Puppy Issues! Help!

[Crimson]

Well, we got our dog and he's only 4 months old and have had him since he was about 2 months. He's doing pretty well at the moment for his age. Actually he's doing extremely well, minus the issue that I'm about to lead to. We've got him to sit, he does it automatically if he wants something. We take him off the leash and he follows us wonderfully (as the first walk we took him off the lead so he's already used to it). He understands stay: We get him to sit and stay, place his food down then wait a while before saying "Go get!". He totally is trained; he never pees inside and holds his bladder. At night he never pees on his pillow. And if he's desperate he'll run into my downstair's room (where I'm often there) and look at me and sit infront of the Patio Doors for me to let him out.

But the only problem is, he is playful. Extremely playful. It seems that he charges towards you and nips you but then can't control himself in some way and starts attacking you. If you were to push him away he just comes back for more. And if you gently smack him (we try not to hit him as much as possible obviously - We've only hit him about twice because of these reasons. But we know the difference between mouthing and biting. If we were to leave him if we went out for an hour or so - he'll mouth our hand just to like hold it and his tail goes totally wild. You can barely feel it. But when he has these moments it really hurts and it's difficult to get him off.

He's also been growling lately if you take off things that he wants. For an example;
He ran away with my sister's silk shirt and my mum held it and said; "Leave." in a sturn voice. Before, he would drop it.. But now he never does.
So my mum has this book that says "Distraction is the key." And it said to get a treat-biscuit and hold it infront of his nose so he drops the item and eats the treat. So we did it and took away the shirt. But then when he finished he ran to the washing line and jumped up and pulled it back down. So my mum grabbed it again and he went to snap at her.

He's done it a couple of times; another time was when we were at my gran's house and we gave him a raw-hide treat thing to let him just settle. Then when we had to go my mum put her hand near him and he growled. So she basically said; "Don't you dare!" And went to take the raw-hide thing away from him to show that he's not allowed to growl and he went to snap at her again.

It's only really been happening lately but we're worried it's a really serious problem as we don't know any other dogs that do it. And as he is going to be a big dog (~31inch back height) we can't have a dog that rules over us. He's a Giant Schnauzer.

We have however, noticed that with other people and dogs he is extremely good. He has NEVER even chewed another person. With dogs he's a little bit 'weary' at first but then when he finds out that they are okay, he's perfectly happy.

But anyway, does anyone know anyway that we can stop the selfish growling and the moments where he literally cant control himself and bites, jumps us ( Oh, but it's not an agressive attack. He doesn't show his teeth or growl.. he just.. attacks )

Thanks :]

[fatt]

*REMOVED*

Edited by Slowpoke (Forum Moderator): Please do not create troll posts.

[tdi]

hold his ear and gently pull it to the floor while saying 'no' in a stern voice, alternatively make a hissing/stern noise and ignore him while he's doing it.

[Looochella]

Yeah, dogs dont generally like their ears bieng touched etc.
If you use their ears, they will start to know whos boss
my dog is thirteen now, and she has never bit anyone, she sleeps, eats and drinks.
ALSO..
it may be probably because your dog is very young! your dog will start to learn to leave things alone, you just have to show whos in charge. it worked really well for us.
i hope i helped....

[Pazza]

Just watch dog whisperer

[PaintYourTarget]

My Rhodesian Ridgeback was like that, it's generally just like childish/toddler phase which they grow out of. Use one of the methods above to keep him in control for now and wait it out is possibly the best way to go.

[5,5]

whatever book that you got the treat thing from... throw it away.
if you give him a treat for taking stuff than hes gonna keep doing it thinking its good becuase by giving him a treat your basically rewarding him. as far as the biting. whenever he goes to attack you and nibbles you replace your hand with a toy and let him chew that.

[PaintYourTarget]

Or, grab his mouth by his back teeth, he either wont be able to bite you, or will gag, and learn not to do it.

[Meanies]

sounds just like my dog
all we do is ignore him and he gives up soon enough.

he has absolutely mental spells where he just charges round the house and jumps right into you to turn around. its quite funny tbh but sitting on the floor when he does it isn't good. you come out with scratches quite a bit

[Leetzgirl]

Most dogs do this for a certain of time, and seeing he is young, it just he growing,

I would just leave it tbh, push him away if he annoys you, but srrouisly it just a pharse of his life.