# 11-Week old biting and growling



## johnnymc (Oct 8, 2018)

We have 3 daughters ages 12, 10 and 8. Our pup Koa has been a real joy but has been testing our patience. She gets the zoomies often and will often start to growl and bark and bite - typically my wife and girls. Our breeder told us that the proper discipline is holding her muzzle shut when she does this. I feel like this is not working. I often will pin her down while and really give a strong “no”. We tried the local dog park to get her energy out but she squeezed through the fence opening and ran into the parking lot. 

She’s been doing well with crate training and mostly going potty outside. We also just started training her on an invisible fence we had installed. She seems to have picked up on that pretty well.


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

You really need to look in a pupy training program, thats geared toward a vizslas temperament. Grabbing the muzzle, penning them down, and putting a ecollar on one that young can cause a lot bigger problems. 
You can look online into Puppy Culture.
Ivan Dunbar has a lot out there. 
Michael Ellis is another one. 
You can even take her to a Petsmart class.
There are tons of books/videos on positive training methods. I'm not a totally positive training person. But about 90% of things can be fixed/trained in that way.


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## gingerling (Jun 20, 2015)

Good golly, never use aggression as a training tool! Grabbing her mouth is the worst thing you can do. That the breeder suggests this is perhaps why Koa has this issue in the first place...mouthing is pretty normal for puppies, and if breeder's response was to grab her muzzle and pin it closed (!) , then she inadvertently reinforces the behavior and weaponizes it. In effect, she teaches her to bite even harder.

As I always say, there are a number of ways to work with this, pick the one that matches your personality. First, they need help managing their energy, so you need to make sure she gets enough playtime to burn that off..she might not be read for the park just yet.... followed by regular, predictable intervals in the crate to unwind and nap. That typically takes care of most zoomies. 

When she bites, try yelling "OWWW!", it mimics their natural yelp, so they understand it...you know when she stops and looks at you quizzically. Try gently inserting your hand just a bit so she releases.

Edit: 11 weeks is early for invisible fence, btw..most rec at least 4-5 months. Not only don't they understand nor appreciate the shock at that tender age, your wanting to keep her outside unsupervised at this age isn't a good idea either..


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## Starrpath (Nov 7, 2017)

One of the things I would suggest is to remember just how very young your pup is. A mere 11 weeks is 77 days old; that's not very many days of being alive and it's less than a month of learning to live with you and your family. She also doesn't have hands or the ability to talk to you in human language; she's doing the best she can with what she's got. There is no puppy who doesn't bite, jump and bark in excitement; it's a part of growing their minds and muscles.
It sounds to me like she's trying to get your attention and who can blame her? You bought her so she would be company for you, remember that. For the first few months it's a play it by ear, day by day, learning experience. With my last 2 puppies (one is now 3 and the other is 8 months) I found that not trying to remove my hand, when they grabbed it, was the smartest thing for both of us. Yanking it away excites the pup; keeping it (not forcing it) in her mouth is not fun for her. Softly (yelling is exciting to her) say no-no-no at the same time and keep her toys handy; switching a hand out for a toy is something she will prefer and it creates positive interaction between you/your wife/your kids and her. Jumping up and biting? Sweep your hand in front of her and gently, but with intention, move her away. If she grabs your hand, which is quite possible, keep your hand in her mouth, say the soft no-no-no and offer her a toy.
Vizslas are velcro dogs and very social. Become the partner you both want to be by working with her natural abilities to develop the dog she will grow to be.


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