Puppy Update!
I have had my puppy, Bowser, for 2 weeks now and today he just turned 8 weeks old. I love him so much! He is the sweetest thing and is so loyal to me already. The house training is going well and he loves eating. The major problem I’m facing is his chewing people’s hands and feet. I’ve heard so many different ways to correct him from biting people but none of them really work. I hope its just a teething phase…but I can’t be too sure. Any advice?
I’ve also heard that great danes need to be neutered only around a year old and no earlier, but I can see that this might be a problem since I’ll be taking him to school with other dogs around. Anyway, so far he’s been a blessing and like my child. He requires so much attention, but its all worth it completely.
Bowser Sleeping
THere’s no reason why he can’t be neutered before 1 year of age (that I’ve heard of – I’m a vet nurse). The minimum age is 6 months for large breed dogs, but if you want more of a “boofhead” (so to speak) on him, and want him to be more male, protective, have more testosterone, basically, then hold off on castrating him till he is 8 – 9 months old. Bear in mind, though, that he may develop undesirable behaviour problems if left entire for too long.
Bite inhibition can really be a problem in pups! The best method I have found to correct any problem is to ‘act like a dog’, basically. That is the line of thinking you have to use. All too often, people apply human thoughts to dogs when the dog just isn’t thinking that way. e.g. your puppy bites you, and you may not correct it, or you may correct it softly/gently. Puppy won’t understand that – in the wild, if he bit another puppy at his status level, he would receive a VERY sharp, short, high squeak or yelp or cry, and that would tell the biter “hey woah! that hurt. I can’t bite that hard” so you could try that. Or, if a puppy bit a dominant animal in his pack (which is what you should be to him) he would receive one high wallop, bite, and growl. I’m sure you won’t do this, and that definitely isn’t expected of you, but just give puppy the STRONG idea that he hurt you – if he is loyal to you, then that would be the last thing he wants to do.
Hope that helped.