Aggressive puppy

Question
Hi,

I adopted an 8 week old female Shih Tzu puppy a week ago.  Since she has been home with me, she has become increasingly more aggressive with her nipping and biting.  She started off being mouthy with my hands so I would yelp and walk away.  It's now progressed to the point that when I yelp, she continues to nip.  I stand up and she attacks my pants legs even as I yelp in pain and reprimand her with a stern "No".  I'm a big believer in positive reinforcement, however it's gotten so bad that I have to hold her mouth together to get her to stop.  She bucks and twists as I do that and as soon as I let go, she tries to bite again.  I've also tried pennies in a can to startle her.  It doesn't work.  I also read that I could use a spray bottle to stop her however, I'm afraid that it might make her even more aggressive.  I called a canine behaviorist and am waiting for a return call.  In the meantime, what can I do to discourage the level of aggression she has now and prevent the aggression from escalating further?

Thank you!

Answer
Hi Pat,

I think it's great that you have called someone to help. It's the perfect time to get this under control. Are you sure she was 7 weeks old? If she was removed in week six that's a big week in puppy development-where their Mom teaches them all about bite inhibition!

While I understand the frustration and appreciate that you want to utilize positive methods-none of the mentioned methods 1. work and 2. are considered positive. They will actually make thing worse! And create other problems. Particularly the grabbing her muzzle-as you have discovered!

For now, put her on a leash and as soon as she starts to behave inappropriately, calmly-without a word, walk her to an area for a time out. Everytime she starts up she gets removed. While the yelp may work with some dogs, other's it actually gives them a big thrill. She may be one of those dogs.

The other thing that will help is substituting you for a really nicely baited chew toy like a kong with a squirt of kong paste that's been frozen or a small raw frozen marrow bone. Frozen is good because it will feel good on her mouth and it does have to be fairly high value for her to choose it over you!

Make sure that the behavior person you work with has concise-non-confrontational approaches. No wolf pack BS. No dominance theory. No rolling and no aversion. She is a young pup probably about 5 pounds anything other than positive methods will create problems not solve them-long term. Try www.ccpdt.com

Here's a great book to read: The Power of Positive Training by Pat Miller