My wife and I just got a 13-14 week old GSD mix(probably Lab). this is our first dog. We have had her about a week, and she is just getting into the teething/biting/nipping/annoying phase that apparently most puppies have. Overall, she is a great dog. Very responsive, learns quickly, no accidents, etc. I spend a good amount of time with her each day, but my wife spend considerably less. She definitely knows me as the pack leader, as she will respond when I tell her "No" when she is biting furniture, computer cords, etc. I always give her a chance to respond to verbal correction/redirect before a light 2-3 leash correction. The biggest issue is that she will not respond to my wife. She will bite and chew. I feel like she (the dog) is trying to etablish dominance over her (my wife). We are trying to both consistant in our methods, but I'm lost at how to show the dog that my wife out ranks her, and my wife is getting frustrated because she has no control (even leash corrections don't work for her). I can always intervene to stop the behavior, but my wife feels like this makes her seem weak. I guess my question is 2 fold
1. is it too early to be correcting or biting and nipping? (not just hands, but everything except toys)
2. What is a good way to help my wife establish her rank?

Thanks to anyone who can offer some guidance.

Preston

Preston I don't correct puppies this young. At all

Biting nipping is puppy behavior. Rank related biting at this age is not common and is more serious than just wag wag playtime nip nip if you catch my drift.

How do you redirect her? With what? Does your wife move around a lot or make high pitched noises or jerk her hands or feet away? What does she do when the puppy gets playful and starts nipping? A collar correction can just make a pup more revved up if it has prey items (hands and feet) moving around in front of its face it creates frustration because the puppy *does not know what it is being corrected for* and likely does not know what a correction is yet.

They are not born knowing that a pop on a leash is a correction. People tend to think they automatically understand because the action does get their attention and can distract them, give them pause etc.

If your wife wants to be seen as pack leader she has to follow the program How have you established yourself as pack leader? Do you follow pack structure exercises, crate training etc?

Hi Preston: Welcome to the wonderful world of Dog ownership. Jennifer is right on point. I just have one question. Your Wife's voice is it sweet and low or does She know
to gently raise Her voice when giving/trying to give a command. By simply adjusting
the tone of Your voice often works but I DO NOT mean yell at the Pup. Often I had people who spoke baby talk to their Dog all the time which is fine for playing and loving Your Pup but the Pup can learn by the tone of Your voice that Your unhappy.
Plus after awhile Your Dog will pick up on Your moods/ body language-- if Your happy or sad if You remain in close contact with Your Dog which I hope You do. It is truly amazing what Your Dog can learn from watching/ observing You and Your wife. I am sure everyone would agree with me that after being with their Dog for awhile that they can give a command by simply pointing a finger or by a certain look they may have. Tom

One thing I tell people is that this behavior is what is perfectly acceptable when they are with littermates and other pups, as well as playing with mom. At this age, everything goes into the mouth. With puppy playbiting, I usually don't correct, I will instead give them something that they can chew on - a toy for instance, and I will hold onto it and initiate a little game with the toy to get that energy out. If the pup is just simply being a brat and targeting my hands, I will usually put the pup into the crate and walk away - no emotion, no correction. Sometimes they just need a little bit of a time out to settle down. I find this especially true when they have been out for a long time, or if they are in need of a nap.
One of the other things I do is to let them know they went too far by saying "ouch" loudly when they nip, then get up and leave the room. This will usually initiate the pup to try and follow me, and when they can't it is a little unsettling to the pup. Now, I'm not saying you actually leave them unsupervised - I usually have a puppy gate up that I simply step over and walk around the corner of the next room so I can still actually keep an eye on them. Plus, I only actually leave for a few seconds. The point is that the pup learns that a. I have *NO* clue how to play this game, and am therefore not that fun to play it with and b. that if they play too hard I no longer will play at all. After a few seconds or a minute or so I will go back and play with the pup again, and repeat the response if they play too rough.
The difference between leaving the room in the middle of the game and leaving the room at other times is that you are actively playing and interacting with the pup when they bite too hard, and it causes an immediate reaction they don't like (you leave). When you are simply passing through the room or put them to bed and leave the room they are in a different state of mind (not actively interacting with you) and it doesn't cause the same response from them. I've never had a problem with the pup thinking EVERY time I leave it's bad for this reason.
I hope I haven't confused with this description... I think I'm thinking too hard too late at night.

Cameron that sounds like a good idea for some of pups and/or dogs but more driven pups will just redirect from hands to your feet or ankles as you walk away. Having someone else to assist can work in that the person they were playing with goes away and they are left with someone but then they just have another playmate.

Also, I tether my pups to me I don't allow for free roam even if for a second as at 13-14 weeks the chance for potty accident is still high. A puppy that wants to play and has its play thing removed (the human) can easily redirect to say, furniture, the floor etc. This also wouldn't work with a dog that has low pack drive or a pup that doesn't have a bond with the person will more readily redirect to inappropriate items.

Getting up and walking away, if the pup does stop the nipping and biting and follows you, is also too far from the behavior to be 100% effective. You have gone into a different behavior and action then, the pup is following you as it has essentially been taught to do and if you leave while the pup is not biting or nipping you are not providing a consequence by leaving, the standing up would have been the consequence.

If the pup does follow you out with its teeth, you are only giving opportunity for other behaviors to come up and now, being out of the room are less capable to deal with. Say puppy then becomes frustrated and barks and whines and yips - you don't want to reinforce this so you stay away. Then in the midst of barking pup starts chewing on the carpet or door frame, or whining and squats to pee. You rush to go interupt one inappropriate behavior (chewing or peeing) and reward the other (whining/barking for attention)

I stick to redirection/lots of play and short OB and fun but tiring sessions through the day and crating if the pup just gets too crazy.

For this situation, Preston, I think finding the toy and/or item that most excites the pup for redirection will work. Also making sure to move the toy more than body parts during play and redirection. Having your wife do some happy fun OB with reward for the pup should builda bond and also help to tire the pup mentally. When the pup starts biting on body parts, go limp. Unreactive. No sounds, no movement. You just become a dead totally not fun thing and then distract the pup with something that IS fun with redirection. Such as moving a toy around quickly where the pup can see it or allowing him to smell a treat and when he lets go of body part toss it a little ways (a foot or two) in front of him.

The pup is 13-14 weeks old, let him be a pup. Leash him in the house so he doesn't get the opportunity to bite cords and therefore won't need corrections, which a pup at that age shouldn't need at all.

Have your wife spend more time with him.

Don't worry about the rest, bond develops over time. The pup is working purely on instincts now, listening doesn't come into it until the pup starts to get the jist of what his life is all about. Right now, his life is eat sleep poop pee chew.

Read up on the puppy articles and marker training articles on this site.

Thanks all for your input. I feel like such a novice. I will show this to my wife and see if we can make any changes to what we are doing. I am hearing you all say that this is too early to start any kind of correction. Maybe that's the problem. I don't want to confuse her by correcting something that is just instinct. Thanks again

Preston,

Please don't feel like such a novice! Everyone of us was a novice at one time. You have certainly come to the right place to get answers!

Thanks for all of the great answers. I was discussing these answers with my wife and she brought up the fact that the dog may also react differently to her because she has a strong bond with our cats ( we have 2), and we are working on getting the cats and the dog used to each other. We have been keeping them apart, the dog is crated while the cats have free roam. The cats follow my wife wherever she is and will even approach her when she is with the dog. Do you think this makes a difference? We have only had one or two incidences where she has barked at the cats,and she has attempted to approach the male cat while I was with her and the cat swatted at her.When she is in her crate, and the cats approach ( they will walk up to the door and sniff her)she does not bark or lunge at them at all, she will usually ignore them or just lift her head and look at them.

 Quote:

the dog may also react differently to her because she has a strong bond with our cats

I don't see how this matters unless she treats the dog differently because she has cats. All a puppy sees is how you act toward them.