ASK POOJA: My puppy's biting me, please help!

Can you feed your pup the food you eat?

Is your pup too aggressive?

Is it facing separation anxiety?

Does it refuse to mingle with other dogs?

Send in your queries to Pooja Sathe Gawande at getahead@rediff.co.in (Subject: Pooja, can you help?). Do mention your name, your dog’s breed, age and the number of members in your family You can send in your pet's picture as well.

Hello Pooja Ma'am.
I am Abhijeet from Jaipur and we just adopted a puppy who is two-and-a-half months old. It’s been about 20 days since he has been with us.
I have some queries regarding my puppy that I want you to help me with.
Since the mother and father of this puppy are unknown, we are not sure about its breed.
All the markings on his body are similar to a Bernese mountain dog and he looks 95 per cent similar to one.
So how do I recognise the breed? Could it be an Indian dog having the same markings as a Bernese dog and long, shiny and silky fur?
My next question is how do I train him about his potty and peeing?
As we live in an apartment, we don’t have space outside. This pup pees a lot inside the house everywhere. How do I train him for doing his potty outside?
My next problem is that he sometimes becomes aggressive with the family members (although not with my mom).
Whenever he is in a playful mood, he starts to bite me and that sometimes becomes too painful.
I hope that you will answer my queries soon.
Thank you Ma'am.
Abhijeet Anand

Hi Abhijeet. Thanks for writing to us.

Since you don’t know the background of your pup, it’s possible that he is an indie with a Bernese marking.

At this age, it’s important to focus on toilet training.

Fix the pup’s meal timings.

Keep a designated pee area inside the house. You can use pee pads/newspaper etc.

First, you will need to observe the puppy better for body signs that show that he needs to pee or potty such as sniffing the floor, scratching excessively, turning in circles...

Keep a note of all the timings when the puppy pees and encourage the puppy to go towards the pee pad. Do not force the puppy on the pee pad or punish him for peeing at the wrong place.

Setting up the pup’s daily routine and following it every day will definitely help.

The puppy biting is mostly teething.

Give your puppy lots of chew toys to keep him occupied.

While interacting with him, do no let him play with your clothes/fingers, etc. Instead distract him with toys.

Praise him when he is calm. Don’t encourage rough play.

I would also recommend getting a professional trainer for in-person training.

Hi Pooja.
We have a male Labrador. He is three months old now; we adopted him when he was three weeks old.
We are four person family -- my wife, 14-year-old daughter, 10-year-old son and me.
1. The major concern we are facing is his biting and ultra-aggressive behaviour.
2. Another issue is that he urinates inside the house. We take him outside to the porch frequently, but he still does it inside also.
Kindly help, as we are on verge of breakpoint.
Warm regards,
Inder Preet Singh

Hi Inder. Thanks for writing to us.

If you are struggling with the puppy training, it’s best to get a professional trainer for in person training.

You will need to work with the trainer to understand pup’s body language better.

At this age, it’s important to focus on toilet training so do follow the tips I’ve mentioned to Inder.

All puppies go through teething at this stage. You can use his daily food stuffed in boredom blaster/activity toys, chewing bones, kongs and chewing toys to keep him occupied.

Don’t encourage rough play.

Set up his daily routine with play time, alone time, relaxing/nap time etc. Hope this helps.

Hi.
I have adopted an indie pup in December when he was 50+ days old.
Currently he is four months old and he is healthy.
For some reason, he has a fear of walking due to which I am unable to walk him outside.
Apart from this, he is very smart and has already learned a lot of tricks and he is fine at home.
I need some advice as to what can be done to reduce his fear of walking.
My family consists of my mom, my doggo and me.
Thanking you in advance.
Regards,
Bhushan Panat

Hi Bhushan. Thanks for writing to us.

For most indies, this fearfulness is instinctive.

You will need to work on his confidence slowly by introducing him to various environments, people and places, one at a time.

Start with your building compound, parking lot, terrace etc.

Try to take him for a walk at odd timings, when there won’t be too many people/other pets around. The more calm and confident you are, the faster he will learn.

Start with very short but frequent walks. If he likes food, offer treats during walks when he is relaxed.

Take professional help to understand his body language better. Hope this helps.

Dear Pooja,
It is great to be interacting with you.
I have a Labrador bitch, aged one year 11 months.
The other members in my family are my wife and my 17-year-old daughter.
I would like to know what kind of food I should give my Labrador as I dislike providing packaged food.
I love to cook food for her at home itself.
Can you tell me what home-made food I should feed her – as in veg, non-veg, no. of times a day and quantity (not in terms of protein, carbohydrate; I am looking at the quantity I need to give her).
At present, this is what I feed her:
Morning, between 8-8.30 am: 3 medium-sized chapatis
Noon, between 1-1.30 pm: Khichdi made with 50- 60 gm rice, 20 gm lentil and one boiled egg
Evening, between 6.30-7 pm: 4 Marie biscuits
Night, between 8-8.30 pm: 4 medium-sized chapattis
I would also like to know as why she starts peeing when an unknown person approaches her or she becomes very excited?
She pulls the leash when taken outside for a walk.
Awaiting your valuable reply.
Regards,
Malay Kumar Rana
Bhilai, Chhattisgarh

Hi Malay. Thanks for writing to us.

We would definitely recommend fresh food (cooked or raw) over processed dog food.

We would advise a consultation with a professional pet nutritionist as you can discuss and select the food options according to your dog’s daily routine, exercise, health issues etc.

Please try not to feed her any of your food (with oil, spices, salt, etc).

Peeing when someone approaches her happens due to excitement and there is nothing wrong with it. Just stay calm and ask the guest to relax before they start interacting with her.

Labs tend to get very excited during walks as they love meeting people, dogs, etc.

We recommend working with a professional trainer for some outdoor obedience training.

Please use reward based training methods and not force or punishment.

Hi Pooja,
I have 3-and-a-half month old Beagle and this is my first experience having a pet.
As we all know, the Beagle is quite an active breed.
But the real problem is my Beagle’s biting habit.
Whenever he is in a playing mood, he bites everybody who comes in contact with him. Please help.
Pramod Kohli

Hi Pramod. Thanks for writing to us.

All puppies go through teething at this stage.

Due to excitement, it increases during interaction with people.

You will need to distract him and give him another outlet to take out his energy/teething urge.

You can use his daily food stuffed in boredom blaster/activity toys, chewing bones, kongs, chewing toys to keep him occupied.

Don’t encourage rough play.

Set up his daily routine with play time, alone time, relax/nap time, etc.

Take professional help to teach him how to play with toys, introduce more nose games/search games rather than games such as tug, etc. Hope it helps.

Pooja Sathe Gawande is an internationally certified dog trainer and behaviourist and the founder of Crazy K9 Campers.

Understanding and communicating with dogs comes naturally to her and she has trained over 2,000 dogs till date. Her specialty is getting pet parents involved in every aspect of having a pet at home and helping them create a special bond through training and parental behaviour modification programmes.

She also runs an agility training centre in Mumbai. 

Pooja lives with her enthusiastic young Dalmatian, Ollie. You can follow their canine adventures here.