Jump to content

Is this normal behaviour (worried)


lovelife82

Recommended Posts

Hi,

I need your advice please. Luna is 8 weeks old and the last week her behaviour has been pretty bad. When I come in from work I get a lovely welcome but then she starts biting my feet and legs. If I tell her off then she just comes back worse. Bites my hands and my face. Not nibbles but hard bites that hurt. I’ve tried time out for 30 seconds at a time but most times she wees even though she goes to the back door when she needs to go toilet. She will not listen at all. Me and my boyfriend are so stressed and frustrated and we don’t know if this is normal behaviour or if we have a very bad puppy. I’m hoping it’s normal. She has her second injection on the 4th December and then she can go out a week after that she can go out. I’m planning on taking her to obedience classes then. 

Thanks

From one stressful owner

Amanda 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

At what age did you get her?     Preferably a puppy should be with its mother for 12 weeks   8 at an absolute minimum, - if she is 8 weeks old and you have been having problems for a week - this suggests she was taken from her mum too early.    They learn things like bite inhibition from around 6 weeks old.   She could also be picking up on your stress   (understandable though it may be).

My Marley who I got at 12 weeks, .............. I was his 4th owner by then   - had been taken from his mum too early and I did have similiar problems  - which is the reason I ask.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Take a step back and a deep breath.

 I went through this times 2.  Both of mine were so bad and with all the emergency visits with the boy, I almost rehomed mine a couple of times. She is testing the boundaries. She will grow out of it. I promise. 

Training is going to be your saving grace. However, I went through about three trainers before I got the right one for my pups. They have to understand Husky behavior and do positive training. *No harshness*. And understand they are stubborn. Mine know their commands... but will only do them if they want to. LOL

 Exercise is also going to be  a huge help. 5 minutes per weeks old 3x a day.

We  literally did 1 hour and 43 minutes this morning. Every since I started walking, training, and put them on a schedule AND GOT THEM FIXED: 98% of all bad behavior has completely stopped. (The girl will chew on corners of the pillows and blankets LoL)

Put her on a schedule. Be  consistent. Lots of love. Ignore most bad behavior.

When she bits. Stand up and walk away completely ignoring her. If you do a time out 30 seconds is probably not long enough. Don’t use a crate as punishment. (However, I do put mine in their crates now at 9 months when they annoy each other and play becomes too aggressive by giving the kennel command and they get a chewy so they never have the impression it is punishment.)

There are a tone of tricks you can do to stop each individual bad habit. I googled Husky training and then modified it to have two sibes and their personalities.

You can get through this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It’s normal for pups to bite, the trick is to have a chew toy to hand, when she bites say Ah ah and give her the toy to chew. Huskies require a lot of stimulation as they are an intelligent breed, when they’re bored they become destructive. At 8 weeks you can start teaching basic commands, sit, stay, lie down etc, use positive reinforced training, lots of praise and reward with a tiny treat, NEVER shout or tap your pup as


Sent from my iPad using Husky Owners

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oops [emoji51] so I’ll finish what I started
never tap or shout as this will make your pup anxious and nervous which can lead to aggression. Training needs to be consistent, if possible set a routine for her, feeding, training and playing, that way she’ll know what to expect and when. Playing is just as important as training as this is where you’ll develop your bond and she’ll start to trust you, once you have trust it’s easier to train her.
I won’t lie to you when I say she will frustrate you and huskies can be very demanding and when she hits 4 months plus she’ll listen less, don’t give up, training training and more training. Obedience classes didn’t work for my 2, huskies have a mind of their own, they’re not like regular dogs, it might be an idea to do some research regarding behaviour. With regards to walks, it’s 5 mins per month of age, so at eight weeks she can do 10 mins but 2-3 times a day, the reason for this is that excessive exercise damages the growth plates in the joints and can lead to hip conditions or arthritis. Luna’s not a bad puppy, there’s no such thing as a bad puppy, she’s just a baby and needs to be trained.
Good luck [emoji6]



Sent from my iPad using Husky Owners

Link to comment
Share on other sites

She's 8 weeks old , you've had her since a minimum of a week already , she hasn't learnt bite inhibition it's how she would have played with her siblings , as soon as you get home ignore her and take her straight into the garden to toilet , make your coming and goings no big deal , time out might need to be a bit longer than 30seconds for her to start realising if I bite the fun the stops

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Husky Owners mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@2Huskyfun @chelseafan @wolfpup @BingBlaze n Skyla Thank you for your replies. That has put my mind at rest. To answer when we got her, it was 3 weeks yesterday.

She was 5 1/2 weeks. The breeder said it was ok to take her as her mam had rejected the puppies. I didn’t realise it would have affected her being taken away at that time or else we would have waited until she was 8 weeks old.

Positives is she is going to the back door when she wants to use the toilet and rarely has accidents. She is only up once through the night and she sits/heels for us.

I understand she’s still only young but was just stressed out because her bites are hard and constant if I’m walking around and they hurt. 

The timeout is fine but she wee’s when I do it, even if she has just been out in the garden to toilet. How long do you recommend for time out?

When I’m at work, my boyfriend looks after her so she always has someone to watch and interact with her.

I’ve ordered a clicker that is coming today and a large cage to crate train her (that’s coming on Friday). I think perseverance is the key and continuity. She seemed better this morning. I got more kisses than bites lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pups around 5 weeks old is when they should be being weaned off of mum , so she had probably just had enough of those puppy teeth and didn't reject them as such, not sure where u are but (and I'm not sure if this is world wide ) it's actually illegal to sell pups before 8 weeks old

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Husky Owners mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@chelseafan thank you for catching that.... it is 5 minutes per month not week. 👍😀

5 hours ago, lovelife82 said:

@2Huskyfun @chelseafan @wolfpup @BingBlaze n Skyla Thank you for your replies. That has put my mind at rest. To answer when we got her, it was 3 weeks yesterday.

She was 5 1/2 weeks. The breeder said it was ok to take her as her mam had rejected the puppies. I didn’t realise it would have affected her being taken away at that time or else we would have waited until she was 8 weeks old.

Positives is she is going to the back door when she wants to use the toilet and rarely has accidents. She is only up once through the night and she sits/heels for us.

I understand she’s still only young but was just stressed out because her bites are hard and constant if I’m walking around and they hurt. 

The timeout is fine but she wee’s when I do it, even if she has just been out in the garden to toilet. How long do you recommend for time out?

When I’m at work, my boyfriend looks after her so she always has someone to watch and interact with her.

I’ve ordered a clicker that is coming today and a large cage to crate train her (that’s coming on Friday). I think perseverance is the key and continuity. She seemed better this morning. I got more kisses than bites lol.

I never did time out with mine for bitting. I would just ignore them. 

Mine caught on to the clicker quick. I played around with it when they were fixed just to keep them busy not thinking anything with it and we actually learned a lot. 

There is some great tips on creat training on this forum. Since you have already had her 2 weeks, she has a routine. Go slow be patient.

The bits do hurt... called mine little piranhas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When Marley bit me I yelped loudly in a very high pitch  (like a puppy) and pushed him away and I then got up and moved away from him ignoring him   (which is what his siblings would do)    It took around 3 weeks of doing this before he 'got it' and he has never bitten since. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, BingBlaze n Skyla said:

Pups around 5 weeks old is when they should be being weaned off of mum , so she had probably just had enough of those puppy teeth and didn't reject them as such, not sure where u are but (and I'm not sure if this is world wide ) it's actually illegal to sell pups before 8 weeks old

Sent from my [device_name] using http://Husky Owners mobile app
 

Unfortunately there is no law for a certain age in my county. At least there wasn’t when I retired a few years ago. There should be though. 🤔

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, 2Huskyfun said:

Unfortunately there is no law for a certain age in my county. At least there wasn’t when I retired a few years ago. There should be though. 🤔

Love Life is registered in the North East of England - so surely England rules apply?????

Link to comment
Share on other sites

29 minutes ago, wolfpup said:

Love Life is registered in the North East of England - so surely England rules apply?????

I would think so. Never thought of it because I haven’t had a pup since early 90s LOL always took the ones that were being PTed 

And never had a case involving anyone bring it up. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/21/2018 at 10:05 PM, wolfpup said:

Love Life is registered in the North East of England - so surely England rules apply?????

Yeah, as mentioned before, I didn’t realise this until after I had bought her. I wished I had got her at 8 weeks as she may have learnt bite inhibition which would have helped.

Thanks

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy , along with dressing your husky as a unicorn on the first Thursday of each month