help! my 5month old puppy just attacked my son and bit his face?

Question

dont know what to do! our puppy keeps attacking us...and No he is not playing.he is growling and snapping when i try to stop him he growls and then bites my leg.whats the right way to teach him this is NOT ok .if i try to take something away from him that he should not have like my shoes...lol he seems to go into a rage! is that even possible for a puppy? anyways....would really appreciate all your advice....thanks
he really appears to be capable of doing some real damage.

Answer 1

First of all, this is a PUPPY, not an aggressive dog. How old is your child? Was he teasing the puppy? I'm not trying to blame your child but you need to look at all possibilities here.

One of my pups tried to be the Alpha the day we brought her home. I would turn her over on her back and hold her down until she calmed down and became submissive. Don't scream and shout at the puppy because that causes them to become more excited and heighten the behavior. A calm "no" if they're growling when holding them down is enough. When the puppy calms down then let them up. A few times of that worked well with my puppy.

All puppies bite and nip because, well, they're puppies and that's what they do and how they play...NOT because they're aggressive dogs that need to be put to sleep. My obedience trainer suggesting making a quick, high pitched yelp when my puppy bit and then completely ignore the pup. It worked great on my pup after a few times. Puppies learn social behaviors from their litter mates. What happens when one pup bites another one too hard? The litter mate yelps and walks away and play time is over. The biting puppy learns all fun and games stop when the biting and play is too rough.

Good luck and don't give up. Also to those of you berating this person for not watching the child and puppy 24/7...I guess you guys have nothing better to do than sit and stare at your kid and dogs EVERY SINGLE SECOND of the day. Accidents can and do happen within a matter of seconds.

Answer 2

Firstly, don't ever leave a child and animal alone in a room together - it doesn't matter how placid the animal, they can become aggressive and at times without provocation.
Have you been around the puppy constantly when he's been with your son? Has your son provoked the puppy in any way? Sometimes kids play can be quite rough and hurtful.

Also, do you know anything about the puppy's origins? Was he removed from his mother too early? Has the puppy had to fight for his place amongst his siblings? Was the puppy treated badly by the people who had him before you (if relevant).

You need to let the puppy know that he is not the master of the house. Do this by:
1) Preparing a time out area - even a pen or crate if able to get one organised.
2) Being firm with him. Picking him up and looking him in the eye and saying no quite firmly and putting the puppy into a time out.
2) Always being with the puppy when your son is in the room and monitoring play quite carefully.
3) Get your puppy into some training - they're never too early to start.
4) Teach your children about safe play with animals.
5) NEVER EVER give the puppy toys to play with that you will later want to take away or even let him start playing with them even in fun or cause it looks cute - this is how shoes begin to get eaten. The puppy needs to learn that shoes are NOT a toy - even old ones - and on that point don't ever give a puppy or grown dog clothing / footwear or anything else to play with that you wouldn't want him to shred.
6) Get the puppy some appropriate chew-toys - fun ones that make noises - squeak ones work well. Also get him some teething rings - if puppy is teething this could make him particularly frustrated and cause him to take this out on those around him.
7) Many dogs hate water - get a water spray bottle and spray the pup when he's not doing the right thing - this eliminates contact (if the shaking and eye contact don't work).
8) Always ignore the dog when he's doing what you don't want him to do - other than to discipline him as soon as you catch him doing the wrong thing. Prolonged punishment via shaking, smacking, yelling will only lead to the problems worsening - think of the puppy like a child - you wouldn't yell continually at a child - they don't know better - similarly, puppies don't know better either - you're the owner / mom, you need to teach it better.

Good luck

Answer 3

Unfortunately, I feel that this is not the dog for your family. Pups of this age should not act with such aggression, and they are most certainly dangerous. Even though it is sad, even young aggressive dogs are often euthanized because they can cause serious injury.

He should have been in puppy class already, to help teach him how to live with people. But since he already has bitten your child, would you like to take the chance of another more serious injury? I wouldn't.

There are too many wonderful and well adjusted dogs that need homes to chance injury and possible legal action over one that is dangerous. Aggression is an illness, only it is behavioral. There are many ways to try to curb it, but there are NO guarantees that it will be cured. So think long and hard about what you are willing to bet on getting your dog some help, because you may lose the bet.

If I sound harsh, it is because I have seen too many young dogs that people try to "fix" when they are aggressive. Usually by the time they have bitten their people, the behaviors are set and difficult, if not impossible, to change. It is a job for a professional.
Be prepared to hear some unpleasant recommendations about your dog and what you do with him when you consult a trainer. My opinion is to euthanize him and get your son a dog that he can trust and love.

Answer 4

What were the circumstances surrounding the bites? If it is only when you take stuff away from him, he may have resource guarding issues, but if it occurs at other times you might be looking at dominance issues, fear aggression, a medical issue etc...in other words you should seek the help of a canine behaviorist to help you figure out precisely what the problem is before the problem gets worse. If the problem is truly severe, I would suggest contacting one before all else. It just may be that your dog is just dominant or has simply been allowed to be out of control and to run the house. If that is the case, POSITIVE obedience classes will help you learn to control him better, and have the whole family practice NILIF at home so he understands he is not the boss. A link explaining NILIF can be found here: http://www.k9deb.com/nilif.htm

And please, please do NOT hit your dog or try to physically dominate it as many have suggested as it can make the problem much worse!! A truly aggressive or fearful dog could easily respond by escalading the level of aggression.

Answer 5

Well, first off you need to let him know that he is "NOT" the boss. I would tap him on his nose... not hard enough to hurt him of course, and tell him in a firm strong mad voice "NO", he needs to understand what the word means!
Although at 5 months old he is still very much a puppy, and acting like an out of control puppy. I would strongly recommend that you take him to training classes, and soon!
If you've just recently gotten the dog, it sounds like he was made to be the way he is, and it's going to take time to break him of it. Also, if he was around kids and they were mean to him, and tormented him it's going to take a while to build trust in your kids, if he ever does. Dogs have good memories, and don't forget things like that easily. Your best bet is training. Otherwise he's not going to be a good pet.
You need to teach him though what's right and wrong just like you do a kid! Also, don't let you kid/s torment him, and rough him up, or that is just going to make it tons worse. When he is biting at your legs, you need to turn away from him, while telling him "NO" that will let him know that he shouldn't be doing that.
I think I would also tell your kid/s not to be putting their faces near his, seems he can't be trusted! If you have little ones that crawl around I would put the dog away from them, because if he (the dog) get startled, or they sneak up on him, that could be the dog's reaction to be scared. Good Luck, and hopefully with some training he will stop.

Answer 6

Look the first thing to do is to watch the dog AND your son 24/7.... the dogs do not attack just 'cuz they can, maybe he is angry at your son, and the reason he growls is 'cuz he is not getting enough attention, and is not been well cared.

It's completely normal that dogs take your shoes to bite, right now, your puppy is experiencing some changes both biologic and emotionally, he's changing his teeth, and he's choosing the person he would listen to, the one with he would play with, the one that feeds him... they have personality, and you have to be care full not to punish him to harsh, remember HE IS JUST A DOG, and he acts most of the time following his instincts, and how he feels at the moment, almost like a child.

The other thing you must consider is the race, do some research to know about the race, 'cuz some of them are instinctively aggressive.

Hope it might help ^-^

Answer 7

take him to a puppy training class. and if he does any of the snappy business between now and then, give him a good pop on the snout right when he does it. not too hard, but enough to get the point across. part of this is due to him being a puppy. another part could have been that your son was antagonizing him. i'm not saying that he was, but kids are known to not know when to leave a pet alone and then the pet lashes out. another factor could be the dog's breeding. if his parents were snappers, then he got that gene. but he can be broken of it. he's at a young enough age, that you can still turn him into a well-behaved dog.

Answer 8

It sounds to me like your animal is overly aggressive...If he attacks everyone including you try some obediance training. If that doesn't work and he doesn't learn to respect you then you need to get rid of the animal. A good puppy should be friendly but not overly needy. If your animal attacks people now he probably will in the future too!

As far as the training goes try a newspaper and firm "NO's" and/or a waterbottle to train him against this behavior. If that doesn't work or the behavior gets worse within two weeks find a professional trainer. Never tolerate this kind of behavior from pets...If you allow it to go on it will only get worse as the animal matures...

Good luck!

Answer 9

get a kennel cage and put him in it when he acts up. Let him out after he has calmed down.

Remember he is a puppy and wants to play and he may also be teething; which will want to make him chew everything and he may be grumpy due to teething pain.

Before obedience classes take him to a vet to see if there is something behind his aggression. Painful teeth or other issue can make a dog act badly.

Answer 10

If you wouldn't trust yourself to turn your back on your son and the puppy together, you should not have the puppy at all. Either send it to an obediance class, or if it's something more serious, then you should bring it to your vet so they can euthanize it. It could turn out to be really dangerous. Do it for the safety of your son.