# Normal or Agressive Please Help. 8 weeks Old pup



## Maika (May 11, 2012)

Hi. Need some advice on puppy behavior please. Let's see how I can explain!. maika is normal and playful all day until about 4 pm to 8 pm when for no reason at all she starts to go a bit crazy, as if she does not know what she wants. I have given her a few treats, played ball with her which she is not interested in at this time, tug of war neither. She won't go outside and run around due to the heat which she detests. She will grab viciously at her toys and shake her head from side to side, while I am sat on the sofa she will run and sink her teeth into my leg, walk around whining grab another toy for a few seconds then go for the wifes feet, she actually bit her hand and made a cut in her finger as maika drew back after biting and caused this injury to my wife. it is now 11 pm and she is now on the sofa next to me fast asleep after I had to give her a touch with a rolled up paper which after I did so she calmed down completely rolled on her back and stretched both her paws out in submission. The rest of the day she is an angel, why does she get anxious or aggressive around this time of day??. Am I giving her to much fuss? Am I over feeding her or under feeding her? I have noticed you can feel her backbone and ribs easily but I am giving her 4 feeds a day. 7 am. 12 noon. 6pm and 10 pm each feed is half a cup of puppy food of good quality with a whole cup of rice, this is to get her runs under control. Even so she is always whining around the cupboard where her dried food is kept. I feel I am trying my best but this aggressive bit worries me. I don't take her out for walks as we have 5.000 m2 of land for her to run around freely in and she does not take advantage of that, so I don't feel the need to take her out on a lead at this early stage. can someone tell me if they have had the same or can help me please.


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## msvette2u (Mar 20, 2006)

> it is now 11 pm and she is now on the sofa next to me fast asleep after I had to give her a touch with a rolled up paper which after I did so she calmed down completely rolled on her back and stretched both her paws out in submission.


She is being a normal active German Shepherd puppy. Get rope toys and tugs to play with her with. She just wants to play and can't figure out why you won't.
Please don't smack her with a newspaper for being a normal puppy


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## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

yes, she is trying to play with you the way she played with her brothers and sisters. Teach her a fun game to play with you like tug and start some fun obedience games. You'll be amazed at how quickly she learns.
Definitely get her out and used to being on a leash, even if it's just in your yard. It's easier to get the training started now than waiting for later.

What food are you feeding her? She's eating mostly rice, so it's possible that she is hungry. Has she been to the vet? What is the cause of her diarrhea?


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

It sounds like she might be over-tired and getting a little frustrated. Does she have a crate or a sheltered corner where you can put her for some quiet time? You could give her a nice, raw meaty bone and let her chew on it quietly and then take a nap. 

Gsd puppies do typically like to bite and engage in rowdy playing. 

I also second the advice not to use a newspaper. You do not want a submissive puppy. You want a puppy who trusts you and looks to you as a leader. 

Try to give her lots of structure, short and fun training sessions with rewards, be consistent with her and make sure you keep things fair and clear.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

you're pup sounds normal. she may need some crate time throughout
the day. you don't hit the puppy with the newspaper. you hit
yourself with the newspaper untill you learn how to take care
of a 8 week old pup.


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## bocron (Mar 15, 2009)

Puppy sounds like a normal pup who probably needs more down time during the day. At that age my pups usually sleep from about 10pm until 7am, then nap at about 9am for an hour, again after lunch for an hour or so and after dinner (while my family eats dinner) for about an hour. During those times I put the pup in their crate and make sure they get some sleep. They will also take little cat naps during the day when following me around so that isn't the only sleep time they get, but I do make sure that they get the chance for a good sleep at those times at a minimum.
They need LOTS of sleep at this age and when they don't get it they become holy terrors!


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

Maika said:


> I don't take her out for walks as we have 5.000 m2 of land for her to *run around freely in and she does not take advantage of that*, so I don't feel the need to take her out on a lead at this early stage. can someone tell me if they have had the same or can help me please.


She isn't going to take advantage of the space you have for her. She is an 8 week old puppy and wants nothing more than to be with you. She doesn't have enough confidence to wander around yet. You need to walk with her on your place, every day. Help her learn about her surroundings. Help her build confidence within herself. Let her burn off some of that puppy steam!


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## Maika (May 11, 2012)

Lilie said:


> She isn't going to take advantage of the space you have for her. She is an 8 week old puppy and wants nothing more than to be with you. She doesn't have enough confidence to wander around yet. You need to walk with her on your place, every day. Help her learn about her surroundings. Help her build confidence within herself. Let her burn off some of that puppy steam!


Hi, thanks for your message. OK, I will have to walk her around the grounds so she gets used to the scene and smells etc etc and burn off the puppy steam


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## Maika (May 11, 2012)

doggiedad said:


> you're pup sounds normal. she may need some crate time throughout
> the day. you don't hit the puppy with the newspaper. you hit
> yourself with the newspaper untill you learn how to take care
> of a 8 week old pup.


Hi. I have had before various large dogs and do know a fair bit about them but have never ad one so active before as Maika is. I would just like to point out to all the people in this thread that I don't go hitting maika all day with a news paper otherwise I would have never got a dog. I only gave her a tap on the bum with it nothing else. She is treated with great love and attention at all times and is always by my side and we are both very close to each other. Hope this clarifies things.

With regards

Kevin


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## Maika (May 11, 2012)

bocron said:


> Puppy sounds like a normal pup who probably needs more down time during the day. At that age my pups usually sleep from about 10pm until 7am, then nap at about 9am for an hour, again after lunch for an hour or so and after dinner (while my family eats dinner) for about an hour. During those times I put the pup in their crate and make sure they get some sleep. They will also take little cat naps during the day when following me around so that isn't the only sleep time they get, but I do make sure that they get the chance for a good sleep at those times at a minimum.
> They need LOTS of sleep at this age and when they don't get it they become holy terrors!


Hi. I have noticed that if Maika is in the lounge and the TV is on and the girls are arguing as they always do she seems to get tense, so I have now made her a place where she is not disturbed and has some of her own time and space, so fingers crossed she has so nice naps and stops being a holy terror 

All the very best

Kevin


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## Cassie44 (May 3, 2012)

My 14 week old pup also like to go crazy in the evening between 7 and 9pm. She can be a little scary when she starts lunging and chomping down on me and swinging her chew toys madly. In anyone else's experience, does this behaviour tone down as the dogs get older? She can be really sweet and well behaved most of the day but she has the odd freak out.


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## chloesmama2 (Feb 18, 2012)

My pup is 19 weeks old and still has a crazy time at night, then she lays down and sleeps all night. I think it is just a GSP thing because my other pup never did this. She is our crazy baby though. wow GSP are a handful not for the everyday let owner I have found out. They can be challenging.I am sure in the end it will be worth it though. She is such a sweetheart though too so we love it all.


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## KDLinares (May 28, 2012)

We are going through the same situation w/ our 8 week old female. About 5pm-8pm she gets very active and wants to bite everything and everyone. She even grabs her toys and shakes them which is their instinct to do so. What we do is tie her toys to a rope and play with her which gets her tired enough to want to go to sleep. Also, it's a great way to get her to exercise while building her prey drive for personal protection work later on. A few days ago I started walking her on a leash and what helped is also bringing along our older GSD whom is great on the leash. The one thing I do have a problem with is when she picks up rocks and tries to swallow them which I have caught her right before doing so. Crate training was a nightmare at first but now (5 days since getting her) she actually lets us sleep at night if she is in our room inside her crate. So far I wake up around 3-4am to take her outside for a potty break and during the day we take her out at least 10 times and no accidents as of yesterday (knock on wood). The only way I have corrected her lets say when she tries to chew on something we don't want her to chew on is growl at her and it works. Eventually we will use "No" or "nine" but for now she responds quickly to a short deep growl. Good luck w/ the pup!


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Do any of you track your pups or make them hunt for their meal? That really works to help wear out a puppy brain. Toss their kibble or raw in your yard or lay a track with it. Make them work for their dinner...and I'd use all meals as a means of training or having them find it. No bowls for a pup. 
Flirt pole/rag play is another great workout, let pup win and end it before the puppy disengages.


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## Cassie44 (May 3, 2012)

onyx'girl said:


> Do any of you track your pups or make them hunt for their meal? That really works to help wear out a puppy brain. Toss their kibble or raw in your yard or lay a track with it. Make them work for their dinner...and I'd use all meals as a means of training or having them find it. No bowls for a pup.
> Flirt pole/rag play is another great workout, let pup win and end it before the puppy disengages.


That is a great idea to make a trail of food. I'm having trouble coming up with creative ways to get her mind going. I usually give her one meal through rewards from training, but the tracking part of it isn't there. I also use the balls that you fill with food and she has to roll them around to knock the food out. She really seems to like that as she ignores everything else when she's doing it!


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

pup sounds over stimulated. needs a quiet private place to sleep , which pups do for severl hours in the day, necessary for growth and immune health.

diet doesn't sound so good. kibble with more rice ? 
and if you are using arborio (paella rice) then that has almost no nutrition .


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## Maika (May 11, 2012)

carmspack said:


> pup sounds over stimulated. needs a quiet private place to sleep , which pups do for severl hours in the day, necessary for growth and immune health.
> 
> diet doesn't sound so good. kibble with more rice ?
> and if you are using arborio (paella rice) then that has almost no nutrition .


Hi. I have changed her dried food and have consulted another vet. She was on 25 grams of dried food 4 times a day with rice and yes it was "Paella" rice Ooops!!. The new vet weighed her in at 5.5 kilos and he said she should be eating 250 to 300 grams of dried puppy food a day. I have now slowed down the rice a bit and am giving her now 4 feeds a day but 70 grams per feed. She now seems to be nipping less, taking more naps and has stopped going crazy in the evenings as she was doing. In general seems much more relaxed. I have also given her more exercise using a frisbi and take her to another part of the house where there is no noise and she can sleep without any interruptions. Fingers crossed.


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## Maika (May 11, 2012)

KDLinares said:


> We are going through the same situation w/ our 8 week old female. About 5pm-8pm she gets very active and wants to bite everything and everyone. She even grabs her toys and shakes them which is their instinct to do so. What we do is tie her toys to a rope and play with her which gets her tired enough to want to go to sleep. Also, it's a great way to get her to exercise while building her prey drive for personal protection work later on. A few days ago I started walking her on a leash and what helped is also bringing along our older GSD whom is great on the leash. The one thing I do have a problem with is when she picks up rocks and tries to swallow them which I have caught her right before doing so. Crate training was a nightmare at first but now (5 days since getting her) she actually lets us sleep at night if she is in our room inside her crate. So far I wake up around 3-4am to take her outside for a potty break and during the day we take her out at least 10 times and no accidents as of yesterday (knock on wood). The only way I have corrected her lets say when she tries to chew on something we don't want her to chew on is growl at her and it works. Eventually we will use "No" or "nine" but for now she responds quickly to a short deep growl. Good luck w/ the pup!


Hi. Congrats on the potty training, ours is still having a few accidents but is slowly getting the idea, I have answered another member in this post about her diet which seems to have calmed her down a lot and she is more content and not so freaked out as she was, seems as though the first vet got things wrong with her diet. I am also using a frisbi which she loves to try and jump up and catch. I have 5.000 mtrs of land which is mainly grass, this weekend I am going to hide in some area dried food underground and make her use her senses to find it and dig it out, obviously not all her meals but just a few snacks to make her work off some energy. I have bought today her collar and lead so I am going to start taking her for walks as well but taking her collar off when we get home so she associates it with going and doing something different, should be fun trying to get it on as she even hates being brushed


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## Maika (May 11, 2012)

chloesmama2 said:


> My pup is 19 weeks old and still has a crazy time at night, then she lays down and sleeps all night. I think it is just a GSP thing because my other pup never did this. She is our crazy baby though. wow GSP are a handful not for the everyday let owner I have found out. They can be challenging.I am sure in the end it will be worth it though. She is such a sweetheart though too so we love it all.


Hi. I changed her diet and she seems much more content as has stopped nipping now, well nearly  She sleeps from 12 to 8 am straight through so we don't have any bad nights "Touch wood". So yeah things seem to be ironing themselves out a bit. I have also found that laying on the floor stretched out as she is and gently talking to her about all my problems and thoughts she actually seems to be listening to every word and the licks my ear, what we do for love .


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## Twyla (Sep 18, 2011)

Maika said:


> using a frisbi which she loves to try and jump up and catch.


Frisbees are huge fun for the pups. Mine loved to play it, and still does. I would throw it long and low so he wouldn't do all the jumping for it. With HD being such a huge thing for this breed I wanted to avoid stressing his joints as much as possible while a young pup.


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## Maika (May 11, 2012)

Twyla said:


> Frisbees are huge fun for the pups. Mine loved to play it, and still does. I would throw it long and low so he wouldn't do all the jumping for it. With HD being such a huge thing for this breed I wanted to avoid stressing his joints as much as possible while a young pup.


Good Point about the joints at that age, didn't think about that lol thanks for the advice

Best Regards

Kevin


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