new puppy questions

Hi to all,

I have a new to us puppy. I will try to give a little background on him before I ask my questions and hopefully somebody has some good suggestions. He is a 15 week old Lab/Rotti/pit mix. He weighs in at about 30 lbs and is already getting very strong. We have had Bruno for almost two weeks. We do not know anything about his past except for the fact that he was in the shelter with his sister when we got him.
We are seeing some behavoirs in him that might suggest that he was not treated well in the past. Most I know we can handle such as his fear of going outside. We think he was either left outside for long periods or punished if he went near the door so we are taking our time with this one and it is not a big concern.
The problem I am having a hard time with has to do with aggression. For the most part I would describe Bruno as a very laid back little guy. He is pretty even tempered and very lovable most of the time. That is until he goes into what we have called his psycho mode. It is usually in the evening hours and he just starts to go nutty. He will just be resting and all of a sudden he will jump up and start racing around. He looks like he just wants to play, but if you attempt to get a ball or anything he will growl or snap. I tried to grab him up the other night to try to calm him and he bit my face and hand. I have never had a puppy do this with that much aggression so I was not sure if I should reprimand or what, so I chose to put him down, say no sternly and then I left the room. He followed me all the time biting me. I left him be until he calmed down which took a while. He just litterally attacked his toys and even the carpet, growling and snapping at the air. The whole episode only lasts about a half hour, but I don't understand it. It happens every night and quite frankly scares me. I have never seen a puppy behave like this. Last night my daughter had a friend in. We settled in to watch a movie when Bruno suddenly went into his psycho mode. He raced around the room and I told the girls to try to ignore him. They are teens so they did as I said. He wouldn't stop though and when nobody gave him the time of day he ran up to me and bit my leg hard, then ran over and jumped on the couch where my daughter's friend was sitting and bit her arm and then over to my daughter and as she tried to tuck her feet under herself he got her foot. It is just so wierd. It looks kind of funny and I want to believe this is just puppy play, but since he is a mix of larger breed dogs this scares me. I have tried a number of things to stop this. I have tried to grab and calm him and got bit, we have tried to ignore it, And I tried to seperate him by putting him in another room, but as I said he goes nutty and ripped the carpet and tore a plug out of the wall socket and chewed it right off the cord. I do use a crate for sleeping, but I have always heard that if you want your dog to like his crate to not use it for punishment.
Any ideas would be appreciated. I love this little guy already so much, but this aggressiveness really bothers me.

Jode

With his age it's hard to tell if it will turn into agression or not. Sounds like its a mix of play & little aggression.
You say he may have a bad start to life, maybe he's not used to toys & doesn't know how to share them, that would make sense, he wants to play so thats where the running around grabbing things come into play yet he's unsure so he snaps & bares teeth.

It sounds almost like he's just getting too excited for his own good and has not where else to put that energy. Since you say it happens at about the same time every night I'd try to stop it before it starts. Try taking him for a walk, or play in the yard about a half hour before it starts. See if that wears him out. A tired dog is a good dog.
You certainly want to reprimand him as it is not an acceptable behavior no matter if it caused by play or aggression.

I myself would put the dog inthe crate in the evening before he goes into this mode. It sounds like a normal FRAP movement when a pup gets all excited and runs around, but they normally don't get up from sleeping and run around rather they are already playing and they get a build up of energy. This is a weird behavior. I don't know how to fix it but I would start during the day with laying him on his side next to you and holding him on his side until he stops wiggling while you talk gently to him. After a minute of him being calm let him up and praise him. This will help him trust you while teaching him that you are in control, especialy when it comes to deciding when the play sessions need to end. I still do this when my Autumn gets too excited and it calms her down good, of course she not as huge a dog. Have you looked at obedience classes yet. Its never too soon to start a long as you keep within the limits of a 3 month old pup. Short, fun training sessions.
I'd do a few things for the fear of going ouside. First I'd tie a small bell to the door within his reach. Each time you let him out help him to nudge the bell then praise him when it makes a sound. Evenually he will learn to ring the bell when he wants out and being by the door won't be a scary thing. Make outside time as fun as possible and if he has learned the bell you can get one for outside or even teach him to hit a low doorbell, it will save you from door scratches or barking. If being outside is getting stressful or him is reassured that he can hit the bell and go in.

Great advice, I missed the part where he just jumps up from resting & starts to play, that does sound a little weird.

I'd do the NILIF too.

First, have you thought about some training for both you and the dog?
Second, you don't say how much exercise he is getting per day. Sounds like part of it is burning off steam but the biting and distructiveness is not acceptable.
I would make sure he is getting a lot of exercise, at least an hour of hard running, chasing the ball etc. Going for walks is not enough exercise for most dogs.
When he goes into "psycho mode" mark the bad behavior with a word such as "yuck" (make sure is it not word you use a lot in everyday conversation) and put him in his crate for about 5-10 minutes. It is important you mark the behavior before putting him in his crate, therefore you are punishing the behavior and not making the crate a bad place.
Think of it this way, when he stays acting crazy it's his way of telling you needs a time out in his crate. If you mark it with the word correctly and everytime he acts out he gets a time out in his crate, the behavior should stop.
Please make sure he is getting enough exercise and have patience the stopping of the behavior will take time and persistance on your part. Good luck.

I have heard of another dog that had done this! It was a certain type of sesier(sp?) The dog went all crazy and started to bite people. I would maybe try to take him to a vet to get tested. I am not sure if that is it, and if it isn't I would try the NILIF and kenneling him.

Good Luck!-
Steph, Jes, and Splinter