Update on growling

Well Nitro is now 8 weeks & 1 day old. He's still growling (especially) at me, when I try to lift him up. He has been brilliant through the night, however. He doesn't like the cold tho, and tries to dart back in to pee on the floor on colder mornings lol!

He had a bit of a mental 10 (as I've been calling them) last night. Whizzing round the room at lightning speed and biting everyone in sight. I've read that's normal?

I tend to find he gets hyper just after food. He's on Beta puppy ATM. But I'm going to the vets Saturday, to see what she recommends.

Bad points so far:

Growling
Peeing on the kitchen floor cuz it's cold or wet out
Biting the crap outta me lol!
Hanging off the kids clothes, whilst growling
Not liking his food much

Good points:

He likes to sit on our laps, when we are on the floor
Falls to sleep at my feet
Loves the car
Listens when he's not hyper

PS: A huge thank you for all your kind words & advice.

Sounds all normal to me things will get easier, I remember those puppy days and wouldn't wish them on anyone although I wouldn't be without her

All very normal. Loki used to stand on the step and aim outside to pee when it was raining or pee on the step to let us know he knows he has to go outside, he just doesn't want to. He sounds like a very normal puppy, with his good moments and bad moments; keep up with the training and the good will overtake the bad

First of all he is adorable! And all very normal behaviour just persevere with it, it will get better! Alfie was a nightmare for a few months with biting and hanging off my clothes and growling but with consistancy and patience i think wr are FINALLY getting past it

All very normal and will improve with training. Also please be aware that if you are on the floor he will see you as a playmate and may nip even more.

That all sounds perfectly normal to me too. I don't know anything about the Beta puppy food but if he appears to be hyper this may be a contributing factor to it. Having said that his behaviour all sounds typical puppy to me so don't worry unduly. Have fun.

Love that pic!!

Beta (like all Purina foods) isn't good! It has far too high a cereal content and very little meat (only about 18%) and the meat there is, isn't good quality.

I'd try a better quality food (for example wainwrights or edens) and make the changeover slowly - over about 7 days.

P.S. The cereal content is known to cause hyperactivity & could be the reason your pup is getting out of hand.

Caryll makes a good point with the food, better quality food will give you less hyper and naughty behaviour

Do you discipline him when he is hanging off clothes the same as you would if he was nipping?? Any time he nips anyone or bites clothing you need to consistently reprimand him.. He does not know the difference between your skin and your clothes so you need to be consistent..

When Steff was going through this nippy stage and it was becoming hard to get my 10 year old to be consistent with her, I gave him a spray bottle of water so if she started nipping him he would say "NO" and 1 quick squirt of water.. It worked well with us

Darcy-may wrote:Sounds all normal to me things will get easier, I remember those puppy days and wouldn't wish them on anyone although I wouldn't be without her

Well it's a battle of wits, for sure lol! But nope, he isn't getting the better of me... Lol! He's lovely tho. Just part devil haha! >

Tara wrote:All very normal. Loki used to stand on the step and aim outside to pee when it was raining or pee on the step to let us know he knows he has to go outside, he just doesn't want to. He sounds like a very normal puppy, with his good moments and bad moments; keep up with the training and the good will overtake the bad

Thanks . Yes, he's a stubborn little Devil. Had to shut the door, just so he doesn't run back in lol! I just tell him "Do your business!" And he looks a bit put out, but eventually complies .

Ellie wrote:First of all he is adorable! And all very normal behaviour just persevere with it, it will get better! Alfie was a nightmare for a few months with biting and hanging off my clothes and growling but with consistancy and patience i think wr are FINALLY getting past it

Yay! That's great news & thanks it's a great reassurance .

jstaff wrote:All very normal and will improve with training. Also please be aware that if you are on the floor he will see you as a playmate and may nip even more.

Good advice, thank you . I tend to only get down, when he's sleepy. Mainly because I'm avoiding letting him on the sofa. But still like my cuddles lol!

Kathy wrote:That all sounds perfectly normal to me too. I don't know anything about the Beta puppy food but if he appears to be hyper this may be a contributing factor to it. Having said that his behaviour all sounds typical puppy to me so don't worry unduly. Have fun.

Thanks Kathy. It's just a battle of who's top dog, I think. And I'm not budging. Lol!

janey wrote:

Love that pic!!

It's great, isn't it? I do love my little devil.

Caryll wrote:Beta (like all Purina foods) isn't good! It has far too high a cereal content and very little meat (only about 18%) and the meat there is, isn't good quality.

I'd try a better quality food (for example wainwrights or edens) and make the changeover slowly - over about 7 days.

Thanks . I'm going to the pet shop tomorrow. So I think I'll take that advice. I've read bad things about his food :/.

7 days? So part new food, part old food mixed?

Thanks for the recommendation.

Caryll wrote:P.S. The cereal content is known to cause hyperactivity & could be the reason your pup is getting out of hand.

Yeah, he goes nutso! Like I've just fed him Red bull or summit lol!

Kylie wrote:Caryll makes a good point with the food, better quality food will give you less hyper and naughty behaviour

Do you discipline him when he is hanging off clothes the same as you would if he was nipping?? Any time he nips anyone or bites clothing you need to consistently reprimand him.. He does not know the difference between your skin and your clothes so you need to be consistent..

When Steff was going through this nippy stage and it was becoming hard to get my 10 year old to be consistent with her, I gave him a spray bottle of water so if she started nipping him he would say "NO" and 1 quick squirt of water.. It worked well with us

I've thought about the spray bottle thing. I was worried it'll make him worse tho?

Yes he gets the same treatment for hanging off clothes. But I remove him from the children's. as they are not strong enough. So maybe the spray bottle would be a good option.

He has time out when being bad. We all leave the room, after I've told him a firm growly "Grr- No!" Lol!

sounds just like jenson!! we used the spray bottle when he nipped/s more so for the kids to use as we tried yelping but that seemed to encourage him more lol .. now whenever he sees the bottle he stops instantly bless him!!
took us a while to toilet train him as he refuses to put his bum anywhere near a floor thats not carpeted ... even lyeing down on our kitchen lino is a big no no for jenson lol
it all works out in the end, we still got heaps to go with him as he is only 15 wks but he has come along so much in such a short space of time its amazing.

I'd use a spray bottle as a last resort, but not before! It's very easy to turn a happy, well adjusted pup (yes, even with all the nipping) into a nervous, shy dog.

After yelping, moving away from the situation and my daughters being constantly nipped the spray bottle was introduced. jenson is no where near shy or nervous he just stops instantly biting when my 7 yr old daughter picks up the spray bottle and carries on playing nicely. So many people advised us to tap the nose but i would not do this, spray of water works wonders on his neck/back not his face etc.

Yes, in your case it has worked well & I'm glad it did. All I'm saying is that the other methods should be tried first, with the spray being a last option.

Certainly I would never recommend tapping the nose or hitting in any way!

oh he's so damn adorable

Duke is now 17 weeks old, for the first month and a bit that we had him your description is pretty spot on for how he behaved. He was in either PSYCHO mode or sleeping. Nipping everyone, hanging of slippers and dragged around as you walked ect ect. He even pierced my dads ear with his little nippers... He still has the psychos every night, at 7pm-8pm - you can set your watch by it pretty much.

Just wanted to let you know speaking from very recent experience it does get better with perseverance and training. We took him to puppy school and after 3 weeks there is a big improvement..

more pics if you have any, he's just so cute, i think im in love.