Need advice

[Kross225]

Hi everyone.
My bulldog has been home with us for 3 weeks and is 13 weeks old. He's been becoming increasingly nasty to me and my girl, biting our hands and feet relentlessly. (No food aggression tho). When we give him a stern "no!!" He just barks and gets more nasty. We have taken all the steps to show him that we are in charge but he still seems to wanna be a nasty pup. We give him his chew toys and praise him when he uses them but its usually is he'd rather chew on. Please tell me this is just a phase he will grow out of. Any advice on calming this Tasmanian devil down would be welcomed

 

[porkysmamma]

Oh dear I'm going to attempt to tag some others for u keep ur fingers crossed it works lol [MENTION=2092]JAKEISGREAT[/MENTION] [MENTION=1209]savemejeebus[/MENTION] [MENTION=2291]cowsmom[/MENTION] [MENTION=2]desertskybulldogs[/MENTION]!!! Ok now ill give u my advice I went through the same thing with my girl!!!!! I have so many scares from her deciding I was a toy, she would get this look n I swear actually attack me it got so bad that I actually broke down crying n telling my fiancé that our dog was evil and she hated me lol!!!! Now she is my little snuggle bug n wants nothing more than to curl up on my chest n sleep (she's 9 months old but has been thins way since about 5 months) I think it's just a stage however ill give u some advice given to me at that time!! Only play on the floor n when the aggression starts a stern "no" or "leave it" n the play time is done u need to remove urself from the situation, go to another room or sit on a couch n play time cannot resume until he calms down!!!! N again if u resume play n their is aggression, no n remove urself!!!! I used bitter apple spray on my hands as well (I are more than she did yuck lol) but it seemed to work well!!!! It's all in being the dominate n if u say "ok ur being mean we r not playing anymore" u r assuming the dominate role!!!! He is a baby still n views u as his litter mate so u need to teach him u r not!!! Praise when he chews his toys is great so keep doing that !!!! Try getting some very hard rubber toys as well I suspect he is probably cutting teeth too (my vet showed me porky was lol she got so bad I took her to the vet lol) good luck n keep is updated!!!!!

 

[ModernFemme]

Hi Kross! Thanks for joining the forums. First of all, I experienced this exact same thing with my bully at this age, so please don't think you brought home a dud. I was so afraid of him that I wouldn't spend time with him on the floor. Every time he came near my face, I would cringe, and if company came over, I was horrified if my dog nipped them. Sometimes he would draw blood! Bully pups can play very rough and can sometimes try to exert dominance over you and your child. There are a few things you can do. For me? Only one thing worked, and it worked well, and it worked fast.

Yelling in pain, saying "No" firmly, never, ever worked. The only thing that worked for me was getting a can, filling it with coins, and giving it a good shake when Remi (our bully) exhibited this behavior.

When your bully nips you, or lunges at you, shake the can and say no. Keep it close, because you're going to need it. I have found "setting" up and sort of provoking the behavior is the fastest way to curb it. You will be prepared and can act quickly to correct the behavior, all the while being in control. For a while, you'll want to hold his collar so you he can't get too closer to your face. He will learn fast, trust me.

I have found you can empower your children to also use the can, if the dog does anything they don't like.

I would try not to do any tug of war games under your pup stops biting.

After a while you'll begin to notice your puppy no longer nips you. You can eventually stop using the can and use firm no's on the rare occasion he does nip, and rewarding for what we like to call "gentle kisses."

Good luck!

 

[izstigspunks]

Don't have much experience with puppies that young since we got Stiggy when he was 5months. But my sis recently got a Corgi and, yes, he bites at anything. They're playful bites though, no aggression, but those shark teeth can be painful! It's been a month since he's been with us and I find that he's getting better at listening and not biting our ankles whenever he gets a chance.

At 13 weeks, he's still a baby, so all you can do for now is keep doing what you're doing and be persistent in saying no and distracting him with other toys. It's a phase .... (I hope for everyone's sake :D).

 

[cali~jenn]

Think you got great advice already! I have yet to own a bully baby so have nothing to add aside from welcome and we LOVE pics round here. Hint hint.

 

[BrooklynStar]

Dozer did that to us when he was that age. As always, give a firm "NO" while redirecting it to a toy (nylabone, deer antler ect) and when he goes for that praise him like crazy. He'll grow out of it soon.

 

[cowsmom]

i havent had a puppy but i think its just to keep at it till they get it and is quite natural for them to bite or nip. just keep with the no and redirecting his attention and he should soon get it.

 

[elearn]

welcome to puppy hood!! LOL

this is normal and as others have said not every trick works for every dog.

13 weeks is a good time to start training him, so work on some new tricks getting a clicker. when Herman would start acting out i would pull out the clicker and get him to stop. carry the clicker and a pocket of treats around with you (something like Zukes mini treats - yum!). you have to condition the clicker first, but it will snap his mind out of biting because he'll be waiting for a command to get a treat.

Herman (9 months now) has never responded to "No!" but just last night he was biting me and I said "No!" and he backed off and gave me a snotty look. So as your pup gets older he'll get better.

 

[BruceP]

and please do an Introduction thread on that part of the forum so we all can see your baby shark and hear more about him and his family. Enjoy the site

 

[luseaann]

Liz is a year and a half and still very rarely switches to "snapping turtle" mode. I soon learned to realize how her whole face changed when she went into this play mode. Yes, the best thing to stop it is to tell her no and then distract her with a favorite toy or the can of coins. Whatever works. It will take time, but with any training it just takes time, patience, and consistency. She now responds just to no and she is my special love bunny.

You should look into training at Petco or Petsmart. We did that with both our ladies and it did wonders. You know it is US that need the training to understand how to deal with our bullies.

 

[dalmatina38]

Amber did the same thing as a puppy and with patience, redirection and discipline she grew out of it. She loves to wrestle and can get ambitious at times but we wanted a bully that was rough and tough to play with our daughter and Amber fits the bill. Patience, training, discipline and time are keyand I keep treats (dehydrated jerky) around to redirect her attention when necessary. Now, there are still things Amber loves to do no matter what; stealing my grandsons shoe when he walks in the door is one of them. Its a play thing with her and I am not sure if she will get broke of that or not until he gets older (he is 7 now and thinks its funny which is part of the problem). She will always be tough because our daughter plays with her rough. She wanted a rough tough bully and that is exactly what Amber is; good luck. Patience and consistency is key, be consistency with what is determined acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

 

[Kross225]

Wow, thank you everyone for the advice. This forum is really great. And for those of you looking for pics of Luca, I finally figured out how to put them up. Working off an iPhone is a pain in the butt. Can't post here but got a few on my page.

 

[JAKEISGREAT]

Wow, thank you everyone for the advice. This forum is really great. And for those of you looking for pics of Luca, I finally figured out how to put them up. Working off an iPhone is a pain in the butt. Can't post here but got a few on my page.

You seemed to have figured it out just fine!!

 

[LynnA]

Luca sounds just like Otis - he is soooooooooooo much better today at almost 11 months but wow what a battle and he scared me for awhile there. I thought I was a teriible Mom, so I have to agree with the stage thing, some are more agressive then others. Hang in there....one thing that works for me is a water bottle - he hates it when I even go to grab it now.

 

[bullmama]

Wow, thank you everyone for the advice. This forum is really great. And for those of you looking for pics of Luca, I finally figured out how to put them up. Working off an iPhone is a pain in the butt. Can't post here but got a few on my page.

What a cutie!!! OMGosh!!!

What works for me is to 'yelp', this is what their littermates do when enough is enough. Some pups get it right away- others take longer. I yelp, look at them right in the face. Then push them away. Ignore them for a moment, then hand them something they CAN chew on. Once they start playing and chewing, praise them. Repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat!!! And repeat some more!