# Puppy Aggression - Need help!



## thepsandalbus (Jan 31, 2017)

Hi, everyone! My husband and I just got our sweet puppy Vizsla (Albus)! He is about 10 weeks old at this point and has been wonderful -with one exception. Albus loves to play with both of us, which is great, except he can get a bit more aggressive with me. He will start the normal puppy biting, to which we will yelp and walk away, but he tends to continue to come toward me (butt up in the air, growling, showing some teeth, a bit of bouncing/lunging). It seems to only happen when he gets worked up in playing but occasionally it will happen completely by surprise. I want to think that he is just trying to initiate play, but it certainly feels and appears that he is being a big aggressive toward me in these moments. The other 90% of the time he is so sweet and we don't have any issues, but this behavior has become a problem and we don't know what to do if it continues. Any advice would be great!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Your puppy is absolutely normal. Most of us forget just how sharp puppy teeth are after the phase passes. 
There's a lot of information on the forum, if you search shark attacks. People try all different ways to curb it, with time outs, or teaching bite inhibition.
The good news, is does pass. 

This picture should have a vizsla puppy in it.


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## sandiegov (May 31, 2016)

We have a 10 month old male who was just like that at that age. The first 2 weeks we had him I thought we had an aggressive dog. We called him gator cause he was always lunging with his puppy teeth exposed. Then I found this forum and learned it was normal puppy behavior-known as shark attacks. We lucked out with our previous vizsla who did not exhibit the shark attacks. By 4 1/2 months they pretty much disappeared. His shark attacks were mostly directed towards me, which my husband found funny. I tried the yelp method but he got more excited. So I would just turn my back and slowly walk away. I would also stop play before he got too excited. Enjoy you pup and take lots of pictures, they grow so fast.


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## Gatsby2015 (Oct 26, 2015)

Gatsby is about 1-1/2 now and he was the same way as a puppy. See my earlier posts🙂 we thought it would never end but it does! He is the sweetest boy. I know it's rough, but it gets better! Hang in there!


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## thepsandalbus (Jan 31, 2017)

Thanks, everyone! This is encouraging to hear, especially because this is our first Vizsla (and I was starting to think the pup didn't like me because of all of the "shark attacks"!). We will keep doing the yelp/disengage method and hope that the behavior starts to subside. I do think it's somewhat funny when this tiny sweet dog all of the sudden becomes a wild animal! I agree with TexasRed's picture - thought I got a little cuddly pup when I actually got a baby T Rex!


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

* I was starting to think the pup didn't like me because of all of the shark attacks. *

On the contrary, he probably loves you the most.


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## Rbka (Apr 21, 2014)

I train with a fair, but firm, method. I am doing with our new pup Sam what I did with Nico - a technique I call "assisted chewing"! When he is too riled up and bitey I sit down on the floor, pin him to me with one arm, and hold a toy in his mouth with the other. If he tries to wriggle out or bite me, the toy is placed back in his mouth. It is directing his biting to something he is allowed to bite as well as bonding, and me reminding him that I am bigger and more powerful. Usually the sharkiness peaks when they're over-tired so I find this winds him down nicely for a nap (often the chewing becomes interspersed with yawns after a couple of minutes!) Nico is a mama's boy and Sam is already listening to me much more than to my hubby and I think this "assisted chewing" time is one of the reasons.


Hope this helps! The shark-attack phase will pass too anyway


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## hecallsmebama (Mar 31, 2016)

Here was our method that I posted about in a previous thread. For us, it became clear that the zoomies and shark attacks were actually a sign that Amos was tired. Just like little kids, the best way to fight sleep is to amp up! So here was our strategy I outlined in this post:

Amos too had the biting, zooming crazies, which in his case was always because he was overtired. He could not settle himself to save his life. They are just like toddlers. They need help winding down. I taught Amos "calm down' by catching him and holding him upright and belly out with my hand tight under his front legs and hind legs supported. This position makes it very difficult for him to keep biting you. I would speak calmly and say "calm down" over and over again till his heart rate slowed and I would then praise him, "good calm down. good boy!" He was usually asleep within minutes. Now he's 5 months old and too big for me to hold him like that, but he doesn't really bite anymore. He still gets the zoomies, so we'll have him sit and stay on his bed while we do the same "calm down" and "good boy" routine. It really helped him learn how to settle himself. Hope that helps!


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## DenyGirlV (Nov 17, 2016)

This will definitely pass! Luckily for us it only lasted several weeks. It was definitely directed mostly at me, his female owner, and less towards my fiance. Maybe a power struggle thing? I'm not sure. The first couple times it happened I was so upset because it does seem like aggression- not playing. It was triggered when she got overly excited/stimulated and overly tired. I found that making sudden movements, yelling, or showing any distress only made it worse. I would stuff a toy in her mouth if possible, calmly tell her no, and then separate myself from her (even just 30 seconds of shutting the door or gate) until she could calm herself. Then I'd come back and pet her and we were best friends again. Good luck! By the way I'm definitely Denny's favorite, so don't take it personally that the shark attacks are happening to you


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## Spy Car (Sep 3, 2014)

The most important part of raising a Vizsla pup is to take advantage of this window of ABSOLUTELY NORMAL behavior to teach "bite inhibition."

Seach the forum for "bite inhibition" to see my preferred method and contrasting methods advocated by Ian Dunbar.

Bill


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## Rbka (Apr 21, 2014)

Spy said:


> The most important part of raising a Vizsla pup is to take advantage of this window of ABSOLUTELY NORMAL behavior to teach "bite inhibition."
> 
> Seach the forum for "bite inhibition" to see my preferred method and contrasting methods advocated by Ian Dunbar.
> 
> Bill


Funny thing - we did the "ouch" training with Nico and now if we say "ouch" with Sam (even if Nico is meters away) Nico will drop his tail and ears like he's sad he hurt us and Sam doesn't get it!! We have had to adapt to the silent pressing the hand/arm into the back of the jaw to make it release for Sam. He is getting it very quickly - we just need to remember not to "ouch" at all or Nico feels guilty - bless his heart!!


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## Spy Car (Sep 3, 2014)

Rbka said:


> Funny thing - we did the "ouch" training with Nico and now if we say "ouch" with Sam (even if Nico is meters away) Nico will drop his tail and ears like he's sad he hurt us and Sam doesn't get it!! We have had to adapt to the silent pressing the hand/arm into the back of the jaw to make it release for Sam. He is getting it very quickly - we just need to remember not to "ouch" at all or Nico feels guilty - bless his heart!!


I am not personally a fan of the "ouch" method as it is designed to terminate (rather than shape) biting behaviors. Doing that doesn't positively train a pup to have a soft mouth, where getting one's hands in their mouth does.

If the former type training breaks down people (especially children) are more likely to be bitten than in the latter case where a pup gets actively trained to have a soft mouth (in training that gets repeatedly reinforced).

And yelling "ouch" is "drama." Even Ian Dunbar, who is a proponent of the ouch method, says to NEVER reward biting behaviors and says that negative attention and drama can be a type of reward. 

My feeling is one should never have any drama or loud voices or be anything but relaxed during bite inhibition training.

If a pup bites one can (very gently) go deeper into a pup's mouth. Making it slightly uncomfortable for the pup. He or she will stop biting, at which point one should retreat with the hand so the pup is comfortable. If one has an especially persistent biter (with sharp little teeth) folding the muzzle over the pup's teeth (with ZERO pressure) allows the pup to feel (or not feel) its own bites.

Sending many hours with one's hands in a puppy's mouth is the best way to end up with a mature dog with a soft mouth who highly unlikely to bite.

Bill


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## 1stVizsla (Jun 22, 2016)

That was an interesting phase ... I almost miss it now as my pups 10mo. 

As I recall keeping it very simple worked best for my pup. A firm "No" or "Quit", then redirection to a stuffed toy. Sometimes she was so tired when doing the "shark attacks" and her need to have something in her mouth was so great that when I handed her a toy or other appropriate mouth object she would fall asleep in 4-5 min with her teeth still clamped on it.

As she moved to teething, I realized some of her drive to chew on my familiar hand was due to sore gums and I found a type of spongey bone (Purina I think, sold as teeth cleaner) that was porous and I could put pieces of them in my freezer and she loved the cold spongey material in her gums. That was a breakthrough and we had no more problems!!


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