Let me preface by saying that i am fully aware that puppies nip, bite, shred, tear, and all that wonderful puppy stuff...but at 9 weeks i have always been able to stop them with a firm NO!

Husky pup is on a 12 hour cycle, we get up at about 630 and out to potty then breakfast then out to potty again, then we drop the kiddo (almost 7 yrs old) off at school. From the after breakfast potty until about an hour after getting home he is a total spaz and really really rough in his play.

Most of the day he is fine, we play when is awake and potty every half an hour if he is awake, mostly he sleeps under my desk or feet. He goes from room to room with me at all times and is never left unsupervised.

then comes evening, he goes bonkers again, wont redirect towards any of his toys, I tried doing some very very basic obedience he was tearing up my hands to get the treat so i stopped that and tried tossing his ball, no go. A clap and a stern "No" was met with backtalk (he's a husky!)
Then He bit my son on the cheek so i did a scruff shake, set my son on top of the kitchen table with his legs crossed out of the way, set pup down and turned my back to him, he was jumping up biting my rear, he looked like a Jack Russel bouncing in the reflection I could see.
He then bit me through my jeans on the calf so hard it ripped my jeans and drew blood.
I picked him and gently put him on his back with one hand under his head and the other on his chest and kneeled over him giving the look. It took a while for him to stop yapping and trying to get my hands but he did finally relax.
I gave him a snuggle and pat and he wasnt phased by it kept playing but did mellow.

Did i handle this correctly?

he is getting plenty of play time and mental stimulation as well as plenty of sleep. He did seem way hungrier today than normal so i let him have more food since he is growing like a weed.

today was way worse than normal but he is like jekyl and hide at both Sevens each day

 Quote: Jennifer Lee

Let me preface by saying that i am fully aware that puppies nip, bite, shred, tear, and all that wonderful puppy stuff...but at 9 weeks i have always been able to stop them with a firm NO!

This is a 9 week old pup that did all this? Sheesh. Was this just puppy nuttiness, do you think, or was there some other stuff going on too?

If the pup is just being spastic...along with what Carol said, I think that weed-growing pup needs some more exercise!

IS he actually 9 weeks? He looks much older in the pic.

thats not him in the pic lol, thats my dearly departed Levi at 11 months, 3 days before he passed away with Loki my two year old male coonhound black mouth cur treeing walker mix.
tthis is puppy last monday the afternoon he came home, his ears are up now and he is way leggier already.

he looks so sweet and innocent there lol

this is just puppy craziness, he gets 4 or 5 20 minute play sessions outside with me everyday, plus a little bit here and there inside, plus basic skills like sitting and watch me and come to work his little mind and its never too early to practic manners!, Im not walking him yet at all because parvo is rampant here and he was sick with worms and malnourished when he came home with us, I will be getting the parvo only shot for him then rabies at 1 year.

We were sitting on the floor at the coffee table doing homework and puppy had been sleeping peacefully underneath the table near us.

When he woke up I took him outside and he did his business then we came back in and gave him his favorite stuffed bunny toy and a ball and a nylabone to maybe keep him occupied until we could get homework done.

He was bugging my son so I tossed his ball a few times to re-direct his attention but he would go get the ball, drop it and run right back at us. I pushed him away and told him NO several times and drug his toy on the ground to get his attention on that, and had my son go into the kitchen and kept puppy busy on the way in.

My son was kneeling down getting his markers out and puppy dropped his toy and pounced,literaly hop hop bounce pounce, nothing aggressive just rough and faster than i could stop it even being right there and got him on the cheek, it wasnt bad thank goodness but still absolutely not ok.

I now know I didnt scruff him hard enough to matter to him, he is just a baby afterall I dont want to hurt him or make him fear me since i am the one who he totally trusts and is wary of strangers, and he was just playing this whole time, talking and bowing and pouncing. Usually when he plays he will go for the toys and stop going after hands and feet, but literally early morning and 7ish in the evening he is on level 12 out of 10.

When i put him on his back i didnt "roll" him or do it roughly at all, i picked him up and flipped him over like we do when i am going in for a tummy rub..(we practice being on backs so its no big deal if we ever need to do it) But this time i didnt rub I held him down until he relaxed and looked away he didnt like being held like that and started to stuggle once he realized what was happening and quit trying to nip my hands.

When I let him up he looked at me a second then gently walked over and licked/nibbled my chin and ear and woowood a little in a soft voice so i gave him a snuggle to let him know his world was ok.

I forgot to add we live by the nothing in life is free" code with out dogs, Well nico is 12 so she gets pampered quite a bit more. But yes pack structure is firmly established and i reinforce it daily by always going through doors first, eating my food before I feed them, having them sit for their bowls or toy or anything, I also routinely take away their toy or bone then either put it away or give it right back and i start this with them when they are little bitty.

I am only 5 foot tall and outwiegh Nico by all of 20 lbs, Loki by maybe 35 Puppy when grown will be fairly big and strong as well.
They are primarily my dogs and I am the one home with them all the time, doing their training and feeding etc so I must be firmly established as their pack leader.
I dont want them to even consider questioning my leadership since they could over power me so easily.
Having it established allows me to spoil them a little bit without creating monsters, and rarely do i ever have to give physical corrections of any kind with them. Puppy is brand new so im still establishing it all, and he is a crazy full of spit and vinegar pup, as he should be!

 Quote: jennifer lee

this is just puppy craziness, he gets 4 or 5 20 minute play sessions outside with me everyday, plus a little bit here and there inside, plus basic skills like sitting and watch me and come to work his little mind and its never too early to practic manners!, Im not walking him yet at all because parvo is rampant here and he was sick with worms and malnourished when he came home with us, I will be getting the parvo only shot for him then rabies at 1 year.

May not be enough exercise. My girl is at three hours of walks, play time and mental stimulation. So, whenever I get the chance, we do something, but I devote at least 45 to an hour to a one time play/explore session, plus we work a little on stuff too.

 Quote: jennifer lee

He was bugging my son so I tossed his ball a few times to re-direct his attention but he would go get the ball, drop it and run right back at us. I pushed him away and told him NO several times and drug his toy on the ground to get his attention on that, and had my son go into the kitchen and kept puppy busy on the way in.

My son was kneeling down getting his markers out and puppy dropped his toy and pounced,literaly hop hop bounce pounce, nothing aggressive just rough and faster than i could stop it even being right there and got him on the cheek, it wasnt bad thank goodness but still absolutely not ok.

I am confused...the pup followed your son to the kitchen? Did you follow him as well and were right there or did you have to get up, go to the kitchen? I ask, because the correction has to be delivered on time for the offense and it may be that the correction came too late and the pup did not understand why he was getting it.

 Quote: jennifer lee

I now know I didnt scruff him hard enough to matter to him, he is just a baby afterall I dont want to hurt him or make him fear me since i am the one who he totally trusts

A pack leader does not think about whether they are hurting the pup. They deliver the correction and that is that, worrying about hurting the pup is going to be detrimental since the level of correction needed for the offense is not being delivered.

 Quote: jennifer lee

but literally early morning and 7ish in the evening he is on level 12 out of 10.

He is excited to see you after sleeping all night.....all dogs are usually more rambunctious in the mornings (especially pups) since that is usually the longest stretch in the crate. You are using a crate, correct?

 Quote: jennifer lee

When i put him on his back i didnt "roll" him or do it roughly at all, i picked him up and flipped him over like we do when i am going in for a tummy rub.

So the pup is used to getting rubbed this way and you used a good thing he knows and then turned it into a correction. I would say you might have rocked his world a bit.

 Quote: jennifer lee

When I let him up he looked at me a second then gently walked over and licked/nibbled my chin and ear and woowood a little in a soft voice so i gave him a snuggle to let him know his world was ok.

I guess I don't talk to my dogs after a correction, they live in the moment so once the issue is over, they are ready to move on and have pretty much forgiven whatever just happened. They learn from it, yet they are not humans and do not hold grudges and pout like we do. :-)

I hope that makes sense.

My son is good with the dogs, and all animals, very gentle and kind with them and has known dogs his entire life, I trust the
big dogs 99.9% to be gentle and defer to him in their pack, but I still never leave them alone together, Well nico sleeps on his floor and I allow that. My main concern would be playing too roughly and knocking him down or something.
Puppy is NEVER alone with my Son, that is a recipe for disaster at this age.

We all had to move rooms, I had my son get up and go in first then we followed and I kept pup focused on his rag while we walked so he wouldnt go for my feet, we walked into the kitchen and my son was kneeling down on the floor and closer to the door than I expected.

Puppy was on leash but he moved quicker then I did.

The scruff shake happened immediately after the nip on my sons cheek, his feet had not even hit the floor yet, I picked him and gave him a good shake, but it obviously wasn't enough.


you're right about probably rocking his world a little bit, he did go back to playing albeit nicely quickly afterwards though.

I didnt show him anger or even raise my voice, I lowered it instead and told him NO while i was turning him over and then didnt say a word during the rest of the correction, i would guess it took maybe a minute and half total for him first to realize it wasnt play time anymore and then stop struggling to get up. I maintained "the LOOK" and didnt say a word while I had him down

once I let him up I didnt say anything, just watched to see what he was going to do, Pup did the talking and the chin nibbling, and I allowed it since that is also what he does after one of the big dogs corrects him, then I gave him a quick hug and set him back down and tossed the ball.

Should I have ignored him completely afterwards?

We were working on crate habituation at home from day one but he still freaked out everytime I shut the door. By freaking out I dont mean cried or whined. It was screaming until throwing up, shaking, full blown panic. I stay close and wait for the first second of quiet and then click and treat a major jackpot (half a hotdog)

So we were feeding him in there, leaving it in the living room and only allowing him in there (the other dogs like it too) to chew a bone or something in peace.
He was starting to use it on his own to rest or chew but then the ice storm hit and we lost power and had to stay at my folks because it was bitter cold.

I am keeping him with me 24 hours a day since we have been stuck at my parents house for the last 10 days and he isnt comfortable here as it is.

You dont want to know where he has been sleeping but it was my only choice to make sure he was taken out when he woke up needing to potty at night. The two accidents in 10 days was enough to make my mom freak out.

We are headed home today finally (YAAAAAYYY!!!) so he will be back to crate habituation, our normal routine and
I will be able to get a bit of a much needed break here and there.

Loki is also wonderful with puppies and really helps me tire him out, and enjoys playing with him. He is the black dog in my signature and mourned the loss of his buddy Levi terribly

We play until he starts to wear out, laying down instead of trying to get the toy, coming back and plopping at my feet and panting, or he will run up the stairs to the bedroom and try to sleep in there. He doesn't have much stamina yet and is sleeping a lot right now. Between the worms he had so badly and the poor nutrition he wasnt in the best condition, He is also getting in some puppy molars and giving a lot of calcium to his ears while they get higher and higher.

 Quote: jennifer lee

thats not him in the pic lol, thats my dearly departed Levi at 11 months,

lol! Good, so I'm not going blind, then! I thought maybe you were saying you pup had done that SINCE 9 weeks old.

I think you've got the right idea, Jennifer, and I don't think you have much to worry about with this pup. Sounds like a fun spitfire, that's all.

I wouldn't put him on his back to correct, necessarily. I personally think it's more effective to gently grab them by their cheeks and lift them up to your face to tell them in a deep, firm voice "NO." I try not to use "NO" very often with pups, but this is clearly one of those situations when it's warrented. Don't be afraid to do it again afterwords if he goes right back after you. He needs to get the picture or the cycle will just keep repeating and you'll have a crying kid or a really bloody rear-end, lol!

The other thing is that some pups seem to not be "redirected" by the toy because that pup has learned that you just throw it to him to keep him busy so you can keep doing what you're doing. Pups know when they're being blown off! And they want to play with the toy WITH YOU!

Don't know if that's what you were doing, but if you have other stuff to do besides puppy-stuff, then don't be afraid to crate him. It only hurts (you) for a little while!

Finally, exercise and crate time are pretty much all that I see that you need for this pup. A tired puppy is a good puppy and a crated puppy is a good puppy.

Or, instead of just having a drag line on him, you could tether him to you so that way you have no chance of "missing" the leash. Tethering is good for so many things, IMO, and I even think it helps the bond. And kids are always so deliciously fun to pups that it would be good to have "instant access" to the pup when your son is around.

As for whether to reassure the pup after a correction or ignore them...well, if you need to correct like in the situation you described then I agree with Carol, ignore the pup. Don't act mad or anything, just take the attitude "over-done-with-gone" just like the pup will and go on with whatever you were doing.

But if the pup is presented with an opportunity where he would normally nip and he chooses NOT to, well, that's a good thing and you can praise and cuddle him to your heart's content!

Have fun! As you know...one day you'll look back on this and think how cute it all was.

So we really need to name this pup, its been almost two weeks :0
but we were in true survival mode for about 5 days of that until a generator was found to run the heater, it really was not fun.

he is a sweet baby most of the time, a pistol- yes, a spitfire-yes, but that is what i want! He is bright eyed intelligent, catching on to potty training really quickly, is following me around throwing sits, when i have the treat in my hand his little butt hits that floor so fast i can hear it!

BUT morning and evening around 7 watch out, the wild man is on the go.

Right now he is playing with a plastic convienence store cup, chasing it around the kitchen at full speed and howling at it and chattering the whole time, its loud in here!

the cheek thing doesnt work with him at all, he throws his paws up over my wrist and it only escalates the behavior.

I only use No for serious offenses or something that could hurt them, otherwise I use an EEEHH sound and follow that with "leave it" or similar once they know some commands
He was also not really handled much at all by people until we brought him home, so he is totally learning from scratch. And also totally comfortable with me so he is now being a full blown maniac puppy.



Levi came from a wonderful breeder and was handled from birth so even though he was high drive he was used to people and had been taught some basic interaction skills from birth. He was more aloof than anything most of the time, so while i have done the husky thing before, this one is nutty and focused on me, its an interesting experience!
Hounds are much simpler dogs IMO. But i do love both my breeds!