Jumping up on people,Snapping at people and growling.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Jumping up on people,Snapping at people and growling.

    Our new rottweiler puppy which is turing four months thursday is having a few problems. When we go outdoors he jumps on us. When he jumps he snaps a bit and sometimes growl at  us. How can i prevent all of this besides these few bumps in the road its been a smooth ride.
    • Gold Top Dog
    Damarcus,  It sounds like your Debo has some extra puppy energy.  Is the jumping only when going outside?  I'm thinking it's because he's very excited to go outside.  I think the way to redirect this energy is to carry some treats with you, when he's jumping, get his attention with a treat and give him the "sit" command.  Reward with treat.  Try to time the command just before he jumps.

    Something else to teach him is the "Look at me" command.  This is usually good to get him focused on you, rather than the jumping.

    The growling and snapping sounds like typical puppy play.  He's seeing you as a litter mate, but you really want him to see you as a leader.  Try hand feeding him a few meals, one or two kibbles at a time. Before each kibble get him to perform a behavior (Sit, down, stay, stand, shake, look at me, etc)  then he gets his kibble.  Make him work before play, before food, before treats, before going outside. 

    Keep us posted and post some pics, will ya?
    • Gold Top Dog
    best way to prevent inappropriate puppy play is to play with the puppy before he tries to play with you. Wait until he's doing something you like, such as not-jumping-on-you, or not-eating-the-furniture, and offer a toy and play away. Play dates with other dogs help too.
    • Bronze
    We had the exact same thing with our dog. All I can say is, whatever you do, DO NOT play with him when he does this. We did at first, because it seemed to only way to get him to stop biting at our clothes. But it only made it worse, because in his mind, he saw it like this : " I go outside....if I jump on mom and bite her, she plays with me!!" As Xerxes said, it is normal puppy play, but obviously he can't do this to you. From my experience with trying to deal with this, I would suggest you completely ignore him when he does it - become a tree. When he finally stops jumping (remeber, he will likey get worse before he stops, in desparation to get you to play with him) then praise him, make him sit, then play with him. This is basically the advice I got from people here a long time ago.
     
    I feel your pain, Jethro did this alot!( To the point where I was scared to go outside with him offleash, because he was big, too.) Although we are still working on it, he is better. Now he jumps, but not ON us, and growls playfuly (his is a vocal player), but knows not to bite. I feel much better about going outside with him now. Good luck, and keep us updated about how it goes :)
     
    -jethrosmom
    • Gold Top Dog
    Damarcus, if you paint your hands with a little Vicks Vapo Rub, he may keep his teeth off them.  The "sit" in place of jumping is a good idea, but with a large pup, you may have to also step on his leash so that he "self corrects" when he tries to jump.  Don't pay any attention to him in the way of patting, unless he is in the sit position.