Quote: matthew moore

I continue to appreciate everyone's comments. I'm not a child. Although I'm not a breeder I've been around a lot of dogs/pups. I'm not predisposed to getting freaked out by animals, but I think there are definite differences between what we establish as play biting (which she does do) and snapping and biting my face (last night) my Achilles (two nights ago) and throat. When she bites the hand too hard I can yelp and she'll stop and lick my hand, then nibble. But there is nothing to detract her from when she's really going for it. It seems like she really wants to do us harm. Since we've had her it's been really bad sometimes. These past couple of days she's been a lot better though.

We've had Reagan for 3 weeks now. I fully realize she's a puppy; I don't expect to be able to take her duck hunting. I do, however, expect to not be bit in this manner.

Hi Matthew. Going back to your original post on this topic a few days ago (2/12) you mentioned that your pup was estimates (as a rescue) at 8 - 10 weeks old. You may have mentioned it throughout this thread (which I've read with interest today) but in your last post you say you've had the pup for 3 weeks. Assuming the original age estimate of 8 - 10 weeks was correct, and you've had the pup for 3 weeks, would I be correct in assuming the pup was likely somewhere in the 5 - 8 week age range when you adopted the pup? (but I'm not very good in math .....)

The reason I ask is this. We have a mix breed adoptee who is now 6+ years old. When we brought her home from the shelter, of course they said she was 8 weeks old - I believe that's a legality of sorts in our area. As I always do, I took her to the vet the very next day for a general health check up. On a teeth and general check, the vet assessed her age at more like 5 weeks. That certainly explained her extreme puppy biting behavior with those ever-so-sharp baby teeth. She hadn't been with Mom and littermates long enough to learn some lessons from Mom and siblings about where to draw the line with those teeth.

For the first few months living with Cleopatra, we were convinced that part of the "mix" in her "breed" was Aligator. We got through it - actually I wish I would have had the benefit of the better advice you've gotten here so far than what we were operating with at the time. Knowing what I know today, I would do the things that Ed recommends without a doubt, and that several posters have recommended, and certainly what you have already said you have started to do.

Like others, I would not necessarily assume that you have adopted an aggressive, dominant, out of control puppy. While you still have to teach your puppy not to bite like that, and pu must learn it's boundaries, I wouldn't be afraid right now that you've got Cujo (from the movie - not from Mike!) on your hands.

I think you're on the right track with supervision/crating, working to divert to an appropriate toy for biting, hand feeding for bonding, etc.

On night time potty training - I agree with others that if she can last several hours during the day, she can last several hours at night. While not everyone does it this way, Gary and I suffer through pup crates in our bedroom at night. We can hear when they start to whine, we can lie still and pretend to sleep, and make a well educated decision about when to actually get up and go do the business (based on schedule, and elapsed time etc.). Even Aligator Girl figured that one out - LOL - long before we got those razor sharp teeth under control. Good news -she's a wonderful part of our family, and once we got her past that puppy biting stuff - she's never been a "problem" dog beyond the minor quirks that turn up randomly (and in low quantities) in any average rescue/pet dog.

Best Wishes! Hang in there. This too shall pass.

Beth

It does take some time and patience. I agree with Beth. Some places(shelters, even kennels) think that it's ok to sell or give away a puppy that is 5-8wks old. A lady that I work wit recently got a boxer/lab mix and she was told that the pup was 5-6wks old. I was shocked, because like Beth said, the pup hasn't had the time with it's mom and littermates(the people who own the mom are living in their car at this moment) and the lady I work with is having the opposite problem with her pup. She's starting to say that she thinks that the puppy was beat by a woman before she got it, because of how the pup reacts to her(which is different than how it acts around her hubby). I told her that the pup was too young to have already been beat on and tried to give her some advice(which I've been doing since she got the pup) on what to do to get the pup to "come around" and be ok with her(I think that the pup sees her as "mom"). Anyway...
Hope everything goes well for you and the pup, don't give up and be patient, like Beth said... this too shall pass.