# help for my 10 week old



## chandimahm (Oct 28, 2017)

Hi. I have a lovely 10 week old puppy, I've had her for exactly two weeks now. It's my first time ever keeping a dog in the family. In fact, no one in my immediate family had dogs, so I'm really inexperienced but had been wanting a GR for a few years now. I did a lot of reading and video watching before deciding and felt I was somewhat prepared. However, like children, I guess no amount of reading can prepare you for the actuality - it's both easier and more difficult than I expected. 

She's adorable, and seems healthy. When she nips and bites, all of us try to stop her by saying No loudly and moving away and ignoring but not being aggressive, and we've been trying to establish boundaries (eg not chewing carpets and clothes) and do some basic training. But she seems to be getting more rebellious, she was quiet and calm when she came to us, but now she growls, bites and barks a lot, and hates to be stopped from anything. My neighbor's kid played a bit of tug with her just for a couple of days, but I've stopped that as I hear it might encourage aggressiveness. my problem is that due to my inexperience, I'm not sure how much of it is regular puppy playful behavior, and how much is due to something I'm doing wrong. 

What's worrying me is not the regular mouthing, I know that GR puppies do that a lot. It's when she starts seeming aggressive, she'll start lunging and biting and growling, sometimes at us, sometimes at her toys and cushions and playballs. Is that normal, or should I be getting worried that she's getting aggressive? Please help me figure this out, and how to calm her! When she's not doing that, she's quiet and sweet, along from the expected nipping. Thank you!


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## zoeythewonderdog (Mar 18, 2017)

sounds like normal puppy stuff


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## rabernet (Feb 24, 2015)

It's normal behavior. Noah got more bitey face when he was really tired, but couldn't find his off switch. We put him in his crate and he'd let out a heavy sigh and fall asleep. 

Offer something appropriate to chew on when she's chewing things she shouldn't. Never leave her unsupervised to get into trouble out of sight, and so you can stop unwanted behavior (chewing on rugs, etc) right away. We left a light leash on Noah for his first few months, so we could grab him quickly if needed. 

The good news is, when she starts losing teeth and getting her adult teeth, some of this bitey-ness should start to fade - at the very least it won't hurt so much. 

Try smearing some peanut butter on the back of your hand and telling her good kisses while she licks it off. It's how we trained Noah "no bite, good kisses".


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

You have 100% normal puppy.


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## chandimahm (Oct 28, 2017)

Thank you so much!


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

There's lots of great advice on this forum. You can just put biting in the search and look at some threads. Lots of people fear their puppies are aggressive but most are just normal GR pups. It will definitely get better in a few more weeks. We saw improvement sometime around 4 months. Buy a variety of chewy toys like Kong's, Nyla bones stuffed animals, freeze some carrots to chew on. We found with Rukie that distraction and stuffing a toy in his mouth worked better than being stern though we did sometimes have to say no bites sternly. Keep treats and toys within reach or in your pockets and practice sit and touch as distractions. We also found a good nap helped. It is very common for puppies to have some wild time in the evening. Some people called it zoomies. We called it hell hour. Hang in there and be consistent and soon you will see glimpses of the great Golden dog you want.


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## silver9 (Jul 11, 2017)

Mine is 15 weeks, and he hasn't been aggressive but yes he will chew anything anywhere. They have limited attention spans and have no idea what they are supposed to chew, so it's easy to distract them and put something more appropriate in their mouth. If they return to the previous thing (like your shirt) spray it with bitter apple. It works very well.

If you go on amazon and put in "dog chew toy" or "puppy chew toy" there are tons of things. I have a dozen random toys just for this and he still chews my clothes and the sofa. At least those things are soft & can be sprayed with bitter apple spray & I can distract him. The main chewing that would be dangerous to him would be if he chewed and swallowed something like sofa cushion stuffing or similar. Also, if they chew the bars of their crate (a lot) it can damage their teeth and gums. Both of the last two stories are from my vet.

I am starting to think that moving things out of the way or saying "no" just turns it into a game for them. I took in the mail and he saw it and wanted it so I lifted it away and of course he wanted it even more. I got one of his toys and put it in his mouth and he forgot I had any mail in my hands. Of course, I stupidly didn't put the mail somewhere before I bent down to get the toy- and he went straight for it.

I know what you mean - it is harder than it looks. What's getting to me is 10 days of going outside / waking up every 3 hours. It starts to accumulate...and I haven't been able to do much else. I fostered an adult dog who was sleepy, potty trained, and not that obsessed with food... so this is a whole different story.


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