So our puppy is 15 weeks old; this week he has added a new attribute to his personality – that of attention seeker. The walks, toys, play time, training time are not enough for him this week and he is seeking attention on his terms.
This usually turns out to be something like; barking at my husband early in the morning while I am getting ready for work in an attempt to get him to play. (Mind you this is after he has been taken out for a walk and played with in the yard.) He will bite and pull on the bed covers and also hands.
We have been diligently working on his play biting, as this is not something that I want him to continue to build. He very rarely play bites me any more, but he is still doing it to other family members. So I have been working with them to make sure that he stops doing this.
The other aspect I am working to stop him from doing is jumping on people. Now, he doesn’t jump up on me, but he is doing this to others. Of course, the family knows how to work with him to let him know this isn’t acceptable behavior, but he still hasn’t worked it out on his own, that people are not like other puppies and dogs. He believes that everyone is around for his play time and amusement. While, I find my puppy adorably cute, I recognize that these new behaviors are not ones that I want to encourage or allow others to encourage. Sometimes it is more difficult to “train” people to not encourage something a puppy does, than it is to teach the puppy not to do it.