new rottie

I just brought home a 11 week old Rottweiler last Sunday. He's a big boy already. The only problem that I am noticing so far is that he likes to grab ahold of our pant legs and socks and not let go. When we tell him to drop it, he gets a little more aggressive and sometimes growls. I don't want to encourage this behavior. And I know if he continues this when he's any bigger I'm in trouble. Is it just normal puppy behavior? What would be the best way to stop it? I am enrolling him in puppy classes so we can begin to control some of his behaviors.

I've attached a photo of baby Cain.

Cain is ADORABLE! :D

It is very smart of you that you got him in classes already. His behavior is not uncommon. We get in a fair amount of puppies at the shelter with the same behavior. The key is to change it ASAP before they are older and it becomes a major problem.

While some of it could be normal puppy behavior, Cain is also probably challenging your leadership. I would set boundaries and rules for him and never let him get away with breaking them. Don't let him on your bed or on any furniture (until the problem is fixed). If you have kids, make him sleep on the floor in the youngest childs' bedroom. Make him work for everything he gets. Even if you just want to pet him, have him sit first.

Are you crate training him? Do you know how to work on bite inhibition?

The Denver Dumb Friends League has some great articles on their site. Here are a few that might help you:

http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/pupnip.htm

http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/nilif.htm

http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/dominance.htm

Let me know if you have any questions or want me to clarify or go into detail about anything. Your class should help out a lot. I highly recommend positive reinforcement training. In the meantime, when he grabs on to your pants, I would put him on a leash. Step on the leash so he has no room to do anything but sit there. Don't even give him enough slack on the leash to jump up. Then calmly praise him for sitting there (even though he has no choice, hehe). If he's pulling and struggling to get off the leash or away from you, don't praise him until he is calmly sitting.

GOOD LUCK!

Great advice.

I too have a rottie, but now he's 12 years old. We never did have much trouble with him doing that but my moms rottie sounded similar to yours. He always was growling trying to show he's the boss.

When he did this behavior my mom would stop, and say "NO" in a very stern voice then ignore him for a minute or so. Each time he did it she would do the same thing. It didn't take him long to realize he hated being ignored:p

Hope you'll share more stories and pictures about your little cutie pie Cain!