# Aggressive biting 10-wk-old rottweiler - HELP!



## melissacren (Jul 17, 2013)

Our rottweiler puppy is usually super sweet but several times a day it's like a switch flips and she jumps up on whoever is around and bites and hugs the leg while growling and barking. She scares the kids and mother-in-law and she drew blood on me recently. The more upset you get during the attack, the more aggressive she becomes, and the calmer you are the faster it ends. Pinning her down works for a short time but overall it's not teaching her to stop. I'm very frustrated with this and I have three kids that I'm trying to teach (and protect). Why is she doing this and what can I do to stop it? Thank you!


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## cookieface (Jul 6, 2011)

Sounds like zoomies and it's perfectly normal for a puppy. Most likely, she's not aggressive, just over stimulated or over tired - like a kid who needs a nap. If you're sure she has had ample physical and mental stimulation, you want to remove attention (and possibly yourself) when she starts jumping and nipping. You might need use baby gates so that you can move away without her following. You can use baby gates to keep her separated from your kids, too. I have no experience with dogs and kids, but someone will be along to give first hand advice. Mostly, though, you want to supervise all interactions and, depending on your children's ages, possibly not have them interact until the puppy is a little older and is through the puppy biting stage.

If you can anticipate her zoomie times, you might try engaging her in another activity or giving her a chew toy or stuffed Kong to occupy her. I think Hambonez has talked about using a similar technique with her puppy.

Here are some older threads that might help:

Ok, now I'm kind of out of solutions for the bitting 
10 week puppy biting and nipping.  (check out links to The Bite Stops Here sticky and HankSimon's comments)


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## ireth0 (Feb 11, 2013)

cookieface said:


> Sounds like zoomies and it's perfectly normal for a puppy. Most likely, she's not aggressive, just over stimulated or over tired - like a kid who needs a nap. If you're sure she has had ample physical and mental stimulation, you want to remove attention (and possibly yourself) when she starts jumping and nipping. You might need use baby gates so that you can move away without her following. You can use baby gates to keep her separated from your kids, too. I have no experience with dogs and kids, but someone will be along to give first hand advice. Mostly, though, you want to supervise all interactions and, depending on your children's ages, possibly not have them interact until the puppy is a little older and is through the puppy biting stage.
> 
> If you can anticipate her zoomie times, you might try engaging her in another activity or giving her a chew toy or stuffed Kong to occupy her. I think Hambonez has talked about using a similar technique with her puppy.
> 
> ...


Agreed with this and thinking of it like a 2 year old throwing a tantrum. It doesn't mean they're violent, it means they're a toddler and don't know how to manage their behaviour yet, and it's up to you to teach them. Likewise, sometimes they're too far gone to teach, so you need to help manage their environment and give them some quiet time to calm down.

Biting, nipping, running around and generally being a butt are typical and normal behaviours for puppies.


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## blenderpie (Oct 5, 2012)

First off, please do not pin your dog. It's a fantastic way to get bit.

Second off, this is normal. She's playing. You got a puppy instead of an adult, so there will be a few more months of battling some form of nipping, it's just part of their development (human babies put everything in their mouth, too, they just don't have razor sharp teeth).

All you have to do is teach her the game is not fun. (You seem to have sort of caught onto this) when she does it, without saying anything or looking at her, just cross your arms and step over a baby gate so she' can't reach you. Do this EVERY time. Even if you are in the middle of cooking, or just wanna sit for one second, or are trying tl head out the door. EVERY TIME.

She'll get the hint. But also have another option. Like, when you come back hand her a toy or throw a ball so she learns the proper way to play with people.


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## MrsBoats (May 20, 2010)

Both my rotties did this as puppies...and it was a huge signal they were over tired. It's just like kids...instead of a temper tantrum, they turn into land sharks. 10 week old puppies aren't aggressive...this is just being a puppy. 

When she gets too over the top and has a "tantrum"...place her in her crate or play pen. More often than not, the puppy will crash not too long afterwards. 

Is this your first rottweiler?? If yes, get her enrolled in obedience classes as soon as you can. Rottweilers are a breed that need on going training..and I mean a year or two. You cannot just take a couple blocks of 6 week classes with a rottie and consider your dog trained.


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## speedyrot (Jul 13, 2013)

blenderpie said:


> First off, please do not pin your dog. It's a fantastic way to get bit.
> 
> Second off, this is normal. She's playing. You got a puppy instead of an adult, so there will be a few more months of battling some form of nipping, it's just part of their development (human babies put everything in their mouth, too, they just don't have razor sharp teeth).
> 
> ...


this is excellent advise..My boy would get all wild.so i diverted his attention from my leg or hands,and play ball,lil tug game..where him out..and if that didnt work.it was crate time..


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## MrsBoats (May 20, 2010)

Here's another question for you....how old was she when you brought her home?? Puppies that are taken from their mother and litter mates before 8 weeks old miss out on important life lessons about bite inhibition.


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## melissacren (Jul 17, 2013)

MrsBoats said:


> Here's another question for you....how old was she when you brought her home?? Puppies that are taken from their mother and litter mates before 8 weeks old miss out on important life lessons about bite inhibition.


 Lars, awesome info and beautiful dogs you have! Thank you ALL so much for the info. I haven't had a puppy in 20 years and I definitely feel much better to learn that her behavior is normal and not aggression. This knowledge alone helps me relax. Lars, we got her too early. We've learned this and feel bad about it. She's super sweet and overall a very good puppy. I was just worried about aggression. This is our first Rott and we're determined to train her to be a model citizen. Thanks for letting me know about training.


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

10 week old puppies are not aggressive.

Pinning your dog isn't going to teach her anything. She will either think you're engaging in her game and come at you harder, or she will fear you and become hand shy which will lead to biting. 

The pup's just way over excited.


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## melissacren (Jul 17, 2013)

cookieface said:


> Sounds like zoomies and it's perfectly normal for a puppy. Most likely, she's not aggressive, just over stimulated or over tired - like a kid who needs a nap. If you're sure she has had ample physical and mental stimulation, you want to remove attention (and possibly yourself) when she starts jumping and nipping. You might need use baby gates so that you can move away without her following. You can use baby gates to keep her separated from your kids, too. I have no experience with dogs and kids, but someone will be along to give first hand advice. Mostly, though, you want to supervise all interactions and, depending on your children's ages, possibly not have them interact until the puppy is a little older and is through the puppy biting stage.
> 
> If you can anticipate her zoomie times, you might try engaging her in another activity or giving her a chew toy or stuffed Kong to occupy her. I think Hambonez has talked about using a similar technique with her puppy.
> 
> ...


I really appreciate this informative and gentle reply. I obviously didn't have a clue about what's normal and you helped me understand. Thanks, everyone, for your replies.


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

Just a note, too...expect the nipping to get worse, particularly since she was taken from her litter too soon. Our pup was also taken too soon (there were veterinary reasons why this was necessary, but the effect is still the same) and there was a point where my husband's arms looked like a war zone of cuts and scratches. I'd keep the pup on a leash or in an ex-pen or crate when guests and the kids are around until she gets past this stage so that you have some control over her. We also have 2 kids and it's only been in the past few weeks (our puppy is 4 months old) that they can play together, supervised, with the puppy off-leash. Even then, I intervene if the puppy gets overtired or overexcited and starts playing too rough. Even now, our dog is never off leash or out of his ex-pen in the house, we keep him leashed to one of the adults or in his exercise pen if we're doing other things so that we can always redirect him and so that he is never loose and unsupervised with the children. (Our kids are ages 7 and 9 and very good with dogs, but still.)


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## RobPass (Jul 13, 2013)

melissacren said:


> Our rottweiler puppy is usually super sweet but several times a day it's like a switch flips and she jumps up on whoever is around and bites and hugs the leg while growling and barking. She scares the kids and mother-in-law and she drew blood on me recently. The more upset you get during the attack, the more aggressive she becomes, and the calmer you are the faster it ends. Pinning her down works for a short time but overall it's not teaching her to stop. I'm very frustrated with this and I have three kids that I'm trying to teach (and protect). Why is she doing this and what can I do to stop it? Thank you!


Hey there, My Rotti Pup just turned 12 weeks today and i know exactly what your talking about. When i get to the height of my anger at this she also gets to the hight of her aggression as well. Sometimes i take it personal and im like.. WTF.. I thought you loved me lol.. But i think its perfectly normal, i was concerned as well, but she is still teething first off and second she hasn't learned the boundary yet, what works for me is the yelping and separating myself from the situation. its teaching her to have a soft mouth. My pup has drown blood 3 times so far but i don't think they were on purpose. 

In all, What i am trying right now is. For 5 min a day i will set her on my lap and "Handle her" all over. when she bites or mouths its OK until it gets "Too Hard" whatever pressure you think is "too hard" when that happens i make a yelp sound to startle her, then i let her know im hurt, at the same time i put her behind a baby gate and leave her field of view.. for maybe 30 sec to a min. then i try again. when she gets it right twice in a row there's a nice treat waiting for her as well as free roam of the house .. my 2cents.. 

(just for piece of mind, everyone i have talked to about this issue as well as forum posts Ive made says its normal and she will grow out of it, so i would Be/Am confident it is not a big problem just a stage of life for her or him)


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

Another thing that I think helped with my puppy...

Now...mind you, this was PAINFUL at first for me, so it took a lot of patience and I often had to take a break with Sam, but here's what I did. I would take a treat that he loved and hold it in my hand, sitting on the floor with him. Inevitably, he would maul my hand. I would simply keep my fist wrapped around the treat until he got to a point where he would lick my hand instead of nip it and then I would say "Yes" (or good or whatever your marker word might be, or a click here, if you're using a clicker) and then I'd let him have the treat. I'd repeat this several times during the day. Eventually I cued this to the word "kisses" and we still practice it. At one point, I think I wore work gloves while doing this, he was nipping so bad, but he did start to "get" it and I think it helped him learn to lick rather than nip when trying to play or get attention.


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## kcomstoc (Mar 9, 2013)

packetsmom said:


> Another thing that I think helped with my puppy...
> 
> Now...mind you, this was PAINFUL at first for me, so it took a lot of patience and I often had to take a break with Sam, but here's what I did. I would take a treat that he loved and hold it in my hand, sitting on the floor with him. Inevitably, he would maul my hand. I would simply keep my fist wrapped around the treat until he got to a point where he would lick my hand instead of nip it and then I would say "Yes" (or good or whatever your marker word might be, or a click here, if you're using a clicker) and then I'd let him have the treat. I'd repeat this several times during the day. Eventually I cued this to the word "kisses" and we still practice it. At one point, I think I wore work gloves while doing this, he was nipping so bad, but he did start to "get" it and I think it helped him learn to lick rather than nip when trying to play or get attention.


 THIS  is a really good idea if you can handle it lol I think it would be an excellent way to teach them to lick instead of bite


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