# 3 month old biting aggressively and not house trained!!



## toby_a (Oct 10, 2014)

Hello! I have a 3 month old GSD and he won't stop biting us!!
I've tried basically every method you could think of. Yelping and turning away doesn't have any effect on my puppy at all. I've taught him the 'off' command and he knows what it means but sometimes he chooses not to listen. even though my family members and i always say off whenever he bites, it takes him a while to finally decide to stop. he bites using all of his force and it usually makes me bleed. 
I called him breeder a few weeks ago and she told me to hold his muzzle shut and yell 'no' when he bites. I've began doing that but it only made him more aggressive so i stopped. 
I've also tried yelling 'no' and leaving the room. Nothing. as soon as i come back in he just resumes.
I know it's normal for puppies to bite, but this is seriously unbearable!! he doesn't do it playfully anymore. he really bites with aggression. 
He is also not house-trained. I spend so so so much time trying to house train him. I thought he was fully house-trained last week, but something changed.
he always 'go's' in the same spot, usually right when i take him there, but this past week has been very weird. When i take him out there he refuses to do anything, so i take him back inside thinking he doesn't need to go, but as soon as we're inside he'll poo or pee. I really don't understand why he's been doing this. My dad was outside with him for two whole hours this morning waiting for him to do his business, but then he started whining to come inside and as soon as he was inside the house he went. 
Sorry for the extremly long post, but I really need help because I don't want my parents to give him away. Thanks!!


----------



## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

Ok, deep breath. 

He is a baby. There is no true aggression, no matter how it seems. Trust me. 

Your pup is normal, and it sounds like you got a true "land shark". And trust me, they are tough. 

Your pup is only 12 weeks. So even if you got him at 8 weeks, it's not long enough to extinguish behavior. Pick a method, redirection, grabbing his muzzle( which in my experience causes brattiness), cessation of interaction, and STICK TO IT. Nothing works the first time at this age. You have to be consistent, for weeks. This stage should start dissipating around 5-6 months. And it often gets worse before getting better. He will back talk and mouth at you and growl and lunge. It's normal. 

I like redirection. Have toys everywhere. If he gets bitey, grab a toy and play with him. PRAISE him for playing. But not TOOO excitedly, keep his focus on the toy. 

When they are babies, they get over tired. An overtired puppy is a force to reckoned with. When he gets stupid bitey and annoying, put him in his crate. Give him a chewey and make him take a nap. I used my crate a lot with my recent puppy.

As for the housebreaking. He should be in his crate. Take him out, if he does not do his business, he goes back in the crate for 20 minutes, then back out. Rinse, repeat. Until he does his business outside. When he does, make a party out if it. Pair a word ( potty, business, hurry up) and say it as he goes and reward it. He only gets "free" time in the house if he does his business outside. Otherwise he goes back into the crate until he does. Or he gets tethered to you. 

You can do this!!!!

And Welcome to the forum. Pictures are required by the way. Cause I need puppy fix.


----------



## jcmann01 (Jul 5, 2013)

I totally understand your aggravations over this matter, but the worst thing to do is to start yelling at the puppy, which only confuses him more. My GSD puppy who is 6 weeks old male is doing the same stuff and I find that redirecting his energy towards a rubber chewy toy will really help. I also will take him walking to help get his aggressive energy spent for the most part.

However, there are times that he persists in trying to nip my fingers and I agree that they do have sharp teeth. So, what I do when he wants to get persistently aggressive is to gently flick on the nose with my finger just hard enough to make him understand that this type of behavior is not to be tolerated. After the 3rd time, they usually get the message. When you do this, just say NO! in a loud, but firm voice. He has to understand that your in charge. When he finally caves in and licks your hand instead of biting it, that is when you praise him and reward him with a treat.

I have had to do this since I got him and it can be irritating. Sometimes they get way out of hand and that is when you put them in "time out" in the crate. 

As for potty training, as soon as you let him out of the crate, take him immediately outside for his potty break or he will just pee on the floor. When he is outside doing potty, just praise him for it and show him this is rewardable behavior. If he pees on the floor when you bring him back in, just dip his nose in the pee with a firm NO and then bring him back outside and use a simple command, ie GO PEE PEE! When he does this, just reward him with more praises.

I want to emphasize the the absolute worst thing you can do with a puppy is to get angry and start directing negative energy towards it, esp hitting your puppy hard or with something. GSDs at an early age are like little sponges and this can affect their psychology the rest of their lives. Dogs, esp GSDs never forget things. I made this mistake with a mixed breed I had many years ago and when she did something bad, I hit her with a fly swatter on the butt once or twice. The rest of her life, when I picked up a fly swatter to hit a fly, she would run and cower in the bedroom shaking.
I really learned my lesson from doing this.

Make everything for your puppy to be fun, an adventure, and entertaining for them and this will help to reside the aggressive behavior towards you. Take them out walking more and find ways to get their mind off of biting you and towards chew toys and constructive behavior.


----------



## middleofnowhere (Dec 20, 2000)

It wasn't but maybe last week that I wrote a long reply to someone with the same issues.

Redirect your pup for biting. (they do calm down) For housetraining, my most recent puppy (the 5th puppy!) has been a real challenge to train. I remember thinking we had it down only to have her dump in the house shortly after that thought... SHe's a little over a year now and I HOPE we have it down. My others all had this figured out by the time they were 12 - 14 weeks or sooner! So - all I can say is dig up some more patience. When that's used up, find some more. When you get too frustrated, go outside and yell. kick some gravel. swear. 
That's all I got for you.


----------



## peppsmom (Oct 4, 2014)

Hi! I have a landshark too, it's really hard! 

I saw so many pictures of people cuddling their puppies and all I could think was "I could NEVER imagine doing that with my Pepper!" 

She was a lot like yours, everything I did to try and get her to stop just riled her up more. My breeder told me to give her a pop on the muzzle and say a noise word like "ott" or "nuhuh"-- but I did that like 3 or 4 times and she got more growly and snappy.

The worst part was I was so totally unprepared for it that it really _hurt my feelings!_ I kept thinking, "why does this little puppy that I just want to snuggle want to eat me so badly?!" 

Here are the things that helped with my Pepper. And it was about 4 weeks til she got better, and 5 weeks til I finally could cuddle her (even still in short increments)

1) Mine needed a LOT more structure. She would tear around the house, and get herself so wound up there was no calming her down. I started keeping her on the leash in the house, and when I wasn't ready to put her in the crate I would tether the leash to the bottom of the couch or something (always supervised) and let her wear herself out with a toy (after I played with her first, of course!)

2) I consistently did redirection, even when it was frustrating and she would ignore they toy and lunge for my hands and sleeves. I would literally shove a toy in her mouth and make her take it!

3) I said "nope" (gently) everytime she bit to hard, and disengage my hands. So, stand up, turn around and cross my arms with my back to her. I would hold that for like 30 seconds before resuming play with a toy. Honestly, when I was doing it I _never_ felt like it was working, but low and behold one day it did.

4) I taught her the command "nice kisses" by rubbing a high value treat on my palm (like chicken or steak) and letting her lick, saying "nice kisses" and "good girl" (our verbal marker for good job). We did this like, a bazillion times until she figured out that a lick or a nose to the hand got treats. And if she nipped, same thing as above ("nope" and disengage). Then go back and start over. After awhile, I was able to say nice kisses, and reach my hand out when she was biting my ankles and whatnot, and she would stop and give it a kiss, and I would treat her and celebrate like CRAZY.

5) MORE CRATE TIME. Mine was out too much cause I had a guilty conscious about locking her up. She needed WAY more nap time than she was getting and it was making her a jerk.

6)Try to increase her food if she is lean. Mine was hungry! 


Crate & leash time will REALLY help with pottytraining too. Mine hasn't had an accident since I started really pushing the crate and leash more.


----------



## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

PUPPIES ARE HARD!!!!

Management and thinking ahead with a good plan is key. 

Your puppy maybe biting, and you may be bleeding, but it is NOT aggression. It's 'puppy play' and until YOU teach a better way, that's the only way they know. So really really read thru ---> http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...wner/188549-puppy-biting-hints-tips-help.html

My pups take FOREVER to housebreak reliably. But I rarely have to actually clean up a mess because I crate train. If you already are, then you need to brush up on the method (crate in bedroom beside your bed at night !) and if you are NOT then just get that crate and be amazed how much better things can be.  ---> http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...hat-crate-training-why-put-my-puppy-cage.html


----------

