#my response to growling with every other dog has been to back off - with melis it had to be stop and consider

[fjordfolk]

Do you have any advice on how you handled things with Melis? I have an opinionated, growly bitey terrier mix 5 mo puppy that I'm still trying to figure out as she's my first dog, and her behaviors remind me a lot of your posts on Melis as a puppy. I don't want to be unfair to her but I don't have other dogs that would help teach her manners. Just last night when I was about to put her in a different room after repeated nipping to chill out, she barked at me in a sort of UGHHH FINE way, then FINALLY entertained herself a toy. Thanks!

Honestly, I felt like a lot with Melis was just having a wild fuckin guess and then being very relieved when my reading of her turned out to be right. My only real advice is to learn as much as you can about dog language and signals, and get to know your dog really really well. Talk to people who can see her with their own eyes and whose opinions you trust. For me, the thing that wouldve made a major difference with my first puppy was having a better grasp of overstimulation and stress.

Puppies WANT things to be comfortable and fun and to eat good food and have good times. That's pretty much it. The task at hand is to give them plenty of opportunities to learn what types of behaviour makes everything fun for everybody, and not (accidentally) lean into those that may be fun for them but not for you. Figuring out the balance between setting your boundaries and not pushing her boundaries can be surprisingly challenging, especially if you have a dog whose immediate reactions are either >:0 or >:D Melis was very engangement driven (she'd bite and growl and pester for hours on end if allowed to) so often, offering a different type of engagement would be more constructive than disengaging. We still struggle with frustration when we stop her doing something she's decided to do - redirection is the key of course, but theres nothing more important to a baby spitz than what the baby spitz has decided in that moment is important 😅

Having other dogs around is a hit or miss imo, not all dogs are good teachers! We're lucky that we have a group with decently congruent rules and good communication, but we still supervise and referee most of the interactions that happen with a puppy involved, and dog-human manners always have to be taught by a human.

But 5-6 months is an age that I think it should be illegal for puppies to be, so honestly? Do your best, hold on, don't hold it against them.