HELP! my puppy plays rough..

tomatoboi

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#1
hey guys.. i have a 13 week old shihtzu, and this is my problem.. i dont know if its normal or not but hre goes.. Everytime we play fetch with her.. she brings the toy back, but wen we try to take it from her mouth, she would start to growl and would not let go no matter what! Also, when we hold the toy in our hands.. ABOUT to throw it, she would look at it and start barking nonstop.. is this normal?? Also.. she seems to bite everyone except ME and my GF..Everyone including my family.. lol how do i stop this?

EDIT: She ALSo likes to eat EVERYTHING off the ground.. and i mean EVEYRTHING! is there anything i can do to stop this behavior? becuz i dont want her gettin sick or anything..
 
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#2
I have the same issue with my 10 week pittbull mix! He gets kinda aggressive with the toys and won't let them go. And he forages the ground for crumbs. We have had a lot of success with teaching him leave it. Well, this only works when Chance is hungry. Other wise he just goes and lays down. But we put one kind of treat in one hand, and have a different treat in another hand away from Chances attention. We hold one treat closed in our fist in front of him and when he starts gnawing for it we give the command "leave it" I look away from Chance. Once he leaves my hand alone and looks away. I say good "leave it" and give him the treat in my other hand. He seems to know that leave it means back away, and when he is getting into something and we say leave it, he is starting to back away. And that is about as far as I've gotten so far.
 
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#3
Yes, teach "Leave it" for the eating thing.

As for the barking and growling, it sounds like play behavior to me. What's her body language like during those times -- does she look hard and act stiff? BTW, if she doesn't want to drop the toy, you can teach "Drop it", "Give" or "Trade". You can try having two balls with you, so that when she doesn't want to drop the one she's holding, you can just throw the other. If she likes playing tug, get her a tug toy.

With the biting, you need to teach bite inhibition. When she starts getting mouthy, stop interacting with her. Get up and leave if you have to. Don't look at her, play with her or talk to her for a few minutes. This will teach her that biting means the end of time with you (or whoever she is with at the moment). Make sure everyone does this to send a clear message.
 

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