 3 months
and i'm glad to say at 5 months old he will only "mouth" me, it DOES work but takes time and patience, he will still nip me if we are "rough-housing" but i say no and he will stop, albeit with a moaning growl...................

I know I'm often saying this, but what we have to understand is that everything a puppy does is a 'behaviour' which is totally natural and acceptable to him/her and his/her siblings.

What we have to do is show the pup which 'behaviours' are acceptable to humans and which ones aren't. By ignoring the ones you don't like you are taking away the trigger for the pup to do that thing. By praising the the ones you do like you are reinforcing the fact that they are good.

I know that ignoring won't always work 100% of the time, and you may need to remove the pup from the room for a few seconds to reinforce the fact that you don't like a certain behaviour, but with patience and perseverence it will work in the end!

The was no abuse, we didn't sit on her or hold her with force.
You make it sound like I kicked her to the floor and held her down with my foot

possle wrote:The was no abuse, we didn't sit on her or hold her with force.
You make it sound like I kicked her to the floor and held her down with my foot

I know you feel agreived by some of us saying that you did the wrong thing by holding your pup down, but it really is a bad thing to do. Nobody's saying you would deliberately abuse your pup, but the practice of holding a pup down is not good. It's the Cesar Milan Alpha Roll - and it's almost guaranteed to cause more problems than it solves. From a personal point of view I wouldn't be able to ignore the fact that someone had done that, and I would feel obliged to say that it's wrong.

If that was the only time you did it, then there's no problem. If you are continuing to do it (and you've said that you're not so again, that's fine!) then I will continue to advise you not to.

Thank you Caryll.
If that had been said the first time rather than removing post due to puppy abuse.
I would never do it now, it was a quick solution when she was young due to us having a little boy.
its all positive reinforcement with all good behaviour now

Tha is for clearing it up

possle wrote:Thank you Caryll.
If that had been said the first time rather than removing post due to puppy abuse.
I would never do it now, it was a quick solution when she was young due to us having a little boy.
its all positive reinforcement with all good behaviour now

Tha is for clearing it up

Charlie has what we call his "mad" hour at around 7pm, he rushes round jumping over things, scratches at his bed and barks at it and is generally mad, lol. We have either let him wear himself out or hubby has played with him with his toys, tug and throw and fetch.

With the biting and nipping every time Charlie touched us at all with his teeth, even if we barely felt it, we yelped like a puppy would and turned away from him for a moment. Then when we turned back to him gave him one of his chew toys to show him he could bite that. It has worked a treat, he is sooo much better now Good luck with that.

A pup snarling, growling and biting IS what pups do.

You have a very normal pup and you should never resort to alpha rolling or anything of the sort. It doesn't solve the problem all you get is a scared dog that's afraid to act normal. It could also lead to your actually becoming aggressive as he grows.

Using time outs, saying no and being consistent is all you need.

Thank you all who have suggested or given advice. I have a little girl and just recently she is chewing everything. She also nips and bites when tired or over excited. sometimes even biting herself. We read all the suggestions and we have been using the "yelp" ignore strategy suggested and it is working a charm. She now instead of biting will mouth and we are hoping with consistency we can stop this! Thank you all again for your information sharing

The yelp strategy is certainly tried and tested and it's good to hear that it is working for Honey.

Don't despair Mrscams - puppies are a LOT of hard work and you already have a poorly son and husband to cope with (I hope they are both a lot better now btw). I'm sure Reggie is not a bad boy but is still being a baby puppy.

Marley did this at that age, usually of an evening once we all sat down i got him a puupy kong and soon as he started getting hyper the kong would get filled up and problem solved we now dont have to use it at all as he enjoys the cuddles and sleep time

I've found some bigger treats that don't fall out of the kong as easily, much better

Is there an update on Reggie? I'd love to hear how he's getting on now .

This is normal puppy behavior! nipping growling etc..gwen will be 5 months old next week and she still does these things so you have a long road ahead..she was better for awhile with the nipping, until she started teething! You just need to be calm and consistent with training..if you are looking for some immediate fix to correct this, there is none..just patience and consistency with training. Also why do you have such a young puppy?? those last two weeks pups learn alot from their mother and litter mates about bite inhibition and he has missed out on this because he was taken away from his mother too soon!!! So it will be a little harder for you than a pup that was taken away from their mother at 8-10 weeks old