Rottweiler puppy biting and playing rough

by kam
(madrid)

hello again :)
my 4 and a half month old rottie is adorable and fun, but recently his becoming rougher while playing... he play bites all the time and it's starting to hurt, he gets enough walks and play time but he still does it.

i tried correcting him a lot of times but i don't think he gets it. i am the alpha however because he will not eat until i signal to him he is allowed, he moves out of the way when i'm passing and he doesn't exit the room until i signal to him, so i don't know what the reason for this problem is.

he is loosing his puppy teeth, but i can't give him edible bones all the time to chew on. so plz tell me how can i stop this behaviour.








Hi Kam
It sounds as though overall he's doing great, and you're doing a good job of making sure he knows his place in the 'pack', so that's really good.

This increase in biting, and being a bit 'rough' is pretty normal as he's growing out of the baby puppy stage and becoming a 'tween' on his way to becoming an adolescent! This stage has many challenges and it's very important that you continue to make sure that he knows his place. Adolescent Rotties, especially males, usually want to challenge authority and test limits during these months.

He's also probably at the peak of his teething stage... the last adult teeth will come in somewhere around 6 months of age.

All of this will be causing an increase in his biting, and the tendency to 'throw his weight around'. To make sure this biting doesn't continue you will need to keep correcting him EVERY SINGLE TIME - that's very important. A firm verbal correction and a withdrawal of attention is the first thing to try. If it's not enough, then try the water-spray-bottle method. You can learn about this, and everything else you need to know about puppy biting and nipping on my Stop Puppy Biting page.

Being patient and consistent is the key. Correct him every time, and in the same way. If you show him clearly that this behavior won't be tolerated he will eventually begin to give it up. Good luck.