hi my 7 week old puppy just bit me in a temper. i was going to put him outside after catching him peeing on the floor and he growled and barked while snapping at me very hard. it broke the skin. is this gonna be a sign of a bad tempered dog or what should i do???

I think it may be a sign of a bad tempered owner..........................

Why do you think he growled, barked and snapped at you.............?

Did you tell him off?

If so he was probably frightened; remember he is only a baby he has not bladder contrrol

What breed is he?

The best way to avoid any misunderstandings is to ignore accidents and praise him whilst he is eliminating in the correct place; this will encourage him to go outside and also contribute to a loving and trusting relationship.

I am afraid I tend to agree... a 7 week old pup would almost certainly not react that way unless it is frightened of you.

How are you housetraining him? :)

Lindsay
X

How many pups and what breeds do you have???  Your previous post mentions a 10 week old pup weeing in the house and this one is 7 weeks. Maybe you've got your hands a bit too fall.

Not meaning to be nasty but one pup is enough for most of us.

no its only the one pup. wen i found him the refuge centre said he was approx 8-10 weeks. my vet recons he is 7 - 9 weeks.

im crate training him. although i hate closing him in there. and when i find him havin an accident i say ah no and take him out to his toilet area....treat and praise wen he preforms! has any one any advice on how to train him through the nite. i noticed today that under his bedding is wet! i think he is pullin it to one side and peeing bless him!!! his crate is beside my bed so that i can hear him crying. he normally does around 5 30....goes to bed at 11pm. should i get up more often even though he dosent cry?

At this age he cannot physically hold his bladder long.  I would not worry if he does not wake you at this stage.  If you use vet bed the wee will stay on the lower side and not trouble him.  I think you just have to be patient, continue with a good regime in the day, ie out after every meal, nap or 40 minutes play with lots of praise after performing outside.  If you are following that regime the chances of his going inside when you are around is minimal so you are never likely to have to chastise him, if it does happen you haven't been following the regime fastidiously enough but we will refrain from shouting NO at you :p :)  Any accidents that happen when you are not there or are asleep should just not be commented on he will improve as his bladder capacity grows.

im not being bad tempered! all i said was "ah no" like it says in the other posts. how cud any one loose their temper with a wee pup? im not like that at all. he is a terrior cross. i think wit a collie.

Joey, its a 7wk old puppy, should not really have left its mum till 8 wks, thats what puppies do, pee on the floor, until you get them house trained. How did you react to the puppy peeing, did you shout at it? if you did  then its been frightened and the only way a puppy knows to defend itself is to snap. 
This is a list of commands I give to new puppy owners
NO --- when a puppy misbehaves

LEAVE----When you want the puppy to leave something alone

OFF--- when you want the puppy to stop jumping up at you or on the furniture

DOWN-----when you want the puppy to lie down

SIT----whenn you want the puppy to sit

DO A PEE --- when you want the puppy to do a pee outside, then give a titbit and lots of praise.ie. good boy/girl

BE CLEAN---when you want puppy to do a poo. then give two titbits and lots of praise, its amazing how quickly the puppy
                 will learn the difference between one and two titbits.

OUCH ----  say this really loudly when the puppy starts to play bite, or try and grab your legs and hands, followed by a loud NO
                 pups will soon learn these two words.
                 Another tip for you is when you are starting to take the puppy out for walks, make it sit before you put on the lead
                 and when people come to the door and come in tell them to ignore the puppy and sit down and not to fuss over the
                 puppy that way it should soon learn not to jump up and will quieten quickly.

                 Hope this helps.  

i didnt shout at him. maybe he thought i was sneaking up on him i dont no. im not sure wat kind of treatment he had before me as i rescued him. so that cud x plain y he got scared?

Sorry Marguerite but there plenty of studies to say that 7 weeks is the perfect age for puppies to leave their mum.

I have always had my pups at this time.

As for commands, one really needs to get the behaviour first before attaching a command to it, otherwise it is meaningless as it has no association.

A puppy does not misbehave and I have had no reason to use the word NO with my current puppy of 12 weeks that I have had for 5 weeks.

I did find your 1 titbit for a pee and 2 for a pooh very amusing though. :D

yeah i heard 6 weeks is old enough. im not sure how long he has been away from "mum". ive only ever had to say "no" and "ouch" wen he chews on my hand too hard, pups need to learn boundaries wen it comes to biting chewing etc... as long as the owner has him supervised well enough he shud do fine with behaviour. shud i try clappin my hand next time i c him pee then take him out? maybe he was abused before

>im not sure how long he has been away from "mum".

If he's only 7 weeks I would guess he's been away from her for as long as you've had him ...

maybe he just wasn't handled enough before you got him and so he reacted badly to being picked up - perhaps you surprised him?

There's really no telling how long he was away from mum for - when I worked in a kennels we got a rescue pup in once, the owners thought him too much work - he was just 4 weeks old, and they'd just been told by a vet he still needed milk and a lot of care so they gave him up.  If yours is from rescue, something similar could have happened so he might have missed out on some socialising there.  Just a thought.

yeah i would agree with you there. thanks. i was just worried that he was gonna be bad tempered. now that i think on it i probably surprised him. this tall thing saying no and reaching down at him!!! i wud be scared!!!! lol :-)

Not to worry joey, when he's a year old or so he might nip you when you pee on the floor

yeah maybe!!!! hehe!! if it got him to pee outside i wud!!!! lol! ;-)

Good luck with him; you may want to invest in "The Perfect Puppy" by Gwen Bailey; lots of good sense in there :)

Lindsay
X

thanks L and everyone for your opinions!

tohme

The "commands" that I wrote about are ones that I use before the pups go to their new homes, I dont shout at them, if they are trying to jump up etc gently push them down and say off, its amazing how quickly they do learn, this is just a guide for my new puppy owners, my pups are reared in the house so I try and start the basic training before they go to their new homes. The one for peeing and pooing does work as well, especially when the pups are getting older, and if you forget to give them 2 titbits they will look at you as if to say, wheres my other one, that is, if I keep a puppy and am training it myself.

i tried your commands! they r good. im gonna stick to them. he has stopped jumpin up already after about ten offs!!!!! thanks T

sorry thanks M! great advise! he just wined at me 2 mins ago i took him out and he peed!!!!! i gave him one big hug and a treat and started jumpin around!!!!! so did my partner!!! we r mad! wot will the neighbours think!!!

your okay joey i do that with my dogs roxy now 18 months and kenny 19 weeks and my neighbours think i've totally lost it!!!

the commands M gave are good, pups need to learn from the start right and wrong and from day one i've used hurry up for toilet, the other thing is to say their names a lot so they respond to it quickly, really helps with recall later on.

as for the biting our kenny was just the same if we tried to pick him up while peeing on the carpet, so we learnt to say no and run to the backdoor calling his name so he'd learn to follow, then once outside say hurry up, with lots of praise, titbit when he successfully did his business outside. honestly he's still very young and its does come with age and patience.

use biological washing powder to clean up any accidents, really good at removing the smells and stops any stains. he doesn't sound to have aggression problems just a normal pup, sure he'll be fine.

thanks roxy. that is very reasuring. we have had no accidents yet today. and i put him on "his"chair in the sitting room with a big soft blanket on it (i no spoilt!!!) and commanded him to stay! he did and started playing with his toys. i just take him out wen he looks to be gettin bored. that way he is happy and i can clean up or watch the telly wit one eye!!!

well lets be honest if you can't spoil them what the point in having them!!! he'll give you so much love and loyalty back over the years that it makes all the trauma and hardwork at the beginning well worth it.

until both of ours we're 14 weeks old we took them out the back every half hour or so even if they showed no signs of wanting to go toilet, also after sleep, eating, playing etc, its tiring and yes you do miss the best bits of your favourite programmes but the efforts well worth it. there bladders just not able to go very long until about 12 weeks or so and they're a bit like toddlers, wait until the very last minute before deciding they want a pee and of course don't always leave themselves enough time to make the back door.

just think how fit you'll be in a few weeks, you sound to be doing a grand job, we all have accidents on the carpets etc, part the joy of dog ownership!!

yeah tell me about it lol!!! we r having a wooden floor put down today in the sitting room! that way he can have all the freedom he wants!

Don't want to put a dampner on your new wooden floor, but if it is laminate be very careful with puppy as he could do himself serious damage if he runs around on it.  It may not even show when he is a pup, but if he slides on it you can do damage for later in life.

wat kind of damage? to his nails? wasnt aware of that.

The most common type of injury will be to his hips.  If a young pup who's bones have not matured and set splays his legs on a slippery floor he can damage his joints.

Even slipping and falling on his side could do some damage to baby bones. 

The problem with these types of floor are the puppy cannot get a grip, like on carpet.  A puppy being a puppy will always tear around and not realise they cannot stop quickly.

I have a laminate floor and my dogs are adult, but they know they are not allowed to play or run in that room.  If they come in, they lay down and settle.

Hi Joey, I agree with everything Sandrah has said, It is very important you do not let your pup run around and skid or jump off furniture onto the wooden flooring.

I have dogs and 3 pups now under 13 months.  To alleviate any possible damage to pups etc, I have found a short term solution that has worked for me.  In Homebase, in the flooring dept, they have bathroom carpet which come in different sizes.  I have two medium ones in my living room.  The rubber backing stops the carpet from slipping on the floor and any accidents are cleaned easily, they simply go in the washing machin.  I also have the larger size in my hall at the back door, cleans muddy paws and stops dirt being trailed through house, again just lift, wash, tumble dry and replace :) The largest size is only around £35 so very cheap for the sake of you pups welfare.

aw thanks. i will have to get some of those then.

Hi,

i don't have anything to add to what has been said already - other than i brought my youngest home at 7wks deliberately as we already had a dog and four cats and research says they bond to the 'pack' better at that earlier age.

Anyway, that's not the point - I wanted to recommend 'The Perfect Puppy' a book by Gwen Bailey - its only cheap but excellent for the basic knowledge and information you need during these first few essential months.

If you have lots of time to spend with the pup you may find her examples and routine a good starting point.

I used her routine (demanding as it is) from the day we brought him home and only once did he go in the house which was his first time home - no big problem, cleaned it properly and made sure to look out for those signs in future, by 12wks we had him sitting next to the door when he needed to go out lol.

Its a great book and im sure others on here will agree - ideal if your unsure about exactly what you should be doing or if you just need to brush up.

Roxanne