# 4th Month Old Pup Suddenly Snippy at Son



## OnGoldenPond (Mar 30, 2011)

Just when I thought I was on easy street.....my 4 month old male pup all of a sudden is very snippy and aggressive with my 7 year old son. NEVER done anything like this before. Not aggressive/possessive over food, toys, or anything. Not really even "mouthy" anymore. I cannot figure it out....maybe Hank just doesn't like my boy! 

Mind you, my son is never alone with the pup. Never plays with pup without supervision (and I mean with me having one hand on pup...right there with them both). Has never played rough or been mean to dog (teased or otherwise) to the pup. My son is doing nothing but gently petting head and/or back. I did tell my son to just not go near him for a while. 

The times Hank did this, he gave a very quick "growl/bark" and a quick moving snip at him. First couple of times, Hank was just laying there about 1/2 asleep, so I figured he was startled...now he just does it anytime. Tonight, I was making dinner for the girls (my two year old goldens)...having already feed Hank, and Hank was watching me. Griffin sat down beside pup and started petting down his back. Pup was touching my leg, we all three were right together, but I will say my attention was on making the girls food, and I admit that fault. I assume, Hank was wanting the food, and not wanting Griff to have any ?? But, that just doesn't explain the other times. Totally out of the blue. 

Any thoughts on this?? Thank you!!! I hate this! Ideal puppy otherwise, until this started, which has been about a week now.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Puppyness, and quite likely he feels your son is his playmate so he can act that way. Have your son work on simple training commands with the puppy, it will help puppy learn to respect your son like he does you.


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## OnGoldenPond (Mar 30, 2011)

Thank you! I wondered about that. Griff is on the skinny, small side, and being the littlest one in our "pack", I can see the pup thinking that. I will have him do just that.....


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## toliva (Nov 24, 2011)

Good advice. To add to that, maybe he could have a turn feeding him? I have 3 kids (ages 7, 6, & 3), and each takes a turn feeding Zeke his evening meal. They bring in the bowl of food, tell him to sit & stay, put the bowl down and release him to eat. I think this helps build their relationship with them. He's got the routine down pretty well, so I'm going to add another command to have the girls ask of him, like Down or Paw. My older two regularly give him commands in exchange for a treat as well (my 3-year old just says siiiiiiiit over and over, lol).

Zeke is also trained in whistle recall. I trained him on whistle recall partly because anyone can blow the whistle, including a tiny 3 year old. Once he was trained, I started letting the kids blow the whistle sometimes, and when he comes to them, they give him a jackpot of delicious treats. I think this also helps their relationship.

Something else the girls have done, or do: make a toy, or buy a toy for him, and present it to him. He knows it is from the kiddo! Also the girls give him bully sticks and hold it while he chews. That last one, I didn't sanction that, they just started doing it and I didn't stop it. He doesn't resource guard (quite the opposite, he pushes his things on to us, which is kinda gross, lol), so I figured it was fine.

I can't think of any other tips, but I hope this helps. Our puppy plays with the kids in the same way (actually more gentle) as he does with the adults, so hopefully he sees all the humans in the same way? I never know if we are doing everything right, but we try


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