Our 9-week-old puppy bites and growls when we do something she does not like. How do I respond to this behavior?

Less than a week ago, we got a 9-week puppy cockapoo.

She is wonderful in many ways, but she really bites when putting into a crate. She is also very nippy and saying ouch does not work. Today during playtime outside, when the puppy was on dog run, she started to run around like crazy and growl. Could you please advise me on how to deal with this behavior? I worry for my children.

She growls and tries to bite my kids and me when we do something She does not like. For example, when we were coming from the river today, I picked her up because she was trying to jump into a mud puddle. She was trying to bite really hard and growl. She did the same today when I was trying to get her home from the walk this morning. How do I respond to this behavior?

I have two more questions. Sorry for taking so much of your time.

Twinkle pulls on on the walks in new places or when we go to the river. She is doing better on our morning walks. I am practicing with her the way it is described in a general obedience course.

What do I do if we are in new places? She does not respond to any threats. She eats very little in general, and we are working on her food drive.

We finished the Basic Dog Obedience course. What would you recommend we do next? She is about 13 weeks old right now.

Cindy's Answer

Congrats on the new puppy, the issues you are having are very normal puppy behavior and how you handle her will shape how she behaves as she grows up. Your kids also need to learn how to live with the puppy in a way that is conducive to the behavior you want in an adult dog.

We have a lot of resources for raising pups on our website. I would suggest our course Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 12 Months and Living with Your Puppy. We also have articles on raising pups, you can find the link for the articles here.

She's not ready for formal obedience, especially in new environments. At 13 weeks, it's like expecting a 4-year-old child to focus when out in a busy park. Don't ask for obedience right now unless it's a structured training session at home because all you will do is effectively teach her to ignore you.

As for the growling and biting when you do something she doesn't like, this should not be an issue if you have her on a leash. Use your management tools (leash, ex pen, crate) Sometimes new dog owners think this is aggression when in reality she may just be overly stimulated and excited so putting your hands on a dog or pup when they are in this state pushes them into a kind of frenzied behavior. Redirect her with your leash and get her interested in something else. If you have kids, you can relate this to when kids get wound up and then you try to make them do something like sit in a chair. For some kids this causes a "tantrum" of sorts or more wild behavior.

I would not be doing formal obedience right now, she's just too young and you may turn her off and make her dread the whole process. The Basic Dog Obedience course is really for older puppies (5-6 months old).