My 5 month old Boston Terrier bit my mother because she wouldn't let her jump on the couch and last night she bit me! Is this a personality issue or a training problem?

My 5 month old Boston Terrier bit my mother Monday because she wouldn't let her keep jumping on the couch. Last night, I was petting the dog on the floor and she was sniffing in my pockets for treats. I didn't have any and she got frustrated and nipped me. i am shocked and horrified! Do you think this is a result of poor training (I have been training her since she was 8 weeks old) or a personality issue? If it's training, would I be able to rectifiy it? I am really the only person that trains the dog. please help.

We don’t have formal training other than what have found in research. Mine is mostly from Michael Ellis and other videos provided by Leerburg.

Leerburg's Answer

What you are describing is pretty normal adolescent/puppy behavior when a puppy isn't given enough management.

By management I mean when we raise puppies here we don't allow puppies the freedom to jump on and off the furniture and we try to set them up for success by not getting down on the floor with them if they are the type that get excited and overly aroused by that. I know many Bostons and they tend to be high drive, energetic dogs that need to be taught how we expect them to behave in our home. Since they are puppies and don't have a lot of life experience or training history we use management tools to prevent the wrong thing while we create a training relationship with them.

My puppies are on a leash at all times unless they are in their ex pen or crate. That way I can block them from getting on the couch or sneaking into another room, etc. With excitable and rowdy puppies (which is many of them) I don't sit on the floor as it encourages behaviors I don't want.

We have lots of content on our website about managing puppies and we also offer streaming video that outlines how we raise dogs here in our home. We always have a multi dog household with a range of breeds from working German Shepherds and Malinois to terriers, cattle dogs, shih tzus and recently we added a Chihuahua to our family.

I'll link some resources for you below.

- Living With Your Puppy - Establishing Pack Structure
- Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 12 Months
- Basic Dog Obedience