we have 9 week old staffy bitch . who likes to nip bite ankes (mostly my 2 kids -who are 12 and 10) . shes learnt that i dont want her eating leaves .delibratly taking them to be chased around the house and garden like tom and jerry.any tips on controlling the playso its not to agresive . i am crate traing her too . i put her in while we were eating and she growled and barked at me . first time she has done this .

Hi Adam,

Welcome aboard ;)  Try looking HERE - very useful for training re. nipping, play biting, any inappropriate mouthing right from day one.

Do try and keep games to a level where the puppy does not get over excited - particularly with the children.  Too much running around, screaming, even just excited giggling can make it more difficult to find the "off switch" with a puppy.  HTH, Regards Teri :) 

Hi Adam

Its perfectly normal behaviour for a pup of this age. I agree with Teri that you should try and keep games low key for a while until she has a greater attention span and you can switch her off so to speak!

Try distraction when she gets over excited and direct her attention to a ragga toy. If she persists, give her a firm no and calm her down. Failing this pop her out of the room, preferably where she can see you all still (hopefully this will teach her that if she wants to be with you she needs to behave), and leave her for a few minutes. When she starts getting excited, stop playing with her and allow her some quiet time.

It does take a while but she will get it together over the coming months. In the meantime, secretly try to enjoy this mischievous behaviour as much as possible as they grow out of these funny ways so quickly :)

Good luck x

i have never had a dog before so this is new to me . i wasnt expeting growling ive just ordred the perfect puppy book for tips . we have only had her two weeks she hated crate at first . sleeps a little better but howls from 3.00 am

If you dont mind me adding i hope you get up throughout the night to let her out to the toilet? as maybe this is why she cries from 3am also do not use your crate for any type of punishment at all or she will accustom the crate to be a bad place try feeding her in the crate with the door open and putting her in with it closed while you are around lets say tidying up or something so she knows its an ok place to be my pup is a staffie too 20weeks old and he still nips ect hopefully they get out of it but make sure you are indeed firm  with her

Hi Adam
I hadnt had a dog before either until I got my male Staffie a year ago and its a steep learning curve I can tell you! Sox still play growls now if we are playing tug of war but I can kiss him and put my face right to him when we are playing so I know hes fine. Really you should take it as a compliment as it can be a sign of a confident dog and yours clearly feels confident enough to voice her little opinion in your home at this early age. I have to say though I never crate trained so I cant offer any advice on this.

What I can say is that it is so important to spend the next few weeks learning what makes your puppy tick so that you can gain control (for want of a better word) of her, I found this invaluable and I can now anticipate what he will do in most circumstances allowing me to keep him safe and out of trouble! For instance I know that Sox isnt at all food orientated and sometimes goes for a few days without eating much at all. However, he lives for his toys and I know that a good play session is the way to get him to do what I want him to do. Also, be consistent in whatever approach you take. Its easy to try lots of different training techniques when you are a first time owner and while they are young as you are so keen to get it right but this could confuse the puppy. Almost any kind and ethical training will work as long as you are consistent and you pup knows what you are asking her.

Sounds like you are doing a good job though so keep doping what you are doing :)

Feel free to PM me anytime if you need to compare notes!

Hi Adam -

1. The more you chase her for eating leaves, the more she will eat them and bring them in the house.  It's fun - you've made it into a game.  Stop chasing her, even if that means she eats a few.  Leaves are not important to you.  By chasing the dog, you are telling her that leaves are very important and a valuable resource that you want.  You need to teach her they're not important.  Ignore her when she has leaves.  It might take a week or so but the behaviour should stop.

2.  The link Teri posted is great for nipping and play biting

3.  I'd be v worried at her growling at you when you put her in the crate - out of your post, that's the thing that worried me most.  She's still only 9 weeks old, so there's plenty of time to change things round, but it is concerning.  If it gets worse you might want to see an APBC approved behaviourist, for which you need a referral from your vet.  From your description it's not clear why she growled - was she guarding her crate from you?  Or was it a protest because you crated her? 

Hi 1-2-3,

I totally agree that the puppy will think there is a great value to leaves and it would be best if Adam and family tried to ignore this behaviour as much as possible - certainly if there is no doubt that none of the leaves are from toxic plants, shrubs or trees.

Re. your point 3 however, at 9 weeks I certainly would not be overly concerned (if at all) at growling - the puppy has as yet had no opportunity to learn manners!  I had 3 pups from my litter at 11 weeks - 1 for myself, and two others I was running on to send the better pick to the US.  If you'd heard the snarling and growling that went on between them you may well have thought a behaviourist was needed PDQ and while they only rarely growled at us for intervening when games were become too rough they did indeed growl ;)  None of them went on to do so when by 12 weeks each was receiving the individual attention and training they deserved - they simply didn't know any better and basic socialising and housetraining was hard enough to be getting on with at that age.

For a much older puppy - say 16 + weeks, I'd be concerned not at the pup's behaviour but that the owner was unable or unwilling to prevent it but I think suggesting a behaviourist for perfectly normal behaviour at such a young age is likely to frighten the OP into thinking they have an abnormal or vicious pup :(

Regards, Teri  :)

Puppies do growl...it's one of the only 2 ways they can use their little voice.
At 9 weeks I wouldn't be worried about that at all.

she growld because i crated her while we were eating . she was under the table since weve had her shes useually been asleep or playing . so i put her in the crate as i dont want her under our feet when she/s bigger . the growl wasnt nasty she never sets teeth she barked at me a few times as if she was telling me off for putting her in there.
  the other growling is when she wants to play chasing games . again no setting her teeth as her tail is wagging .my wife says its just playing but id find it intimidating when shes fully grown up if you no what i mean.

My pup used to bark at me when I told her off I still use to carry on an ignore it she never barks at me now when told off,but she is more difficult with trying to stop the playbiting,have just copied the link from Teri,re biting and am going to implement that quite firmly as she is now almost 6 mnths old and doesnt seem to be doing quite what she should with regards to the Ian Dunbar article so as from today everything changes on that score,but your pup is still young and you will be surprised as week by week goes by you will notice certain unwanted behaviours stopping I am saying all the time she hasnt done this or that for a long time.Just keep on with the training and being persistent,you will all get there.

yeah ive discouraged her from digging holes in the lawn and she hasnt done it for a few days . i just want her to be a warm loving dog when shes older im planning to go to training classes to. do spaying them calm her down as we were planning to let her have a litter later her in her life .

Hi - the growling when you play games is fine - that's just normal dog behaviour and comes from excitement and fun, not from aggression.  As she grows older you'll get to know your dog better and you won't find it intimidating or scary....

Hi Teri - I agree that growling between litter mates is nothing to worry about - but am slightly more concerned at growling at a human, whatever age the pup is.  But without actually hearing the growl, it's impossible to know if it was a play growl or a 'go away, I hate you' growl.  Like I said to Adam - keep an eye on it and _if it gets worse_ you might want to see someone about it - no need to do anything about it just yet, but really keep up the socialisation with other SAFE dogs and people.  Mine haven't growled at people (but there again I've never had a staffie). 

Adam - don't tell him off when he growls, just ignore him - telling him off creates (potentially) more problems.

i think they are play growls . when shes excited she goes down on her front paws arching her back end up growls and barks a few times with her tail wagging for me to like stalk her wainting to be chased around the garden . if i ignore it and throw a toy up the garden she forgets the chasing and goes running after the toy

Yes, that's the classic 'play-bow' - an almost irresistible invitation to play. :)

nothing to worry about then do they grow out of it ?

Hopefully not - no more than you'd want them to stop wagging their tails! A happy, playful dog is a joy!
:)

You will find as she gets older you will be able to tell the difference between a play growl (mine do that all the time) and a serious growl (mine do that at the binmen and postman!)

Hi again 1-2-3 ;)

>I agree that growling between litter mates is nothing to worry about - but am slightly more concerned at growling at a human, whatever age the pup is

No disrespect intended, but how exactly do you expect a puppy who has so recently spent it's entire life playing, living, eating, squabbling, exploring and communicating with it's littermates both physically and vocally to suddenly differentiate between species and situations "Oh, but I won't growl anymore because dogs shouldn't do that to humans"   Doesn't make sense to me I'm afraid.

Have you seen or more importantly heard pups in a litter from about 3/4 weeks on?  They growl and snarl constantly - frankly it's hilarious :D  You pick up this tiny little thing who hasn't quite perfected the art of walking without falling over and it snarls at you like a lion cub LOL. 

The point is, I think we have to identify what is perfectly normal, natural canine behaviour at a particular age and not immediately try to label everything as being an underlying problem when in the case of such a young puppy growling - even when not in play - it is not a cause for alarm or concern.  It is nothing more than a reflex reaction by the puppy when being prevented from doing something it likes or made to do something that it doesn't or is worried about  - IMO it's a "manners issue" rather than a behavioural one :)

Regards, Teri  

i supose weve made rod for our own backs when she first came it was cuddles on the settee  now we give cuddles while sitting on the floor . if we are on the settee she wants up and when we refuse she lets out a tame growl i supose its normal . btw she loves being fussed and always licks us

its proberly my total inexpereince with a dog as i never owned one as a kid ive always been wary .but she will lye down on her back for ages for chest and belly tickles

Hi Adam,

Enjoy this stage because it really doesn't last long - and of course all the little "accidents" are reminders that they still need lots of training.  The best way to achieve the results you want of a happy, well adjusted family pet is to ignore her misdemeanours and praise her lavishly for everything she gets right ;)  Try not to let her get over excited as this can lead to either the puppy being hurt or her finding it rewarding to chase, chew, yap etc.  If things look like moving in that direction, take some "time-out" - leave her for 1 or 2 minutes alone and then don't instigate play immediately on your return to the room.  IMO it is better that when things get out of hand the puppy is left in the room rather than removed to another one - by picking them up to remove them you would simply be (in a dog's eyes) rewarding the behaviour.

Good luck and have fun.  Best wishes, Teri :) 

thanks for the advice . getting that the perfect puppy book to so hopefully that will help me understand dog behaviour

The barking/growling as you put herin the crate sounds like simple frustation :) Not unlike a toddler :P
I'd tackle that by doing little "frustration" exercises so over time  (and it will take some time) she learns to control herself.

One is, to always ask for and get a Sit before meals, and before lead goes on. Dog will be excited but will need to control herself and will find doing so ultimately rewarding IF you train with rewards (so start with very basics...)

Another, more advanced, is to get her to sit and wait off lead eventually, whilst you throw a fav. toy. She waits for up to 30 seconds, (eventually :P ) and then is sent for the toy!

Use a release word such as "free" or "ok".

She sounds fine, don't worry :)

Lindsay
x

she is getting the sit control quite good fetch and retreve is another . im hoping when shes older i can give her treats as rewards to make it more fun and controlable

Is there a reason as to why she can't have food treats/ rewards now?
Sorry just wondered... :)

as usually it's fine to give 'em to puppies :)

Lindsay
x

pet shop told me shes too young at 9 weeks

If you give her little bits from her normal food ration I'm sure she'll be fine, and it'll speed up the bonding process.
:)