# Please help with 13week-old puppy problems, becoming hard to handle



## mburgess (Oct 6, 2011)

Hello,
I really need some advice and help with our second pup who is a 13 week old puppy who is what we suspect a husky/German-sherperd/possibly Peranese mix. I want to raise a good puppy, not an aggressive or dominant puppy and am scared she might be either but not sure as we live with an Elderly person. We were given Sophie by family who found her as a stray without her mom around 6-7 weeks I believe. We have spoken with our Veterinarian who told us to clamp down gently on her mouth which results in her getting more active and excited, wanting to bite me more and he suggested using a can with some pennies for "Remote Training" which she tries to jump up at and the Trainer suggested the same things- everything I have tried which really doesn't work when the dog is being really bad and latched on to me, biting myself. The trainer said she is too young to be showing dominant tendencies and to strictly schedule her feedings and water.
I have tried getting her to "lay down" or "down" and getting her to roll over, trying to calm her down not to bite and that doesn't work for me; we had family here that that method worked for.

Our puppy, Sophie behaves most of the time for my fiance who is male except she hasn't learned "Down" or "Off."
We cannot get her into Petsmart puppy school until she has had all of her puppy vaccinations and her next vaccination is Oct. 24, which is just her second vaccination.

The larger problems we are having trouble with occur mostly with myself and I am female.
-biting myself (shoes, shoe laces, clothing) and her leash which she refuses to let go of - I have tried saying "NO!" and standing still but she still tugs and wrestles the leash badly and bites me. I have marks on my arms from where she has bitten and she has broken skin recently (once) on the elderly person so we are trying to solve this quickly, I do realize she is a puppy- licking is ok but harsh biting isn't! The trainer emphasized she needs lots of exercise- she is on a tether sometimes during the daytime especially when she is really rowdy as we don't have a fence.
- We bought Bitter Cherry Spray by Out! from Walmart and toys but haven't had a chance to get a Kong toy, however she likes the taste of Cherry spray and still goes after my shoes and her bedding when it's not in her crate.
- jumping on (when excited and greeting family and to bite her leash).
- Urinating every 15 minutes, she goes to the door to tell us she has to go out. I am not sure if this is normal or not? I've been considering getting a bell for her to learn to ring as I read 13 week old puppies should be able to hold this by now for a few hours even out of their crates so am worried she might have a UTI.. If she doesn't go out sometimes she tinkles by the door, which is by my side of the bed. Fiance thinks she is showing dominance by doing that, but I think UTI since its by the door and shes frequently going out. 

Tonight, she jumped up to bite her leash and she gets growly when she does this and tries to tug the leash and keep it in her mouth, she tries to overpower me I think but she will look away when I meet her eyes. However, when she jumped up for the leash again, she bit at my shirt and tore it. She has bitten and torn pants twice near the knees. When we told the vet of her behavior he said to clamp a hand on her mouth and she needs to get into puppy school but other than that they haven't been much help. I did read here about "The Bite Stops Here" but I cannot do some of those things listed as when she is biting she is hanging onto my shoe and pants saying "NO!" and anything else doesn't have much effect.

ETA: I called the Vet and we are going to try to have a Urianalysis done it sounds like. He suggested Kong toys so will be trying to get some of those with Peanut butter. He told us it would be another month at least until she could get into puppy school to wait 2-3 weeks for immunity on the shots. I think I listed everything that is going on but will add if I've forgotten; I apologize for length! Will try to add a picture of her so you'll can comment on her breed!  

Any help or advice that might be of use is greatly appreciated!,
Meg


----------



## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

I feel your pain and frustration. I rescued a 4 week old pup from being put down by it's owner. His name is Benny. Benny had never learned any bite inhibition. He was taken from his Mom too early. His other littermates had died all but two. I weaned him and raised him and all until he was 10 weeks old. By the time he was finished with me I looked like a piece of raw hamburger. I am not by any means a first time dog owner. And I was beside myself! My hands and arms and any bare skin was a mess with cuts and bites from him. Being on a certain medication for a life long illness that causes your skin to become paper thin,... I could not handle this puppy. I kept him until he was able to go and become one of my Sister's forever friend. Like you, I tried everything. It is not aggressiveness at that age. I first thought the same thing too. All I could do was trade my arms or hands or clothes for toys or treats and I gave him some time-outs when he was out of control. I had a crate I had to put him in. Benny had to be walked until he was worn ragged to settle him down. He still is this way but the biting is much better and he is now 7 months old. I told my Sister about "The bite stops here". I wish I did not have the meds I have to take that cause my skin to tear so easily or I would have kept him. I still see him on a regular basis though.

It is good that you are going to see the vet. You never know. The general rule is that a puppy should be able to hold it's potty 1 hour for every month old it is of age.

I almost forgot to mention that Benny is Doberman/Husky/Lab mixed. He is the last dog in my signature.  I still love him anyways.

Try wearing her out with physical exercise and training will mentally wear her out too! I say try this until you can get into obedience school.  Trade a toy for your hands and arms for now. When she goes to bite you YELP really loudly and make her realize this is not acceptable. I wish you all the luck there is. I have been there.


----------



## Pawzk9 (Jan 3, 2011)

Good idea on the urinalysis. But vets seldom have extensive knowledge in dog training, and often what they do have is decades out of date (note: not ALL vets). If you have a trainer who is suggesting using force and fear tactics with your puppy, you need to fire this person and hire someone who will teach you how to train in a way that encourages your puppy to want to work with you instead of creating a battle. Grabbiing your puppy's muzzle encourages biting. So does restraining if it's done as punishment, without gently teaching the dog to accept it as a necessary part of life. Do read Ian Dunbar's article on bite inhibition - http://www.siriuspup.com/pop_biting.html It will be a good introduction to helping you learn how to teach your dog that behaviors you like get rewarded. Behaviors you don't like makes the good stuff (your attention) go away.


----------



## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

The thing with saying puppies should be able to hold it for certain amount of time is a guideline only. Puppies don't gain full physical control of their bladders til about 6 months of age, give or take. So, she may understand that she is supposed to go outside, but sometimes she just can't physically hold it. She's still learning what it feels like to have to go to the bathroom, and how long she can generally wait before she absolutely HAS to pee.

Imagine a human toddler, they have lots of accidents, even with parents asking them every 10 minutes, "do you have to go potty?" It's just a matter of learning and developing that control.

At this point, it's your job to prevent accidents. This means get her out as often as she needs to go. I don't think you can ever take a puppy out to pee/poop too often. Even if she doesn't actually pee every time you take her out, you're still laying a foundation for what you want her to do.
- set a schedule. If it needs to be every 30 minutes, then that's the schedule, take her out on the schedule.
- when she's out and about the house with you watch her super closely, so you can see if she needs to pee/poop at a time different from the schedule.
- beware of the "double pee". Some puppies get distracted outside, so they don't finish peeing. Then, they come in, and pee a few minutes later. 
- if there are accidents, clean with an enzymatic cleaner.

As for the biting: have you read the sticky at the top of the forum pages "The Bite Stops Here"? It basically gives a plan for teaching bite inhibition. Here's what we did:
- puppy bites, we say ouch in a somewhat loud, but not angry, voice.
- puppy usually bites again, right away, we say ouch, then leave the room for 20-30 seconds.
- puppy will usually bite again. Say ouch.
- puppy will usually bite again, say ouch and leave the room.
Do the same thing over and over and over again. It's a learning process, they're learning not to bite, and that's hard for them since biting is completely natural for a puppy. You're not just trying to stop them from biting, you're trying to actually teach them something, so they understand. This takes time and repetition. For Harper, it took 4 weeks of doing the same thing over and over, for Abby, just about 1.5 weeks. 

Good luck!


----------



## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

The best bite inhibition I have seen I believe comes from an older, wise well socialized dog like my Izze. That's I believe how Jo learned bite inhibition. Izze flat wouldn't put up with it & bit her back a few times, I watched this & actually tried it (I technically "pinched" her in an area that Izze would nip her back & say very indignantly "that hurts!") for dogs that have been separated from their moms too soon, sometimes I have found that the typical "yelping" sometimes doesn't register with them. So you have to try something a little different.

For leash biting, I always used a chain leash for these dogs, the chain is unpleasant to bite into.


----------



## Pawzk9 (Jan 3, 2011)

dogdragoness said:


> The best bite inhibition I have seen I believe comes from an older, wise well socialized dog like my Izze. That's I believe how Jo learned bite inhibition. Izze flat wouldn't put up with it & bit her back a few times, I watched this & actually tried it (I technically "pinched" her in an area that Izze would nip her back & say very indignantly "that hurts!") for dogs that have been separated from their moms too soon, sometimes I have found that the typical "yelping" sometimes doesn't register with them. So you have to try something a little different.
> 
> For leash biting, I always used a chain leash for these dogs, the chain is unpleasant to bite into.


An appropriate older dog (not all dogs are cut out for this work) can be very effective. However, I think it is always unwise for humans to try to imitate canine behavior. We aren't good at it, and we want different things than dogs do. I suspect that recommending pinching your dog over the internet could easily be misunderstood and actually end up being abusive or making the situation much worse. Instead of using a chain leash (which are bulky and hard on the hands) I just attach a choke collar to the leash and use a carabiner to attach it to the collar. It's the only way I would ever use a choke chain, but it has the same effect as turning and biting a chain leash - just much easier for the human.


----------



## hanksimon (Mar 18, 2009)

I kinda agree, don't do anything painful or harsh to the puppy. If you can get an older up-to-date dog to help, or even puppy that's up to date on vaccinations, that can help with Bite inhibition. What Doxie said is helpful.
1. Watch her and learn when she is sniffing (or other behaviors) and needs to pee. A rule of thumb that may help a little is that if a pup or dog needs to pee, he will pee within 30 seconds of going outside. However, if he also needs to poop, he may sniff the entire yard before he gets down to business.
2. Jumping is countered by teaching Sit. It will take a week or two to teach a reliable Sit. Then, anticipate the jump and say Sit. This will help.
3. Don't use the penny can. 
4. Buy a Kong or two, fill it with some peanut butter and some kibble (lightly moistened),and freeze it. Give it to her to chew when she gets rowdy.
5. Most biting and growling at this age is NOT aggression, it's playing. She doesn't know the rules and teaching Bite Inhibition is one set of those rules. However, it takes about 5 days to kick in, and there are some little secrets and tweaks to the method. What follows is exactly what Doxie said, with a few added details that may help:

Tweaks to The Bite Stops Here:
1. When the pup bites, then yelp. It should sound about like what the pup does when you step on its paw...
don't step on her paw for a sample . When you yelp, the pup should startle briefly and stop nipping. Praise and pet. she'll bite again. .... You may have to say Ouch! or you may have to Yelp a little louder, if she doesn't startle for a moment.
2. When she bites the second time, Yelp. When she stops, praise and pet. She'll nip again, although it may be a little gentler. ...
3. When she bites a third time, Yelp (see a pattern?). But this time, turn your back for 15 - 30 secs. If she comes around and play bows or barks, then that is an apology. Accept it, praise and pet... and cringe in expectation of the next nip... [Accepting the apology is important, because it begins the two-way communication with feedback.]
4. When she bites the 4th time, Yelp, then leave the area, placing her in a 2 min. time-out. It is better if you can leave, rather than moving her. Then, return and interact. (She's still hungry...)
5. When she nips the fifth time, yelp, and leave the area, stopping interaction for now.

Pups need to sleep over night in order to learn their lessons. So, keep doing this for 3 days. By the third day, you should notice signficant Bite Inhibition. She may still nip, but it will be softer and she won't draw blood. Keep up the training and make sure that everyone yelps.... Very powerful method.

If you learn the technique, then you can apply the "yelp" to other circumstances, also. I believe that "yelp" is "Please don't do that, I don't like it." in dog communication.


----------



## beverley (Oct 7, 2010)

we had a similar problem with branston when he was younger. he was always 'on at' my daughter, amy. constantly jumping & mouthing her and it seemed to get worse the older he got. we seemed to try everything at the time to no avail. i too posted on here for help as i was a bit lost with it all.
it does get better, but it takes consistency and loads of hard work.
branston no longer behaves like this with amy, just with visitors, but hey rome wasnt built in a day!
we also had the dreaded 'double' pee, but once we regularly treated him when he went outside, and watched him like a hawk inside it didnt take forever.
good luck


----------

