Bringing puppy home too early??

maggiesmum · #1 06-10-2007, 05:13 PM

I am new to the board and after reading so many posts on here I think that alot of our Maggie's behavior may be because we brought her home when she was 5 weeks old. That was too early to take her home wasn't? The lady we got her from was not a puppy mill or anything like that. She had references and we saw the parents on site. Also, our vet knew her and said it was ok to take the puppy home at that age. From the very beginning I thought she was more aggressive than our first boxer. I know every dog is different but she is so "mouthy" on all of us, especially our 8 year old daughter. She also is very boxy with her paws and scratched all of us on our face and arms. I know she is teething and we try to distract her with appropriate chew toys but it is very frustrating. When I try to correct her she barks at me or runs from me. She is very good about potty training, very few accidents anymore. She is also good about sleeping in her crate all night. I love her to death but she is so high maintenance. Do you think her behavior is just part of being a puppy or does she have real behavior issues? I can't decide. She is 4 months old now. I don't think she is mean aggressive, I just think she plays too rough.

tianthai · #2 06-10-2007, 06:23 PM

My dog did the same when he was about your dog's age. He was teething. We woke up and found some of his teeth sticking to his toys or on the floor. When he bit me I yelped or walk away and turned my face to one corner for a couple of minutes. I also gave him a lot for bone from Nylabone. You just have to be very consistent, every time she bites, stop playing with her, say uh, uh (I don't say NO, it seems overused), walk away to the corner, turn away from her, just for a couple of minutes.
Good luck!

MaggienDeuce · #3 06-10-2007, 06:42 PM

This sounds like typically puppy behavior to me. I would find a good puppy level obedience class to help with basic training. Also, its never too early to start with NILIF training so I would suggest doing a seach on BW and start with that. She sounds like she is off to a good start on the house training and crating. Just hang in there and remember she is just a baby so she is still learning how to make you happy. They are alot of work when they are pups but they are so precious and they'll never be a puppy again so try to enjoy it while it lasts.

nswain · #4 06-10-2007, 06:47 PM

I think some of the mouthy behavior may be due to leaving her mom & siblings so young... most puppies learn (or start to learn

) not to bite when their mom corrects them. Mom will tolerate a certain amount of mouthing but when the puppies bite too hard, she'll correct them... and they learn bite inhibition. Five weeks sounds so young to me - have never heard of a breeder letting puppies go so soon.
We got our girl at 8 weeks but she had similar problems as a young puppy... to some degree all puppies do... what worked for us was to say "OUCH!" when she mouthed, let her know it hurt us. Also when she got wound up and rough, we would ignore her - walk out of the room if necessary - so that she learned she couldn't get play or attention by being rough. And be sure to praise her and play with her when she is being calm or not mouthing.
And I'm sure some of the behavior will pass on its own when she's done teething, too. Good luck

MomofMillie · #5 06-11-2007, 06:33 AM

I think that is typically too early, but the behavior you're describing is very similar to how Millie was about 1 month ago. Your baby is probably more mouthy becasue she didn't get the proper socialization and bite inhibition from her litter mates. BUT I don't think you're doomed!

Millie is 6 months old now and the mouthiness has decreased SUBSTANTIALLY. We never get any barking back talk either anymore. It is probably just teething combined with the lack of inhibition, I think Millie is pretty much done so her bad behavior stopped. The suggestions about saying "OW" and ignoring are good, try that. What we also did was put a short leash on a door knob and gave her "time outs" when she was being espcially rowdy or nippy. There are no toys she can reach from there, and she is away from us across the room. Believe me, it didn't take long for that to work. Now if she is acting up, all I have to do is go get the leash and hang it on the door knowb for her attitude to change. Just be consistent, she will learn.

maggiesmum · #6 06-11-2007, 07:38 AM

MomofMillie, I have done the leash time out thing a couple of times but she gets excited when I get the leash because she thinks we are going bye-bye. I'm afraid she will get confused with the leash being a good thing or bad thing. Any opinion? Is it OK to do the leash time out and take her outside on the same leash? Thanks.

MomofMillie · #7 06-11-2007, 09:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maggiesmum

MomofMillie, I have done the leash time out thing a couple of times but she gets excited when I get the leash because she thinks we are going bye-bye. I'm afraid she will get confused with the leash being a good thing or bad thing. Any opinion? Is it OK to do the leash time out and take her outside on the same leash? Thanks.

Hmmm yeah I never thought about that because it doesn't matter to Millie. I think it's because of the location. Like she knows the leash on the bathroom door is bad, but any other time it's not like she won't come to me if I've got it in my hand. I think they know the difference, especially if maybe you got two different ones (one being very short). This method was recommended to us by our trainer.

ehayes21 · #8 06-11-2007, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maggiesmum

I am new to the board and after reading so many posts on here I think that alot of our Maggie's behavior may be because we brought her home when she was 5 weeks old. That was too early to take her home wasn't? The lady we got her from was not a puppy mill or anything like that. She had references and we saw the parents on site. Also, our vet knew her and said it was ok to take the puppy home at that age. From the very beginning I thought she was more aggressive than our first boxer. I know every dog is different but she is so "mouthy" on all of us, especially our 8 year old daughter. She also is very boxy with her paws and scratched all of us on our face and arms. I know she is teething and we try to distract her with appropriate chew toys but it is very frustrating. When I try to correct her she barks at me or runs from me. She is very good about potty training, very few accidents anymore. She is also good about sleeping in her crate all night. I love her to death but she is so high maintenance. Do you think her behavior is just part of being a puppy or does she have real behavior issues? I can't decide. She is 4 months old now. I don't think she is mean aggressive, I just think she plays too rough.

I am sure some of the biting and rough play has something to do with leaving the litter that early. No responsible breeder would ever let a pup go that young, in fact it's actually illegal in certain states to do so.
Those last 3 weeks with the litter are so important, they learn important social behaviors like bite inhibition. The good thing about it is she is still a puppy and you can train her to be gentle. If you take some time, patience and really work with her, I don't think these will be issues you'll have to deal with later. I wouldn't grab a behaviorist right yet. Since she so young I think there are other avenues you can explore first. First, let's teach bite inhibition, here is a great article for that:
http://www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/berner1/bitestop.htm

Also, do you know what NILIF is? Here's a little insight into that:
Nothing in Life is Free or NILF

Keep us posted on your progress.

mguiette · #9 06-11-2007, 12:21 PM

We actually got Maximus at 5 weeks, but his mama is my MIL, so we still saw her every weekend, since mama and one of the babies (my Axe, now) were still there. He had some issues with biting initially, but we redirected to toys, and that helped a little bit. We were VERY big/consistent with using "ouch!" when he bit and turn our back to him, which helped a LOT. He was still socialized with mama (of course, following her for milk

, after he was "too old") and a brother. we still keep in touch with 4 (including our 2) of the 6 littermates, with playdates, etc. I have never had a puppy before, so didn't even assciate the biting with leaving mama early!

maggiesmum · #10 06-11-2007, 02:14 PM

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I think I am going to get a shorter leash and put it in one place for Maggie to have a time-out so she will know that is what that leash is for. I forgot to mention though that when she does get into trouble she knows it and she runs from us. So I will have to catch her first and then put her in time-out. LOL I'm telling you guys she is quite a little monster but she is our little monster and we love her