10wks old and trying to bite my roommate!

[Ironside]

Church, my 10 week old WGSD seems to have a problem with my roommate as of late...and the problem is escalating.


Church doesn't listen to other people. They can call all he wants, but he's going to stick up his nose and do what he wants when he wants unless I'm the one who calls him. At least this is the behavior he's shown so far.

So its no surprise to me or my roommate when she calls him and he completely ignores her. But today when she took Church and her own dog outside to potty while I was napping, Church took off running and wouldn't come back. She had to chase him down and pick him up to get him back to our apartment. But when she reached for him, she says that he growled at her and tried to bite her!

This isn't the first time he's tried to nip at her, but the first time he's actually growled along with it...

Could it be that he thinks he's more dominant over her?? She's considerably more lax in training with her own dog than I am with mine (despite his new tendency to nip at her...) and isn't ever the one to tell my dog NO when he's doing something bad. Should I suggest she start giving him a firm no for things too when we're both up and he does something bad?

With training I guess I've got the 'tough love' thing going on for my dog, and she's more 'kill em' with kindness' I suppose. Not sure if that would make a difference.

[cowboy17]

First of all, your pup is only 10 weeks old.....he's a gonna be bitin' everything.
Secondly, you probably haven't taught a recall yet....expecting the pup to come when called under distractions is just unrealistic. (being outside with all the noises and smells = distractions)

Now, on the "no" and discipline....
A pup at that aged needs to be ENcouraged not DIscouraged. Corrections (even no) shouldn't be brought into the picture yet.
Shape the pups behaviour.
When it bites on something bad (i.e roomate) - give the pup a toy to bite on - no "no", no "bad dog" no nothing.
This can get extremely frustrating and will take time, but you will develop a strong bond this way, and in a little while, you will see the pup making it's own decisions (Eg, going for a bit on the foot, and then all of a sudden will go for it's toy - make a big deal out of this with lots of praise)

[jennyp]

Normal puppy behavior. Don't get upset, just redirect him to a toy and eventually it will pass. But Always have your pup on a leash when outside if there isn't a fence to keep him safe.

[sashadog]

My GSD growls something fierce when she's playing and it sounds horrible but she'll do it while laying on her back with a 10 week old puppy chewing on her lip. Your boy is probably desperate for play and interaction and I'm assuming your roommate reacts to his nips in a way that simply encourages him to "play more" with her hands, feet, arms, etc. I haven't had a puppy in years but the puppy forum on here is a gold-mine and I would also suggest getting into obedience classes asap. Also, it might be a good idea to keep your puppy separated from your roommate when you aren't there until you and her can get on the same page about training, redirecting, and overall management of his land-shark stage. In my experience, having other people around with drastically different "dog management" styles while your pup is still so moldable can make your job a lot more difficult!

[msvette2u]

If "tough love" includes swatting or spanking your puppy when he's going potty in the house, it could be a reaction to being picked up or even reached for in the act of or shortly after pottying.
In dog rescue, we often see dogs who were disciplined like that (even a "tap on the nose") react with a nip or near-nip when being picked up suddenly.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by Ironside

Could it be that he thinks he's more dominant over her??

No, no, no. Dominance has nothing whatsoever to do with his behavior.

[AgileGSD]

You have a baby puppy, it really isn't far to be already labeling him as "dominant" or a dog who "doesn't listen". If your roommate had to chase him down, he could have been afraid when she grabbed him. Being chased down can be very scary to a puppy that age.

Also at 10 weeks, you should be setting your puppy up to succeed and not putting him into positions where he's "being bad". With young puppies, I use an expen or tether in the house when I'm home that age unless I can 100% watch them. They are crated when I'm not home, no exceptions. These means they never get the idea that chewing up my stuff is fun, I can redirect inappropriate chewing or biting immediately onto appropriate toys, I can enforce "quiet time" in the house when people are doing things (which in turn, discourages attention seeking behaviors from becoming a problem) and housetraining goes very quickly because they have much less opprunity for accidents. Outside, puppies who are past the phase of always sticking close when off leash (varies from puppy to puppy) should never be taken outside without a long line. It is totally natural and expected that most puppies for a short time in their life will always stick close by when outside because they don't have the confidence to stray far from their people. Some puppies this lasts until 16 weeks others not much past 6 or 7 weeks. But the next phase is also totally normal and expected - gaining confidence to venture away from the security of their people and known dogs to explore. Puppies go through developmental phases much the way children do, although puppies go through them much more quickly. Nothing about puppies is permanent. Puppies are extremely easy to work and easy to train, providing you use positive reinforcement and take an approach of setting them up to succeed in what you want them to do and not practice what you don't. IME this approach makes puppies eager to work with you and much more trainable, even as adults.

I encourage you and your roommate to both read through this puppy raising guide. Lots of good info, tips and helps you understand a bit what to expect:
Raising A Puppy | Dog Star Daily

Also check out this video to get an idea of what is possible with even young pups using reward based methods:

smart tricks by a smart puppy - Le, 4 months - YouTube

smart tricks by a smart puppy - Le, 4 months - YouTube

[Sleeperhatch91]

I had the same issue with my WGSD/czech line puppy and posted a very similar thread. I got many, many replies such as "just normal landshark behavior", "its a puppy puppies bite" "there's NO WAY this dog could be showing aggressive tendencies that early" etc... It turned into a 5 page thread with about 90% of people thinking I was just some idiot who couldnt figure out that all puppies bite (despite me having 5 gsd's to this point and coming from a family that raised them.) That was at 10 weeks old.

The dog is now on it's second in home canine behaviorist. All socialization has to be done with a muzzle on. If we have a guest in our home besides the immediate family the dog must be crated or at minimum restrained with a leash and a muzzle at all times. The dog is very overprotective and will attack a stranger for getting to close to a family member (i.e. hugging etc). Its a vicious cycle because you need to socialize a dog to get away from this and believe me this dog was socialized from a very early age. But if a dog is still aggressive then socializing it can become a difficult liability. My guess is that sometimes dogs are just weird mentally like that. As i've said i've had many shepherds before that I've raised cradle to grave. My grandparents bred shepherds for close to 30 years in the 60's and 70's and openly admitted there is just something about this dog... thats how she is. SO while im not saying you specifically will have these same problems, definately do not listen to the people who tell you there is NO cause for concern and then have you realize very quickly that you have a dangerous dog on your hands.. these dogs go from cute furballs to capable of doing real damage if not handled properly seemingly overnight.

[Sleeperhatch91]

Here's the link to my thread.. actually i was wrong it got to 10 pages!

Aggressive young puppy

[shaner]

Originally Posted by Sleeperhatch91

Here's the link to my thread.. actually i was wrong it got to 10 pages!

Aggressive young puppy

My great-grandmother smoked for 50 years and never got cancer. Does that mean smoking prevents cancer? Just because your dog turned out like that doesn't mean every puppy that nips will be vicious. My pup was exactly like the OP's, but she turned out to be a sweetheart.

The fact is that what the OP described is perfectly normal puppy behaviour. My pup bit everything that moved at 10 weeks old, and she didn't listen worth a ****, to me or anyone else. She also sometimes growled or barked and then lunged at us. That's puppy play and is normal.

You can't expect a puppy to listen to the recall command, that's simply unrealistic. If you have your dog trained with the recall command at 12 months, then you're doing good. At 10 weeks? Forget it, that's unrealistic. Your pup may listen to you right now, but without training, it won't last.