We got to meet Phoenix when she was 4 weeks old along with the other pups from the litter. I let the breeder know that we wanted the runt of the litter simply because of the size of mom and dad. We even had the chance to go to their puppy reunion where every year they invite their pups out to their property for a day of play and food. So we were able to see how the now one year old puppies behaved. They all acted just like I expected, fun, exuberant, and full of energy. It was a great day. One thing that my wife noticed is that all the pups that were there were all males. I will get to why that is important a bit later.
I went back at 6 weeks old to hang out with the pups again and spent about 2 hours there watching them behave and interact. But I did notice that our little Phoenix really wanted nothing to do with any of us. That should have been my first red flag about her temperment. So on to 7 weeks 5 days old which is when I went to pick up our new addition to our family. Mind you, this is my 4th rottie that I have had in my lifetime. My 1st 3 were the most spectacular dogs I have ever had the pleasure to own.
I went solo to pick her up, my wife, son, daughter and Keisha (5 year old chi/rat terrier) went to our local dog park that has many miles of paved trails so we could introduce her to her new family on neutral ground. That seemed to go ok. Although as I look back at it now, Phoenix really could have cared less that there was another dog and new people walking with her.
Now to our first few nights in the new home which we totally decked out and made puppy proof for her. We just let her explore until she collapsed from being tired, let her sleep and when she woke, she played with a few toys and back to sleep she went, typical puppy behavior of which I expected. The first night in the crate was, well, horrible. We put the crate in our room by the foot of the bed so she would know we were there, She wined literally all night long. I even got on the floor and tried to sleep next to the crate so she would know she was not alone. Night 2 was even worse. I have never heard a puppy scream like she was. So I let her out on her leash and laid on the floor attempting to comfort her. Only problem with that was she wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. Same for night 3 and then on night for we just couldn't take the screaming so we relocated her crate to the living room, set my alarm so I could get up every hour to let her out. That seemed to be working a little bit better but the pup still seemed to have so much disconnect from us. It was seriously heart breaking to see my new lil pup not even so much as to want to look at us.
On to week 2 in our home. Training has been going ok, house breaking, sit, stay, all that fun stuff, and enrolled in Puppy Kindergarten. She is a rockstar might I say in class. But the major issue we have had since day one is biting and I don't mean nipping. She full out bites us. I have used your suggestion of the bonker, worked for about 2 minutes, then no response from her at all. I even so much as contacted the breeder, explaining my concern about the biting. His response was to correct her hard and if she doesn't get it, make it harder. Well I know from previous experience with this breed, that just don't work. I even had him and his wife come to the house to observe how she behaves. His wife suggested we swap puppies for the one they had left but He was very reluctant for that, wanting us to give it some more time. She was biting them, us, everything, this was at 11 weeks old. So I decided to give her my all and stop doubting her. Lets fast forward through to now.
Her training has gone quite well, she totally enjoys agility obsticles, no jumping yet. Her sit and down stays are 90% spot on. Wait for food til released, totally house broken. Recall is not all that good in the yard, but at class I would say 80%. We have plenty of yard for her to play in, 2 acres and she has seen it all since day one. We lease walked her for months until I got the fencing done. But now if I don't have the long line on her, she just won't come until I go get her attention or until I run away from her. Then she follows. So I would say her training, which is daily, is going well. Now to the major issue we have. BITING. We cannot figure her out. No form of correction works. She will bite for attention, she will bite when playing and now it is to the point where I am concerned for our little dog, my daughter and even us. I can handle her but my wife and kid can't when she gets in her moods. My wife walks out to the chicken coop for chores and takes Phoenix with her and she will just jump up, grab her by her forearm and bite. She has left indentations in her arm through a winter coat and two shirts. The one person this dog has not bitten yet was me. Yeah she nips every so often when she wants attention, of which I ignore, but tonight I was sitting on the living room floor playing with her like I normally do. I have one of the long, supposedly indestructable fabric dog bones designed for tug that we use. I let her pull for a bit and when the pulling gets past the strength I want her to pull at, which isn't much, I tell her to leave it and she does, almost immediately. I will do that every couple of minutes while we are playing. Tonight though, after maybe 5 minutes and 6 or 7 leave its, she when from 0 to 60 instantly. She jumped up with her paws on my shoulders and started jawing the back of my neck. I grabbed her leash, she is almost always leashed in the house because of her going after our little dog, and she latched on to my forearm. And I mean hard. She didn't puncture my skin but holy shit did the crushing force hurt like hell.
I truly do not want to give her back to the breeder, she is a wonderful pup. But we just don't know what to do about the biting. It's mean biting when she does it, not herding, not play, full out im gonna hurt you biting. Before I made the decision to actually give her up, I'd figure what you all had to say about it.
I went back at 6 weeks old to hang out with the pups again and spent about 2 hours there watching them behave and interact. But I did notice that our little Phoenix really wanted nothing to do with any of us. That should have been my first red flag about her temperment. So on to 7 weeks 5 days old which is when I went to pick up our new addition to our family. Mind you, this is my 4th rottie that I have had in my lifetime. My 1st 3 were the most spectacular dogs I have ever had the pleasure to own.
I went solo to pick her up, my wife, son, daughter and Keisha (5 year old chi/rat terrier) went to our local dog park that has many miles of paved trails so we could introduce her to her new family on neutral ground. That seemed to go ok. Although as I look back at it now, Phoenix really could have cared less that there was another dog and new people walking with her.
Now to our first few nights in the new home which we totally decked out and made puppy proof for her. We just let her explore until she collapsed from being tired, let her sleep and when she woke, she played with a few toys and back to sleep she went, typical puppy behavior of which I expected. The first night in the crate was, well, horrible. We put the crate in our room by the foot of the bed so she would know we were there, She wined literally all night long. I even got on the floor and tried to sleep next to the crate so she would know she was not alone. Night 2 was even worse. I have never heard a puppy scream like she was. So I let her out on her leash and laid on the floor attempting to comfort her. Only problem with that was she wanted absolutely nothing to do with me. Same for night 3 and then on night for we just couldn't take the screaming so we relocated her crate to the living room, set my alarm so I could get up every hour to let her out. That seemed to be working a little bit better but the pup still seemed to have so much disconnect from us. It was seriously heart breaking to see my new lil pup not even so much as to want to look at us.
On to week 2 in our home. Training has been going ok, house breaking, sit, stay, all that fun stuff, and enrolled in Puppy Kindergarten. She is a rockstar might I say in class. But the major issue we have had since day one is biting and I don't mean nipping. She full out bites us. I have used your suggestion of the bonker, worked for about 2 minutes, then no response from her at all. I even so much as contacted the breeder, explaining my concern about the biting. His response was to correct her hard and if she doesn't get it, make it harder. Well I know from previous experience with this breed, that just don't work. I even had him and his wife come to the house to observe how she behaves. His wife suggested we swap puppies for the one they had left but He was very reluctant for that, wanting us to give it some more time. She was biting them, us, everything, this was at 11 weeks old. So I decided to give her my all and stop doubting her. Lets fast forward through to now.
Her training has gone quite well, she totally enjoys agility obsticles, no jumping yet. Her sit and down stays are 90% spot on. Wait for food til released, totally house broken. Recall is not all that good in the yard, but at class I would say 80%. We have plenty of yard for her to play in, 2 acres and she has seen it all since day one. We lease walked her for months until I got the fencing done. But now if I don't have the long line on her, she just won't come until I go get her attention or until I run away from her. Then she follows. So I would say her training, which is daily, is going well. Now to the major issue we have. BITING. We cannot figure her out. No form of correction works. She will bite for attention, she will bite when playing and now it is to the point where I am concerned for our little dog, my daughter and even us. I can handle her but my wife and kid can't when she gets in her moods. My wife walks out to the chicken coop for chores and takes Phoenix with her and she will just jump up, grab her by her forearm and bite. She has left indentations in her arm through a winter coat and two shirts. The one person this dog has not bitten yet was me. Yeah she nips every so often when she wants attention, of which I ignore, but tonight I was sitting on the living room floor playing with her like I normally do. I have one of the long, supposedly indestructable fabric dog bones designed for tug that we use. I let her pull for a bit and when the pulling gets past the strength I want her to pull at, which isn't much, I tell her to leave it and she does, almost immediately. I will do that every couple of minutes while we are playing. Tonight though, after maybe 5 minutes and 6 or 7 leave its, she when from 0 to 60 instantly. She jumped up with her paws on my shoulders and started jawing the back of my neck. I grabbed her leash, she is almost always leashed in the house because of her going after our little dog, and she latched on to my forearm. And I mean hard. She didn't puncture my skin but holy shit did the crushing force hurt like hell.
I truly do not want to give her back to the breeder, she is a wonderful pup. But we just don't know what to do about the biting. It's mean biting when she does it, not herding, not play, full out im gonna hurt you biting. Before I made the decision to actually give her up, I'd figure what you all had to say about it.