# puppy question.



## cgargus (Aug 6, 2013)

I have a lab/chow mix puppy that is only 4 weeks old. The family we got him from was movingand were not able to take these poor little guys, and gave them all away at 4 weeks (A litter of 11). Now I know it is extremely important for a puppy to stay with its mother and litter mates until 8 weeks, but since that is not really an option here I want to ask for some advice so he is still able to grow up healthy without problems. I have heard that if separated from their mother this early they can become aggressive, and he seems to constantly want to growl and play bite (quite hard) a lot.. but I'm afraid he may be a little too young to understand he's hurting us with his bites because we have tried everything we canthink of to make him stop and he just seems to ignore. Again, any advice would be great!


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## zoelynn13 (Oct 6, 2013)

When a pup is that age, he would normally learn to not bite hard from his brothers and sisters. You can replicate what they would have done by yelping (yes, like a dog haha) and then ending the play session for a few minutes. This is the same way his siblings would have told him he's playing too rough. =) Not sure if you've tried that already, but that's what i've seen work most often.


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## Hopps (Feb 4, 2014)

Yes, what zoelyn said with the yelping and not playing for a few minutes when he bites. Actually my Hopps did that, and he was a one-year old! Ignoring takes some patience, but it is the best at teaching them not to do that. I also tell Hopps when he mouths to "no bite" and he usually responds now with licking. This is used almost like a warning, like "no bite" else I won't play...


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