It is common for puppies to be lively and mischievous. They are energetic, very playful, and quitE a handful. These kinds of behaviors are generally normal for puppies. Certain behaviors, however, are to be discerned as disorders. These behavioral problems usually happen within the first six months of the puppy’s life.
These behavioral disorders have to be addressed and corrected. If your puppy has been experiencing any one of these traits, try to figure out what’s causing them and then correct the situation. Correcting the situation, however, does not have to involve punishment. Below is a more detailed description of two behavioral disorders and what you can do to fix them.
Aggression
The typical type of aggression we see in puppies is possessive aggression that occurs during feeding. This behavior is not normal and should not be accepted. Tolerating this kind of behavior in puppies can lead to a potentially dominant aggressive dog that can be dangerous.
This is one behavior where slight punishment works and should be enforced. This can be done by performing a training exercise. Give the puppy food and then interrupt him while he’s eating. Take the food away if the puppy starts showing signs of aggression or misbehaves and offer him a treat for staying calm. Do this repeatedly until you establish your dominance.
Separation Induced Behavior
This occurs primarily when the puppy gets separated from his mother and breeder to be with his new owner. The worst time for this new puppy usually happens during bedtime on his first night. This frightening experience usually shows in the form of howling and yapping, urination and defecation, and destructive activities.
Do not take this sign as simply signs of teething or a breakdown in housetraining. You need to address this problem with great care. Often times, coming home to see a crying puppy in bed triggers excessive excitement. Owners find this act gratifying and pet the hyper puppy or give him a treat. This can lead to reinforcement of the behaviour that can also lead to excitement urination.
When this situation occurs, do not restrict your puppy in a smaller bed area. Doing this often results in psychosomatic diarrhea and/or hyperactivity once the puppy is released. Punishing your puppy is not only cruel but it can also add to the degree of attachment or causes your puppy to attempt to escape.
Do you have puppy issues?
Other types of problem behaviors that can occur during the first six months of your puppy’s life are usually related to the following areas: Problems of submissive urination, problems of excitement urination, and problems of chewing and biting. If your puppy is experiencing any one of this behavior, try to determine exactly what’s causing the behavior to occur.
Below is a more detailed description of the behavioral problems and suggestions on how to solve it.
Submissive Urination
This is when your puppy squats and urinates whenever you approach him. This behavior should not be confused with house training problem. This type of behavior is initially associated to insecurity and punishing your puppy will more than likely aggravate the behavior. This problem happens because a tiny puppy is likely to be scared and intimidated when approached by a person, especially a stranger with outstretched arms and making strange noises.
To fix this problem, carefully approach your puppy and keep your body outline small by stooping a little as you get close to him. If the puppy still reacts apprehensively and starts to urinates, make your approach more pleasant by offering treats while crouching down further. The essence of controlling submissive urination is to not point it out to your puppy but in trying to get him used to whatever is causing the reaction.
Excitement Urination
This behavior results in your puppy having no control over urination when he is excited. This is caused by immature control mechanisms. Punishing your puppy is never a good idea and in this case, will only lead to submissive urination or attempts to get away.
The best way to deal with this problem is to ignore it. This behavior usually disappears once the urinary control mechanisms in your puppy’s body mature.
Chewing and Biting
Puppies usually chew and bite to ease their discomfort of teething, but can be quite annoying nonetheless. Give your puppy chew toys instead, particularly the type that squeaks when he chews it. Tug of war toys are highly recommended and puppies like it. Some people thinks that this behavior causes aggression, but the growling that they make is nothing more that play – growling.