Hello all,

I apologize beforehand if I have opened a new thread on an issue that has already been addressed. But in all honesty, between working midnights and a 6-week old Mal who has incredible drives and requires no less than 4 hours of "play" a day, I'm not able to get much reading in.

My issue is that during the course of play, my pup refuses to play with any object that I present to him. He is only interested in the leg of my sweatpants. Whether on or off-lead, he makes a bee-line for my leg, bites, and holds. Any attempt by me to pry him away from the fabric ellicits growls and barks. I've tried distracting him with tennis balls, small KONGS, even a suede bite rag, but to no avail. Occassionally, he will take the ball for a few seconds, but it is right back to my leg. Is this typical teething behavior, or is there some underlying dominance issue there? Admittedly, I know very little about puppy behavior, outside of what to expect in the crate and housetraining. Most of the information that I have read addresses issues that occur in dogs a year and older.

Outside of this, he is a pure joy to have around. He is doing well in the crate, and has learned the "come" command (or at least has the appearance of knowing the command). He is a bit whiny in the crate, but I feel that is just seperation anxiety, as he stops if he hears my or my wife's voice.

I should also add that he will not be a working dog, and is strictly companion only. I will do some basic obedience, tracking, and bite work, but not competition caliber stuff. I want a stranger's entry into my backyard to be a "self correcting error", but I won't be loading him up in my patrol car to hit the beat with me anytime soon. I will be grateful for any suggestions/advice.

--Scott--

I was able to do some reading on the website last night/this morning, and discovered that Beau, despite the fact that he may be teething, is merely exhibiting prey drive. The suggested method to stopping the biting of my pants leg has been mostly effective as well!

--Scott--