When your young puppy snaps at you, tears at your clothes, arms, or legs, and seems to be going out of their mind and bent on hurting you, it can be pretty scary, especially for a first time puppy parent!
I hear and see so many people worry that their puppy is "aggressive"...but calling it aggression so soon is often in fact mislabeling behaviors that need to be managed and trained with any normal puppy. Dismissing those behaviors as "aggression", and giving up on your puppy, or taking more extreme training routes than you would otherwise, can be very harmful.
I'm specifically talking about puppies. There are very few actually aggressive puppies. Sometimes genetics or trauma can play a role, but most of the time, when we are talking about a puppy that is younger than 1.5 years old, they are still growing, developing their habits and personality. What you perceive as aggression is often just normal puppy or teenage behavior.
If you are worried about aggression even after reading this, please consult a certified behavioral expert, of course.
First, however, take a look at some of these behaviors, and see if they fit your puppy:
Over-Stimulation
The puppy brain is still new and constantly developing. They are seeing so many things for the first time, and need tons of sleep to process it all. Sometimes several times daily, they can get overwhelmed by the amount of information and stimuli that is assaulting their little brains, and they go into a frenzy.
Think of it like a toddler who is over-tired and is throwing a tantrum because they don't know how to turn themselves off and just sleep.
It's very normal.
Except puppies have sharp teeth and claws!
They start lunging, biting, and it can seem like aggression, but really they just don't know what to do with themselves and it comes out in an energetic burst.
Over-stimulated episodes can happen any time. Sometimes going out on a walk will rile them up, or playing with an other pup or child who doesn't know when to stop. I often see over-stimulated tantrums after I spend some time training my puppies and foster puppies, since they are trying so hard to understand what I want and what they have to do to get that treat, it overwhelms them after a while.
The key is to try to learn to recognize when your puppy is starting to get a little riled up, and try to catch the behavior before it starts, and take the action down a notch. When you are at home, it's easy enough to manage, and this post I wrote about the Witching Hour can be applied for any other over-stimulated episode as well.
Out on a walk, it is a bit more of a challenge to manage this behavior, since you don't have a crate or playpen available, only a puppy, and a leash between you two. In this situation, you can step on the leash so they are limited in their movement. Not so much that they can't get up or are uncomfortable, but enough that they can't lunge up at you. Look away, tuck your arms in, and stand calmly still until they realize nothing exciting is happening, and have a chance to calm down. This can take a long time at first, but stay patient and calm. If needed, wear tough clothes and boots for a while on walks. They will pick up the pattern eventually, and will calm down easier over time!
Teething
Teething is just painful! Sometimes the behavior puppies exhibit while going through this pain and discomfort seems downright demonic...writhing around, howling and crying, growling, lunging and biting, chewing anything and everything. Teething is a pretty long period for puppies. At first they are settling their baby teeth in, and then all too quickly, roughly during 4-6 months, they lose the baby teeth and grow their adult teeth.
This is such a rough time for them. I have had pups who lost five or more teeth in one day, and they were in such discomfort, their gums red and bleeding. It's normal, but it's definitely the trigger for some scary behavior. And of course, the way they get through it naturally is by biting and chewing!
It's really important at this time to let them do what they need to do, namely, go all out chewing stuff, but in a constructive, safe way. They need to have things available for them to chew on that are specifically permitted by you. This means puppy proofing the rooms your pup has access to, putting away the shoes and placing remotes and such out of reach, and leaving out only things they can chew safely, like long lasting, non-rawhide chews like bully sticks, ice cubes with treats frozen in them, kibble filled or frozen yoghurt kongs, or on a low budget, even just a wet and frozen rolled up dish towel to help soothe and cool down their gums!
If they try to hone their new teeth on you, just try to calmly redirect them to a toy or chew instead. Puppies want attention and play most of all, so they will quickly realize if you are calm and disengaged when they are chewing on you, but will happily play with them when a toy is involved, they should choose the toy over your hand!
Even after the new teeth come in, there is a period of manic chewing where they settle their big, shiny new teeth into their still-growing jaws, so don't put away the teething aids immediately! They will be needing them for a few months, still!
Resource Guarding
Resource guarding is probably the most frightening and vicious reaction you can get from a puppy, yet it is still so easy to avoid if you understand it! Resource guarding is essentially the puppy trying to protect themselves, and the things they think they need and really want, by growling at you or even biting HARD!
Resource guarding is a behavior that builds up due to your own actions.
Maybe they got a hold of a delicious piece of rotting garbage, or a yummy, smelly sock they are having the best time chewing. It is easy to reach over and take it from them. But every time you do this, you are telling the puppy that you don't respect their space and you are there to take precious things from them for no reason. Is this a reasonable conclusion to a full grown human? No, of course not. But they are basically infants or toddlers, and they have no reason to trust you yet.
The more you yank things away from them early on, the more you chase after them angrily and take their precious treasures, the more you ignore their discomfort in being touched or picked up, the more you are making them mistrust you. They will start to feel like they need to stand up for themselves, since nobody will stand up for them.
Usually it starts with growling. NEVER ignore a growl. If a puppy is growling at you when they have something in their mouth, or if you try to handle them and they don't like it, back off. Simply back off calmly.
Try to trade something high value like a good treat for the object they are fixating on, and take the object away while they are distracted. If trading is not an option and you have to act quickly, just...distract them! When my puppies get hold of something they aren't supposed to have, I calmly go into an other room without looking at them and make some weird noise like crinkling paper, or even just smack a wall like I'm swatting a fly. The puppy drops the object EVERY TIME to come investigate. They are just kids with major fear of missing out. They are so easy to distract!
If you need to handle them and they aren't comfortable, try to build up to it in small doses, with treats. Touch them for a moment, back off and give a treat. Practice a few times, and build up. The key is to set them up for success. If you are triggering growling, back off. Growling is a warning that a bite is coming. If you push it, they WILL bite, because you are telling them that you don't care about their boundaries.
This doesn't have to go on forever, however! Puppies actually learn to trust you really quickly, if you show them that you are there to protect them, not to take things away from them! My own pups even bring their favorite chews to me so I can hold it for them as they chew.
Once they trust you, it's not the end of the world if you occasionally have to take something from their mouth. Later on, they will also likely be better at commands like "drop it" and "leave it" as well, if you practice that. But it is EXTREMELY important to start off your bond with complete trust, and remember, you are the reasonable adult, and they are the toddler wolf.
Teenage
Teenage can be upsetting, but it's also pretty simple to understand. It's just a time when puppies get addled by their hormones and all those bitey, misbehaving, not-listening behaviors you worked so hard to squash come flooding back. This can be from roughly 8 months to 1.5 years. Just breathe, take a step back, and recognize it for what it is. Remember being a teenager? It wasn't easy, you were growing up, and you did NOT want to be controlled! Your puppy is much the same. In a lot of ways, they get smarter, more mature, and that's something you can take advantage of. Now is the time to really push the training you probably thought you were done with. It's time to enforce boundaries, and take a step back with your pups if they push back. If they get destructive or over stimulated again, break out a playpen again, and give them some time to calm down with a chew. If they get bitey, practice this impulse control game with them, which also enforces their "drop it" and "leave it" commands. You'll get through it, and on the other side is the amazing, mature dog of your dreams!
Do you have anything to add to this list? Any questions about how to further manage this behavior? Don't hesitate to comment, and subscribe to this blog at the bottom of the page for more information!
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