[susan]

Biscuit growled at me this morning with his ears back. I think he was serious. We are really struggling with him being so nippy. My kids cannot even play with him right now without getting bitten. Well, this morning, he caught my jeans and tore a hole in them with his razor sharp teeth. Then, as I was bending down to him he growled and put his ears back. This was not his normal behavior. Biscuit is taking medication for a yeast infection. I was wondering if he could be a bit crazy right now from the meds. I also noticed he chased his tail this morning. He just did not seem right.

Any ideas? I hate to call the vet again. I feel like I should have a hotline right now.

Thanks.

 

[bmeb012000]

I am certainly not a vet, but did you say he had a yeast infection in his ears? Ear problems can be painful. My last dog was very sensitive when he had ear infections. Also, my vet told me that when Gunner chased his tell it was like a baby playing and exploring his feet. She said as long as you could distract them and get them to stop than there wasn't any need to worry. She did mention if you couldn't get them to stop there could be a medical problem. I had never heard that before and thought if was interesting.

Sorry you are having a difficult time with him right now.

 

[wannadoodle]

The ears certainly could be part of his edginess. Gosh, I hope this gets better. Your torn jeans reminded me of a pretty funny story. Maybe this will lighten your heart a bit. Toby used to grab at my jeans constantly and all of them had little rips below the knee where he could reach. Well....one morning my husband was getting ready for work. I was lying on the bed while he put on his jeans. He looked down and said "how in the world did I tear these" and I replied, "has my puppy had a hold of you?" Neither of us thought one more thing about it. Then much later in the day on the phone he said "I have been miserable all day long, I have to get some weight off, my jeans don't fit" It then occurred to me.......ya'll are ahead of me, aren't you? I just started laughing and couldn't even tell him that the jeans were mine.

 

[mssteuer]

Haha, love the jeans story

to come back to the original question:

the perceived aggression: you really need to make sure you're puppy understands that you're the dominant "dog" in the pack. Basic obedience will take care of that, as well as the NILF (Nothing In Life is Free) training approach... please check this link: http://www.pets.ca/articles/article-dog_nilf.htm

You really need to take the NILF approach to heart and be consistent with it. I'm sure everyone on the forum will echo this as it's really one of the best ways of establishing a "good" life long relationship with your dogs.

About the tail chasing: The suggestion of "self exploration" is definitely a good one. Another reason why dogs chase their tails is due to lack of exercise and play time some times. A dog with abundant energy and no one to play with, will decide to play with him/her-self by chasing after himself
Tail chasing is often a good indication that it's time to take him to the dog park or play some fetch in the yard