Aggressive yorkie terrier wont stop biting

Four of a kind

My 13 week old yorkie has gotten very aggressive in the past two weeks. He's very very very hyper and won't stop biting and growling whenever he sees and hand or foot. its gotten to the stage where you can't even pet him as he just goes biting your hand.

How do I go about getting rid of this problem?

Thanks

deaddonkey

he thinks he's the boss and the man of the house and thinks he can get away with it.

sort him out now.
make sure he sees that YOU are the master, because at the moment it's his house and you're lucky to be allowed live there.

ways to do this:

eat before him, make him see that you're eating first
make it look like you eat from his bowl before you feed him
make him sit before food/walks
make him sleep in dog's bed, not your bed. that's your private space.
don't give in to him when he whines for what he wants - it's playtime when you say so, not when he says so.
make sure YOU give the orders
make sure he's getting enough exercise and stimulation, a bored, underexercised and understimulated dog is a destructive dog. he needs to be out every day to see new things and meet other people, though for the moment be careful when he's out, cos kids want to touch puppies, and fingers get bitten that way.

it's easy and tempting to treat a small "convenience size" dog as a baby and pick him up and pet him constantly, but they need the same kind of discipline and mindset as a bigger dog.

don't take crap from him, don't treat him like a baby, don't consider it "cruel" to tell him off properly if you need him (i'm not suggesting you beat him btw, but a really strong sharp OI! NO! to put him in his place will work wonders.)
it'd be cruel to let him be the boss and get his way and end up with a dog that doesn't know his place. which is where you're heading, and it will make your life intolerable, and ultimately it will end his.

Remember: he is a dog and you are the master

also, other people will have different approaches to the problem, the only thing that's certain is that if you don't fix it, he'll end up being a dog that no one can handle and will possibly be put to sleep. and you really don't want that.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Apart from whats written above, and all accurate.

You have both a puppy, and a Yorkshire terrier!.

Most puppies are biters, but grow out of it.

Yorkshire Terriers need a very firm hand early on otherwise they can be a right little nightmare.

Most Yorkies I've come accross have been spoiled little brats and behaved like they're the devil himself.

peasant

It's as much about you as it is about the dog.

Just listen to yourself: "aggressive Yorkie"

pfff ...he's 13 weeks old

Just don't take any crap from him, be firm, tell im "no", withdraw your attention and most of all: Be consistent !

Any and all disgressions you let him away with now (because he's so young and cute) he will remember and repeat.

No need to be overly strict or regimental, just let him know what he is and isn't allowed to do. Set some rules and stick to them. Make sure that everyone in the family sings of the same hymn sheet. And then just be consistent and give it time ...he'll learn.

No need to shout at him either ...a good leader is always calm and collected, swift and consistent.
Raised voices and hectic reactions smack of chaos ...nobody exploits chaos better (to his own advantage ) than a clever little Terrier.

Four of a kind

good advice and i'll set to work on doing what was mentioned in the above posts. Thanks.

stevoman

Four of a kind wrote: »

good advice and i'll set to work on doing what was mentioned in the above posts. Thanks.

And dont forget it takes months so be patient

Killme00

Mairt wrote: »

You have both a puppy, and a Yorkshire terrier!.

Most puppies are biters, but grow out of it.

Yorkshire Terriers need a very firm hand early on otherwise they can be a right little nightmare.

Most Yorkies I've come accross have been spoiled little brats and behaved like they're the devil himself.

Crate Training works a treat aswell...dont put up with any nonsense by saying ah well he's just a puppy and will grow out of it. Put a stop to it now.

cotton

Ok, first off I'd get him a quick checkup just to make sure it isn't pain causing this.

Shouting at a 13 week old pup will not do him any favours, it's far better to be calm but firm.
A quick yelp from yourself to show him he's hurt you sometimes works. You could always stand up & walk away from him when he does it. He'll cotton on quite quickly that when he does it, he gets no attention from you.

eat before him, make him see that you're eating first
make it look like you eat from his bowl before you feed him

I'm sorry, but that had me laughing out loud. What is the sense behind this????

deaddonkey

cotton wrote: »

I'm sorry, but that had me laughing out loud. What is the sense behind this????

food is a very, very efficient way of communicating with dogs.

if he sees that YOU are deciding when he gets fed and YOU are deciding what he eats and that YOU can eat from his bowl if YOU want to, then he will see that YOU are in charge and YOU decide what he does. Making you the leader. Subordinatess don't bite their leader.

peasant

deaddonkey wrote: »

food is a very, very efficient way of communicating with dogs.

if he sees that YOU are deciding when he gets fed and YOU are deciding what he eats and that YOU can eat from his bowl if YOU want to, then he will see that YOU are in charge and YOU decide what he does. Making you the leader. Subordinatess don't bite their leader.

correct ...in theory

In practice pretending to eat out of his bowl makes YOU look like an eejit

Just let him do a "sit" (if he knows how to do that already) before you relent the bowl and the control message will come across just as well.

deaddonkey

peasant wrote: »

correct ...in theory

In practice pretending to eat out of his bowl makes YOU look like an eejit

Just let him do a "sit" (if he knows how to do that already) before you relent the bowl and the control message will come across just as well.

yeah, there's a lot of things that ain't goin in or near my mouth, dog food is one of them.

I'll leave the others to your imagination

cotton

deaddonkey wrote: »

food is a very, very efficient way of communicating with dogs.

if he sees that YOU are deciding when he gets fed and YOU are deciding what he eats and that YOU can eat from his bowl if YOU want to, then he will see that YOU are in charge and YOU decide what he does. Making you the leader. Subordinatess don't bite their leader.

Yes, food is a very efficent way of communicating & training dogs. But not like that.
That theory is so outdated. He won't think you're the leader, he'll wonder what the hell you're doing!:p

You don't need to be a master & your dog a subordinate. You just need to be a leader & have good management skills.
This dominance lark is used to explain almost every behavioural problem in dogs especially aggression. But a dominant dog has no need for aggression, they will show an air of authority,quiet confidence & calmess, but a submissive, fearful dog is more likely to shown signs of aggression and to bite.
The more you treat a fearful dog like you are suggesting, the more fearful & therefore unpredictable he will become.


You should read a book called dominance-fact or fiction by Barry Eaton.
Or Aggression in Dogs by Brenda Aloff

deaddonkey

cotton wrote: »

The more you treat a fearful dog like you are suggesting, the more fearful & therefore unpredictable he will become.

by establishing leadership calmly without violence he's gonna become more fearful and unpredictable. Riiiiiiiiiight. Understood.

You don't need to be a master & your dog a subordinate. You just need to be a leader & have good management skills.

same difference. If you're the leader, the dog follows you. that makes you the master, and him the servant.

The dog thinks he is the leader, but isn't capable of handling that responsiblity and is reacting to it with aggression and fearfullness. Show the dog that you are in command and that everything is ok, and that will go away.


this woman is a genius, i don't always agree with what she says, but there are some parts of her method that work amazingly well

cotton

(i'm not suggesting you beat him btw, but a really strong sharp OI! NO! to put him in his place will work wonders.)

That is not calm.

same difference. If you're the leader, the dog follows you. that makes you the master, and him the servant.

It is not the same difference at all. That's like saying because my boss leads our team, I'm his servant. Not at all, I just look to him for guidance. There is a massive difference.

The dog thinks he is the leader, but isn't capable of handling that responsiblity and is reacting to it with aggression and fearfullness. Show the dog that you are in command and that everything is ok, and that will go away.

I agree with you 110% on this, I just don't think the way you are suggesting doing this is right.
Jan Fennell was great many, many moons ago as there wasn't much else out there. Thankfully so many more up to date behaviourists have come on stream.

peasant

deaddonkey wrote: »

If you're the leader, the dog follows you. that makes you the master, and him the servant.

seenashow we're nit-picking

If you're the leader and the dog follows you, that makes you the leader and the dog the follower.

A master can do and decide whatever he likes and the servant has to "obey" without will of his own.
...dogs don't work on that level (not for long anyway)

A leader on the other hand makes his decisions with the good of his followers in mind.
A follower will only follow a good leader, a bad one will be ignored or abandoned.

In short ..you are not the "master" of your dog, instead you have to gain it's trust and prove yourself as a capable, dependable and responsible leader if you want it's co-operation.

maryoshea

My friend has a yorkie and he is a nightmare, he found it impossible to get a groomer willing to groom him, the groomers would normally ring him after an hour saying they couldn't complete the grooming process because he was jumping all over the table and snapping etc.. :eek: He nows goes to my own groomer and i don't know how she manages him.

Four of a kind

any more opinions on how I can get him to stop biting all the time? Can't even pet him when he's in his hyper state.

Bluefrog

Four of a kind wrote: »

Can't even pet him when he's in his hyper state.

Then don't. It seems possible to me that if you pet him while he's behaving this way you could be reinforcing the behaviour.

Does he have toys to chew on?

The advice is good above - you need to build his sense of heirarchy. This won't happen overnight.

How did the vet visit go?