# Training and biting/growling help



## Bear21

Hi everybody! Three weeks ago we got our Havanese puppy Bear. He is now 13 weeks old. I'm just looking for some advise on some of his behavior. He can be the most lovable dog and then he can be what seems at times aggressive. I'm hoping this is normal puppy behavior but I just want to make sure. When playing he sometimes will start biting my arm or leg and it hurts, never drew blood but he bites hard and doesn't let go. When he does this I say No bite and leave the room for a minute. Usually he stops then but a few minutes later may start again. Any tips on stopping the biting. He also growls a lot. I'll be holding him and to tell me he wants to go down he will start trashing around and growling. He growls at neighbors when we are outside sometimes but then gets excited and plays with them when they approach. He growls also while playing and biting. Besides this he has been great though as he is quiet at night, is doing very well with potty training, I just want to stop any bad behavior before it escalates. My vet said he has a dominant personality and to do the alpha roll, but after research I don't think I want to do this. Any advice would be great! Thanks!


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## CrazieJones

I think the biting is puppy behaviour, but should be controlled. If 'no' doesn't work (didn't work with mine), then just stand there and be a tree. If that doesn't work (didn't work with mine), then pick him up and put him into timeout. Be consistent. Usually after all the new teeth grows in, the nipping will stop. 
As for the growling, it will depend. Roshi growls. He growls when something/someone startles his sleep (i.e. dishwasher). He growls when going crazy with his toys. He also growls when playing rough with other dogs. However, none of these I would consider aggression. I guess I just know because he is 99% happy go lucky kind of dog. Roshi is also not a cuddle dog. He thrash and growls when held too. I guess you need to pay attn to the growls and when. Like... I growl if I get startled in the middle of my sleep. I'm not aggressive.... well, sometimes.


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## heatherk

Congrats, and welcome! 

First of all, kudos to you to doing your research and figuring out that doing the 'alpha roll' is NOT the way to deal with your puppy's behavior. 

A lot of puppies tend to be 'mouthy', and I am sure that others will have better advice on that (mine never was very mouthy), but, it has nothing to do with him thinking that he is alpha (or that can be cured by 'exerting your dominance' over him). As for the growling, I agree with Casie; first, growling during play is just that, play growling. My Ceylon growls a lot when he is playing, there is nothing aggressive about it, it's just his way of expressing himself. That being said, I have found that dogs tend to have two kinds of growls - a play growl (or a 'talking' growl, even not during overt play, that has nothing to do with aggression or fear, etc.) and a real growl that means, leave me alone, I am feeling threatened or fearful or cornered. If he growls when you pick him up then I think it might be the second type of growl - a LOT of dogs don't naturally like to be held or hindered. Some dogs are cuddlebugs from the start, but, some are not. Which doesn't mean that he will always hate being cuddled, but, if he is really feeling uncomfortable while being held right now, then, you have to respect that and start out slower, and let him come to you (and let him leave when he wants). Once he really internalizes the fact that you will not hold him against his will nor hurt him when you are holding him or cuddling him, he should improve (though, no guarantees that he will ever be a total cuddlebug... but, it will get better, I promise!).

Hope that helps! And, we want pics


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## Bear21

Yes thank you both, it did help. I think his behavior has been improving lately also so hopefully it keeps up. heatherk, my puppy Bear looks exactly like yours!


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## davetgabby

great advice so far. I like this article. http://www.clickertraining.com/node/3249 Pretty sad when your vet tells you this ****. Send this article to your vet, and tell him to get with the 21 st Century , seriously. http://www.avsabonline.org/avsabonline/images/stories/Position_Statements/dominance statement.pdf


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## Radhika753

*Factors in Dog Training*

Fundamentally, dog training is about communication. From the human perspective, the handler is communicating to the dog what behaviors are correct, desired, or preferred in different circumstances and what behaviors are undesirable.
A handler must understand communication from the dog.


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## davetgabby

last post spam ?


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## Thumper

I removed the signature if it comes back or any more spammish stuff, we'll ban.

Kara


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## clare

Dizzie has always growled when playing,it is just his way,though it can get a bit noisy!Little puppies do tend to get a bit feisty at times,after all if he was with his litter mates they would all be having a rough and tumble,now he has just you for fun,so let him have his rough housing with you but on your terms,you are the leader and most pups do want to please their owners.Start training him fun tricks,some Havs learn tricks very easily,our Dizzie certainly did[Nellie not so much]


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## jillnors2

My havanese growls when playing, I wasn't used to this at first because my other 2 dogs do not do this but little Mayzie is very vocal. Nothing agressive about her, she just has a much vocal personality. She did mouth a lot when a pup, I think this is normal, Dave attached a great article. Havanese are super smart and love to learn tricks.


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## krandall

clare said:


> Dizzie has always growled when playing,it is just his way,though it can get a bit noisy!Little puppies do tend to get a bit feisty at times,after all if he was with his litter mates they would all be having a rough and tumble,now he has just you for fun,so let him have his rough housing with you but on your terms,you are the leader and most pups do want to please their owners.Start training him fun tricks,some Havs learn tricks very easily,our Dizzie certainly did[Nellie not so much]


We don't have any problem with Kodi growling in play... In fact, my DH growls back at him, though I don't stoop quite to that level!:biggrin1: when he was little, we drew the line at him putting his mouth on people. That was dog/dog play... People are just too fragile. He learned the rules quickly enough.

And as far as the resource guarding type "real" growling is concerned, this took longer, but we were just really consistent about trading high value treats for the "contraband" whenever possible.

We also tried REALLY hard to keep things out of his reach that he shouldn't have. Did he still sometimes get stuff? Of course, and there were a few noisy scenes where we had no choice but to pin him down, pry his mouth open and extract the offending object, if it was something that would hurt him. In those instances, we stayed as calm as possible, spoke calmly (but remained firm) and made sure he got his treat right after. When it was less urgent, (like a kleenex) he just wouldn't get the MUCH tastier treat if he wouldn't trade.

Another thing we did to try to make it clear to him what was his and what wasn't, was if he was chewing on something of his, and started growling at us, we would say in a bright, cheery voice, "That's right, that's Kodi's bone!"

There seem to be times that you have to take things away from a dog all though his life... On Christmas, a bowl of Hershey's Kisses got dropped on the floor right in front of him. Chocolate wrapped in foil? HAD to get that away from him, but at the same time, it was NOT something he would willingly trade away, nor did I have time to go find something more tempting. So I pryed his mouth open, stuck my fingers half way down his throat and retrieved the still wrapped, unchewed Kiss.. Did he growl, yes. But he also knew he really shouldn't have it, and he also knows the "no teeth on people" rule, so I didn't get anything more than the growling. And I made sure we marched RIGHT into the kitchen and he got several bits of turkey for giving up his prize, even if it wasn't with very good grace!:biggrin1:


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## clare

This is what I mean about the growling being a bit noisy!


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## davetgabby

Great video of play at it's best. Thanks for sharing.


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## Clair&Bear

CrazieJones said:


> I think the biting is puppy behaviour, but should be controlled. If 'no' doesn't work (didn't work with mine), then just stand there and be a tree. If that doesn't work (didn't work with mine), then pick him up and put him into timeout. Be consistent. Usually after all the new teeth grows in, the nipping will stop.


I agree with what Casie said above. My little one is also called Bear, she's 14 weeks old and going through the bitey/growly phase. "No" in a loud angry voice works with Bear most of the time, then if she's still being naughty, she gets a timeout. It's been working well. I think she might be getting the picture that biting hurts me. She growls a lot while playing but it's never agressive. She's also found her bark and has been using it a lot!

How are you going with your little guy now? Any improvement? And where are the photos??


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## cmppgh

I'm new to this forum; have just adopted (one week ago) a 6 month-old Hav pup. My pup bites when playing too. I tell him "aack" (my form of no) in a loud voice, and hand him a toy that is okay to bite. If he comes back to bite me instead of the toy, I stand up. If he's still nibbling I leave the room. I've already seen progress in a week.

I'm sure I'll be looking for help on other matters! Housetraining, for instance LOL.


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## Sailor12/25

Sailor is 14 weeks. She is doing some growling as well. Feels like aggression or frustration to me. It seems to be after she eats. Is she over eating, then uncomfortable?! Most of the time she is just a sweetheart...then she thrashes and growls when I pick her up. I haven't had a puppy for 30 years. i may have just forgotten. I know the difference between "playful" growling and "leave me alone"growling.


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## davetgabby

feel free to start a new thread when asking. Here's some info https://www.dogstardaily.com/training/handling-gentling


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## EvaE1izabeth

I can’t offer much advice because I’m new at this but what others mentioned about looking at the situation resonated with me because of my own experience. I just love this forum! 

The first few times our puppy growled it startled me, and I wondered if it was normal puppy behavior. Now that I know him better it’s clear he doesn’t have an aggressive bone in his body. he has never growled directly at me. Usually it is with my husband, who plays more roughly with him, and it’s more of a worked up growl. He also has sort of a begging, grumbly growl he makes when he’s been playing with one of my kids or my husband and they stop and he wants to keep playing. Along the same lines, the first few times our puppy barked a lot I was worried I was supposed to be training him. I figured out pretty quickly he wasn’t being naughty, he was communicating. I think the growling is the same thing, and it’s better to evaluate the situation. Our puppy rarely barks now that we understand his needs better, and it would be silly for us to train him not to when the only times he does are when he needs to go potty or his water bowl has been tipped over. Now, if he starts barking or growling every time someone’s at the door we have to deal with it, but knowing my own puppy it’s not going to be due to aggression, it’s fear, so the best solution is going to be increasing socialization and getting people to come to the door for practice, I definitely don’t buy into teaching him who’s “dominant.” 

Now, once the antecedent/situation is identified in your situation, I’m sure other more experienced members will continue to offer their advice! 

I will also add, i was very adamant and consistent about giving our puppy a chewy toy he liked every single time he nipped me starting the day he came home. In a very short time he was rarely doing it, so when he accidentally bit me once during tug of war, I was surprised because it was hard! We were both startled, and there was a lot of licking. Niw he never nips at me and he’s coming up on 5months and teething strong. Now, he is much more nippy with my husband. My husband was much more tolerant of the puppy bites in the beginning because they didn’t hurt. After a month or so, my husband began to get annoyed with all of the attempts to use his hands as a chew toy and quickly got on board. It was one of our first lessons in consistency with training, though, because it took so much longer to get the puppy to stop after he let him for so long. AND to drive home the point even further, my daughter did sort of a halfway thing where she’d let the puppy nip at her and if it got too hard she’s say “ow,” but then she’d keep playing with him because she felt bad or because she didn’t want to stop playing to go get a chewy toy. It took one accidental nip on the sensitive part of her ear and she was asking to copy exactly what I did  When she completely stopped playing for a minute and gave him a chewy he learned immediately to stop nipping. And it only took a day or two more for him to stop initiating nippy play with her altogether. So yes, I absolutely know puppy biting is normal, but I do think it can be controlled, as evidenced by my family. If other people are involved, make sure you’re on the same page - don’t do what we did!

And I like the article on bite inhibition! I read about this a little before we brought our puppy home and asked our breeder about hand feeding (she recommended mixing wet food with kibble and I was not going to hand feed that) and I don’t think I communicated my question clearly because she looked at me like I was nuts. This is the article I should have read!


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