My puppy sleeps in the kitchen, we have a gate that keeps him in. It’s the only place in the house with hard wood floors so he can’t eat the carpet.
Last night while my puppy was asleep my girlfriend was putting a box away next to the gate. He woke up and got extremely aggressive and broke through his gate. My girlfriend tried to close the gate and in the process he got out, and started biting her hard. He bit her thighs, her shirt, her hands. I was in the shower so I ran out with just a towel on to try to help. While trying to diffuse the situation I got bit in the arm. He took a chunk of skin out of my wrist. I was able to grab some treats and throw them to the other side of the kitchen and he ran to eat them. After he finished he ran back to the gate to growl and try to get back over.
Is this normal? I know puppies are bitey but I think this is too far. We’ve had similar instances in the past, but this was far worse than anything else we’ve dealt with. It happens now about once every 7 days. When we first got him we worked on crate training, every time he’d fall asleep we’d put him in the crate. About 2 months ago he started reacting to us closing the crate. He’d get aggressive and snarl and bark while it was being locked. After it was locked he would lay down and go right to sleep. Since then we stopped locking the crate because he would go in voluntarily and sleep throughout the day. We’ve been good with enforcing naps, we play with him 2 times a day for an hour or so and try to take him on walks if he’s willing. It’s been raining so he hasn’t been too eager to walk.
He’s not reactive to other dogs or people, he loves meeting and playing with dogs. He loves meeting new people. He only ever seems to turn on my girlfriend and I at night.
Is there hope? Can this be trained out of him? Or is this a lost cause?
I love him with my whole entire heart and want nothing more than to help him live a long and happy life, but I don’t know if this is something that can be worked through or not.
He’s my first dog and I’m so sad cause I see everybody else with their dogs, and they’re good well adjusted and gentle dogs.
My mind is all over the place right now and I don’t know what to do.
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