nipping and biting

Question
Pet: CHLOE   i just got a new puppy who is female and she is now 7
weeks old    i have had her a week         she weights in at a whopping
3.5#  so she is tiny.  her dad was a full Chihuahua and her mom was a
Chihuahua basset hound mix.  both ver small dogs and when i went to get her
 it seemed to be a loving home she was in.  ok so now my question...
when chloe is in the yard running around or she is doing something she
shouldn't be doing, i walk over to her and i try to remove her from the
situation by picking her up or by just redirecting her by means of
turning her around  but when i try to do this she gets real stiff and
starts to growl and then starts nipping.  she also does this when she is
chewing on a bone and i try to touch her near her mouth and she does this
as well when she is eating.   now like i said she is only 7 woks old,
not fixed and she lives with me and my 10 yr old daughter and a male
declawed 5 yr old cat and a clawed 9 month old female cat, both of whom
seem to be scared of the puppy.  all of my pets are strictly inside
animals.   also my neighbor who shares the same yard as me has an old beagle
who they seem to get along fine and another 2 yr old shitzu who
completely ignores the puppy, there are occasions when they are in the yard
together.    now my question is how to stop her from this growling and
nipping behavior,  i have tried to pick her up anyway when she does it
and i gently lay her on her back in my arms and tell her no firmly  or i
will look in her eyes and yelp loudly.  she seems to stop but she does
it again .  do i have an aggressive puppy?  is she going to be a
concern for me   to have to worry about her biting other people.  my
daughter said chloe has done this to her as well and she just walked away and
put her in her bed.  now we have not played with her with our hands or
fingers only toys as i have heard it will make a puppy into a dog that
bites.  also sometimes just picking her up she does this.
please help i really waited so long for a puppy  and i love this one so  and she is 99% of the time so loving ans sweet.          
much and want her to be a great addition to our family.
thank you sooooo much for your time.


Answer
Hi, Kris,

Thanks for the question. I hope I can help.

It it were me, I wouldn't be too concerned about Chloe's oral impulses. They're a bit outside the normal range, but considering that she was taken from her mother and littermates too soon (8-10, or even 12 wks. is better), her behavior is fairly typical. It might help to know that puppies are very oral; it's part of their social development. They learn how to inhibit their urge to bite, or moderate it anyway, by interacting with their mother and littermates. So it's good that Chloe has some doggie friends to play with. They'll give her a lesson or two if she gets to bitey with them!

It might also help to know that dogs don't like to be picked up, not even little dogs. They like to have all four (or at least two) paws on the ground at all times. Many of them "get used" to being picked up and held, but it doesn't feel natural to them. Your daughter is closer to being on the right track, which is that the minute Chloe gets too mouthy just walk away, or put her in her bed, preferably behind a puppy gate.

You should never scold her or punish her for being too mouthy, nippy, or even bitey. You should do what your daughter did; stop all contact with the dog and isolate her until she can calm down and moderate her impulses a little better on her own. You're also on the right track in always having toys handy when you play with her.

If you go to my website you'll find an article on "How to Stop Puppy Bites," which may be helpful (though it's written for pups who've learned more bite inhibition from their littermates than Chloe seems to have learned from hers.

Good luck! If you have any further questions or problems, let me know.

LCK