# Why does my puppy jump and bite my husband and not me?



## Tioy (Sep 12, 2012)

My 15 week old puppy is so cuddly and calm with me. At very few occasions, when he is tired, he might try and bit my hands. I stay calm and tell him "No bite", and he usually stops. If he is too excited and tired, I take him in my lap and he relaxes at once.

With my husband on the other hand, Zingo just gets crazy. Even though my husband does the samething, Zingo keeps trying to bite and wiggles around in his lap. They go through this several times during a day, and he cannot understand why Zingo gets so worked up together with him.

Any ideas why Zingo is behaving differently with us?
I usually stay in the background and do not interfer, when he is trying to calm Zingo down.
At one time I came home during one of these scenes. Zingo was jumping and biting, while my husband was trying the ignore metod. Which was not working at all. I sat down on the floor next to Zingo and told him in a soft voice to calm down and go to sleep. He stopped instantly and lay down. I then shut my eyes and said "time to sleep" and jawned (I use to do this with my kids when they were babies), pretending to fall asleep. It worked and Zingo doozed off.

Anyone that been in the same situation within the family?
Any ideas for my husband?




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## Tayla's Mom (Apr 20, 2012)

Can you come live with us or teach me your calming technique? Tayla does it with both of us, but more with my husband than me. She just goes nuts with him. 


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

None of my dogs have wanted to play bite me. I consider it a blessing. Toby will slam into me full force though.


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## Wendi (Jul 2, 2012)

Roxxi does the same thing with my husband. All day we are here alone, playing, talking, sleeping. Sometimes she will get excited, but for the most part its pretty calm. I took her over to my mom's yesterday and she was all calm and inquisitive. Later I went back to show my mom something, my dad, sister and brothers girlfriend were there and she went nuts!

When my husband comes home from work she is all over him and in the evenings she goes crazy, biting, nipping and wont leave his feet alone. He puts her in time out but it doesn't seem to help much. I'm sure it has to do with her not seeing him as much as me.


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## Jersey's Mom (Nov 25, 2007)

The first question that comes to mind is whether your husband and you work during the day. If you are home with the pup most of the day and your husband is gone... his presence would be a source of renewed excitement for Zingo, which could be why he has such a hard time controlling himself with your husband. Whereas your more consistent presence wouldn't have him so amped up. Just a thought...

Julie, Jersey and Oz


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## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

I am both the one that can calm the dog and the one that is the playtoy. I have decided that the dog simply thinks I am the most exciting thing on earth. Which is funny, because I am simply one of the most boring people on earth. To the dog, though, my movements are faster and my voice is higher than my husband. I have contemplated taking away all his squeaky toys to prevent any mixups.


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## Tioy (Sep 12, 2012)

Wow, we do not seem to be alone with this problem.
Someone asked about me teaching my technique. I only wish I knew what it is I am doing, since my husband is trying to do the same with no success.





Jersey's Mom said:


> The first question that comes to mind is whether your husband and you work during the day. If you are home with the pup most of the day and your husband is gone... his presence would be a source of renewed excitement for Zingo, which could be why he has such a hard time controlling himself with your husband. Whereas your more consistent presence wouldn't have him so amped up. Just a thought...
> 
> Julie, Jersey and Oz


I work from home, so I am with Zingo most of the time. My husband has started to work from home 2 days a week (and home on the weekends). When my husband is home, I stay out of the way to give him and Zingo time to bond.
So far no change. As I am writing this I hear my husband tell Zingo to calm down.........Now Zingo is held in his lap.




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## Deber (Aug 23, 2011)

When he gets like this, I would think he might be telling your husband he wants to play. You might use this time and have your husband take him outside and play ball or throw a toy, or take him on a walk to get some of that energy out. My dogs always went nuts when DH came home because he liked to take them on walks more in the brush and they just walked for fun. When I took them, we worked on manners, training and good greeting. They liked HIS fun more than mine. But mostly they just had excess energy to burn off. Ask Hubby to go outside and play well with the pup and I bet when the pup comes back in he will calm faster. A tired pup is more of a calm pup.


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## Tioy (Sep 12, 2012)

Deber said:


> When he gets like this, I would think he might be telling your husband he wants to play. You might use this time and have your husband take him outside and play ball or throw a toy, or take him on a walk to get some of that energy out. My dogs always went nuts when DH came home because he liked to take them on walks more in the brush and they just walked for fun. When I took them, we worked on manners, training and good greeting. They liked HIS fun more than mine. But mostly they just had excess energy to burn off. Ask Hubby to go outside and play well with the pup and I bet when the pup comes back in he will calm faster. A tired pup is more of a calm pup.


That is what we thought, so before we used to play with him a lot to get him tired. That was à distater, he went nuts after 5 times of playing.
Actually it mostly happens after my husband and Zingo have been out. He then tried not playing any exciting games, and that helped a bit. When Zingo is overly stimulated he starts biting and jumping. The more tired he gets the more he jumps and nips and starts even to bite himself. That is the reason that we try to just encourage him when he plays and just activate him with training and very short games ( no throwing balls and sticks, e.g. just playing hide and seek).
He has trouble calming down and gets easily over excited. So we are training to calm down ( start and stop).
Without knowing much about dogs (he is my first dog), it seems he is frustrated with my husband and does not know how to behave with him. He wants to connect but does not know how and Zingo does not seem it understand my husbands although we are doing the same techniques.



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## Tioy (Sep 12, 2012)

No good theories on this subject?
Spoke to my neighbour today about this. She said it might be that Zingo has chosen my husband as a playmate and is trying to get his attention. He is just doing it the wrong way. My hubby has to teach him the correct way by crating and leaving him when he missbehaves.
Still does not explain why I get the "special treatment" from Zingo. Since I am not used to dogs it is a wonder to me that he listens and tries to comply. Secretly dreading that this might change when Zingo figures out that I have no clue of what I am doing  . 
He is like a baby in many ways (which I am used to), and in as many ways so different from anything I have ever cared for. 



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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

Does your husband hold his back or stroke his back (especially long strokes) to calm him? For me, I can count on that ramping up young pups...


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## Leila's Mommy <3 (Aug 3, 2012)

My puppy is the same way. But I stay home with her and my husband works long hours. I believed it was because my kids would be so excited to see him when he gets home that she takes their lead and feeds off the energy. We have been told to ignore the puppy until she is calm. but then when my husband finally gives her attention she piddles herself!


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## Tioy (Sep 12, 2012)

LibertyME said:


> Does your husband hold his back or stroke his back (especially long strokes) to calm him? For me, I can count on that ramping up young pups...


He does! I keep telling him to ignore the puppy until he is calm, and when the puppy has calmed down he can go and sit. If the puppy comes to him, he should just greet with voice and pet his chest briefly.

This might be the thing!! My husband cannot take his hands of the puppy and cannot even pass by the puppy without petting him or talking to him.

What do you think, is this the reason?


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## Tioy (Sep 12, 2012)

Just throwing out an idea.
Can it be because I always squat down and say "calm down" when Zingo starts acting up?
I mean that being on the same level as him is better than standing up trying to calm him.




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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

He may not really be aware of how he is handling the pup...

If you can take several video clips of you interacting with the pup and several of him - it might make it easier for both of you to see the differences in your styles and the results of how you interact.


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## Tioy (Sep 12, 2012)

LibertyME said:


> He may not really be aware of how he is handling the pup...
> 
> If you can take several video clips of you interacting with the pup and several of him - it might make it easier for both of you to see the differences in your styles and the results of how you interact.


Oh, what a great idea! Thanks, I will do so.


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