8 week old male pup has attitude

by Cw

Hello,

I have an 8 week old male rottweiler and we love him to pieces but he does have an attitude sometimes then there are times he can be sweet.

If he’s laying around and you start petting on him he will start growling. If you continue or even try to pick him up he will get vicious and snap at you. But then there are times he just wants to love on you and lick you but it has to be his idea!

Please let me know what I need to do as I have a 5yr old and 8 month old kids. Thanks

Hi CW. What you’re describing is fairly common behavior for puppies of all breeds. It doesn’t mean that your pup is aggressive or ‘bad’, simply that he is strong-willed, smart and a bit bossy!

He’s still just a baby and is behaving the way he would with his momma and siblings, but he does need to learn that nipping, growling and biting is NOT okay when interacting with people.

While he is small (as small as a Rottie puppy is going to be anyway) it’s important to stop this behavior, as puppies learn much more easily than adolescent or older dogs.

You will just need to be firm, loving and patient. Correct him with a firm ‘No’ (no shouting or smacking though) and use the muzzle wrap technique to reinforce the message. Check out this page to learn all about correcting nipping and biting How To Stop Puppy Biting The same goes for the growling, a firm ‘No’.

If he gets overexcited and refuses to listen, coming back at you nippin three times in any one instance, then he gets a 10 minute time out in his crate with a sturdy chew toy for company.

Rottweilers are very, very smart and learn quickly. They also love to please their owners and even the bossiest of pups will respond to loving, rewards-based training and discipline.

Don’t make the mistake of being overly harsh with your puppy or think that he needs some kind of strict corrections ‘because he’s a Rottweiler’ or anything along those lines. Rotties are NOT dangerous, aggressive dogs.. and your pup is simply a puppy, behaving the way puppies do.

With love, patience and loving but firm guidelines and corrections he will soon understand what is okay and what isn’t.

Finally, I’d suggest that you include your children in the care of your puppy as much as is possible given their age. Puppies of all breeds tend to see children as siblings (ie other puppies) and can be rough, bossy and nippy with them because that’s the way puppies play together.

But, when a child has a role in puppy care (such as grooming, training, feeding and so on – within limits and using common sense obviously) then the puppy is much more likely to see them as their superiors rather than their equals.

I’d also recommend following the guidelines on this page to make sure food guarding never becomes an issue… target=”_blank”>About Dog Food Aggression

Hope this helps. Best of luck to you all.
~ Sue