VERY young puppy training

Question
I have a couple of questions about trainign young young puppies. I have a puppy that I picked up at the local AC&C, they have no idea what breed she is, they (The puppy and her 2 sisters) had only been dropped off the day before. We doubt they were even given full time to be weaned because right after she eats her puppy food she tries to suckle from our shirts or hands or faces or whatever. We think she may only be 4 weeks old. We haven't been able to take her to the vet yet. My uncle (who's father in law breeds and sells hunting beagles and other hounds) says that he beleives she is either part beagle or part Treeing walker. Sorry for the long back story, but I wanted to tell it all. Anyway. She has a major problem which I want to break her from immediately. She is a bit aggressive. I noticed it first when she was chewing on my house shoe and I went to push her away because I wanted to put them on and she growled and latched onto my hand a shook her head, bringing a little bit of blood. I spanked her out of shock, but it did not faze her. The next time she did it I was playing with her with a soft ball and she would grab and shake it too, then she hit my thumb and chomped down hard, I had read up on this subject before hand and shrieked like a hurt puppy, but that made her bite harder and get more growly, so then I yelled "no" and pulled away and she sat there confused for a minute and I put my hand down to pet her for not following my hand, and she locked on again. The next time she did it I scruff shook her and she screamed and I got reprimanded from my mom, she doesn't agree with any form of trining I am trying and It is very hard to set rules for her when none of the other family is doing it. I will seem like the bad guy to Lilly and my free-going parents and their unruly dogs will seem so fun and awesome. I tried to put her in a crate to take a nap (Of course she started screaming, but I was going to let her tire herself out. My parents made me take her out after 2 minutes and we got into a fight. They pity her because she is so young and is also sick (worms and diarrhea) but I think if I let her get away with stuff when she's young, she will think she can do it all the time. My parents don't beleive in training, that's why their dog's poop and pee all over the house and on the bed (which I always have to clean up) and one snaps and bites anyone who walks by her and will not eat a kibble of dog food to save her life, the other one will head for the woods everytime the door is opened enough to squeeze her skinny Doxie butt out of and we can't find her for an hour or more, and the other one, who is ten and therefore "too old to scold" screams (excitedly, not scaredly) and barks whenever someone, but especially my mom, walks through the door. I hate my parent's no training attitude, they think that just because they have all small dogs (3 doxies and a yorkie) that they can get away with not training, but if Lilly turns out to really be a Walker mix, she will be large and I do not want her bitnig people the way she does. I am really really sorry for the long letter, but I get really annoyed cleaning up 10 poops and 20 puddles a day from dogs that arent' even mine and skirting around the dogs at meal times for fear of a nasty bite, or running through the woods for an hour trying to cach a dog because my parents won't train their own dogs and then they don't want me to train mine either....

Answer
so sorry that your parents believe the way they do and allow their dogs to be so unruly. Unfortunately, they are not alone - the vast majority of 'little dog owners' believe the same way your parents do about training (NOT training, rather) their precious little furbabies. I hate that you have to put up with their untrained dogs' horrible behaviors. If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? Did you pay for the puppy yourself, or did your parents give you the money to adopt it? If you paid for the puppy yourself, are paying for its food and vetting, and are caring for the dog without asking them to help, then they have no right to tell you how to raise it, in my opinion. The only reason I can think of that it would be okay for them to say anything would be if you were abusing the puppy, and, from what you've told me here, I don't think that is the case.

If the puppy truly was just 4 weeks old when you got it, then it may not have been completely weaned yet. I'm shocked that the shelter allowed you to adopt it at such a young age. Puppies are generally weaned between 4 and 6 weeks of age, but during this time, they may still exhibit some nursing behaviors like you describe. They are still learning how to open their mouth and eat, rather than suck. You didn't say how you were offering the puppy food, but if you're offering kibble, it should be soaked in a glass of warm water for 10-15 minutes before you give it to the puppy. If it's canned/wet food, then you can give it straight out of the can or whatever. You should be offering food to the puppy several times throughout the day, and leaving the food down until the puppy no longer shows interest, at which point you should clean up (because there will be a mess! LoL).

The following site explains how you need to start socializing your puppy and getting her used to her environment.

http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/DevelopmentalStages.html

This should help explain why your puppy is starting to behave the way she is. She's in the 'Primary Socialization Period,' where she would normally be learning from her littermates how to play and interact with other dogs. Since she does not have any littermates to interact with, YOU have to play the role of both the mother dog and the siblings. It would be best if you could find a place that you could let her play with other puppies of around the same age, but I doubt that's a possibility, being that she's so young.

For the moment, try to redirect her biting to a toy. If she grabs ahold of you instead, stop moving, 'growl' a stern NO, and when she lets go of you, offer the toy again. Praise her when she grabs the toy, and play with her with it for a little bit.

If that doesn't work, you can try a small physical correction. Basically what you're going to be doing is 'bopping' the puppy under the chin whenever she puts her teeth on you. You will do this with your index and middle fingers, held together as if they were taped to each other. Imagine a scale of 1-10, where 1 is the gentlest, and 10 is the hardest 'bop.' The first time the puppy puts her teeth on you, 'growl' NO at her and gently bop underneath her chin with those two fingers, at level 1. Then, IMMEDIATELY offer her whatever part of you she chomped down on, encouraging her to do it again if she wants! No, I'm not crazy!! LoL  Most likely, she >will< do it again, at which point you tell her No again, and bop her at level 2. Repeat until she makes the right decision (not to bite you), and then praise her and whip out a toy to play with her with for a few minutes. The next time she bites you, whether it's a few minutes later, or the next day, bop her at level 3. Soon she ought to figure out that biting you ends up being very uncomfortable to her.

If THAT method doesn't work (and I have yet to see it fail), and she continues to go after YOU instead, then scruffing her is just fine. Yes, she may squeal in protest when you correct her, but if you never correct her, she will grow up to be a little hellion. When you scruff a puppy, though, I want to make it clear that you should not shake it back and forth. The scruff shake should be one swift motion, one little 'jerk' of your hand as you grab the puppy's scruff. The puppy's front paws should be lifted off the ground, but that's it; you should not lift the entire puppy up to do it. After you give that little 'jerk,' you should look the puppy directly in the eyes and tell it NO. Do not let go until the puppy submits by looking away and ceasing to struggle. When you let go, walk away from the puppy and ignore it for a minute or two. This is not punishment, but to allow the puppy to process what has happened and to learn from it. It also allows the puppy to 'cool down' a bit.


At her age, crating is probably not the ideal thing, especially if she's sick and has diarrhea, because she may get in the habit of soiling in the crate, and that's just the opposite of what you want. Rather than crating her, I would recommend putting her in an exercise pen, with her crate in it so that she can get used to it, and on the other side of the pen you can put a shallow cat litter pan with a wee wee pad in it if you want, to encourage her to go away from her sleeping/play area to potty. This will help when it comes to potty training later. She is GOING to have accidents right now, and you should not punish her for it yet, because she does not yet have control of her bladder and bowels, AND she's sick.

Generally, crate training and housebreaking doesn't start until around 7-8 weeks.

Please feel free to e-mail me directly if you need anything else. My address is blueridgerescue @ gmail.com (without the spaces).