I recently got a toy fox terrier puppy as a gift from a loved one. She is from an independently owned pet store from a well known man in town. He claims the dogs are from lagit breeders in the area and are not inbred. I have taken her to get her shots. She has gone twice and the second time she got two shots. One was the distemper. After she received these, her mood has changed drastically. You can't even hold her without her growling and biting your hands. She is very small, about 2.6 pounds but her teeth are like little needles and it hurts really bad. She also ate some rabbit poop in the yard more then once and I couldn't get it out of her mouth before she swallowed.

My question: What could be causing this drastic change in her personality? Is it the shot(s)? And will it get better or has she picked up a disease from outside?

She's 9 weeks old. She is no being vicious she's a puppy.. dogs use their mouth like hands. You just need to train her by redirecting her to something good to chew on. You and the dog should make an appointment with a trainer the sooner the better.

I recently got a toy fox terrier puppy as a gift from a loved one. She is from an independently owned pet store from a well known man in town. He claims the dogs are from lagit breeders in the area and are not inbred. I have taken her to get her shots. she has gone twice and the second time she got two shots. One was the distemper. After she recieved these, her mood has changed drastically. You can't even hold her without her growling and biting your hands. She is very small, about 2.6 pounds but her teeth are like little needles and it hurts really bad. She also ate some rabbit poop in the yard more then once and i couldnt get it out of her mouth before she swallowed.

My question: What could be causing this drastic change in her personality? Is it the shot(s)? And will it get better or has she picked up a disease from outside?
In the area we live in pet store always = profits = not the best interest of the pets or where they come from or bloodlines... I'm sure labman will have some great advice on this. Also a new person has shown up on this site pawsdogdaycare, that seems to know about puppies. Maybe you need to crate her as much as possible until you get advice on situation, so as not to make her think you are going to endure the biting. Or call the vet if you can't get some ideas in the next little while or just to make sure it isn't shot related. Good luck

You can't train a physical problem away. Rather than a trainer, I would call the vet's
Office. Puppies seldom react badly to shots, but even less often make sudden changes in personality for no cause. She may be hurting. This doesn't sound at all like typical puppy play biting to me. Even if it was, you don't need a trainer to fix it. Just giving a yelp and leaving like a litter mate would do when bit too hard will solve the problem if you are consistent about it.

I seldom suggest a private trainer except with an older dog after other things fail. Many of them lack proper training and are still using the best of the 50's. I hate to think of them taking people's money for their outdated methods.

The key to most behavior problems is approaching things using the dog's natural instincts. Dogs see all the people and dogs in the household as a pack with each having their own rank in the pack and a top dog. Life is much easier if the 2 legged pack members outrank the 4 legged ones. You can learn to play the role of top dog by reading some books or going to a good obedience class. A good obedience class or book is about you being top dog, not about rewarding standard commands with a treat. Start at Raising Your Dog with the Monks of New Skete (http://www.dogsbestfriend.com/) Here are some gentle ways of showing a young dog you are the leader:

''Elevation for small puppies: Sit on the floor and gently put your hands around your pup's middle, below his front legs, and lift him up. He is facing you. Hold him for 15 seconds. Repeat until he no longer struggles. If he is past 10-12 weeks, lift his front feet off the ground, but don't pick him up.

Cradling for small puppies: Hold your puppy gently on his back, as you would cradle a small baby. If he struggles, hold him firmly until he quiets for 10-15 seconds. With larger pups, you can do this as your sit on the floor, with your pup between your legs.

Quiet lying down: Place your pup on the floor on his side, with all 4 legs pointing away from you. Use your hands on his neck/shoulder area and middle, to hold him in this position. When he is quiet, praise him. Lengthen the time that you keep him quietly in this position. When he accepts this position well, handle his paws and muzzle, while keeping him quiet.''

The quotes mean this isn't my original work. It is copied from my Puppy Raising Manual. I have long used these or minor variations of them, and they are very effective. You may want to give him a belly rub while he is on his back too. Helps bonding. There is a big difference between him rolling over and demanding a belly rub, and you choosing a time to roll him over and rub his belly. The latter cements your place as pack leader.

There is more material helpful to a new puppy owner in the sticky at https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/dogs/information-articles-our-dogs-expert-labman-53153.html#post251802 One section has a list of carefully selected books.

Oh, I forgot about the rabbit poop. Her eating it is more likely harm your stomach than hers. Do take care to keep her away from unknown dogs' feces or urine. No matter how many shots she gets, there is still a window she could get parvo or other disease. See Canine Parvovirus, What you should know about (http://www.avma.org/communications/brochures/canine_parvo/parvo_brochure.asp) Unlike some of the stuff people Google up, I think you can trust the AVMA's site.

shes 9 wks old. she is no being vicious shes a puppy.. dogs use their mouth like hands. you just need to train her by redirecting her to something good to chew on. you and the dog should make an appointment with a trainer the sooner the better.


No she always chewed on things... my hands, feet, toys, everything. But it is out of the norm now. I understand puppies chew and play but I have friends who trained and have small breed puppies and they even said it is not normal how bad she is being. You can't even hold her without her growling and showing her teeth. I have her on a very strict schedule, she eats 3 times a day at the same time every day, she goes to bed at the same time every night and sleeps in the living room in her cage. I have had a lot of help getting her regimented. If you saw her behavior you would see that it is not normal puppy chewing and playing.

My question: What could be causing this drastic change in her personality? Is it the shot(s)? And will it get better or has she picked up a disease from outside?


First it is unlikely if not impossible for dog to have contracted a negative personality change from a distemper shot.. even if by a rare occurrence the vaccination contained enough of the live virus (which is virtually impossible) the symptoms would be as follows

excerpt from the merk veterinary manual..
"It spreads rapidly through the lymphatic tissue and infects all the lymphoid organs within 2 to 5 days. By days six to nine, the virus spreads to the blood. It then spreads to the surface cell lining of the respiratory, gastrointestinal, urogenital, and central nervous systems, where it begins doing the damage that causes the symptoms.

Early symptoms include fever, loss of appetite, and mild eye inflammation that may only last a day or two. Symptoms become more serious and noticeable as the disease progresses.

The initial symptom is fever (103�F to 106�F), which usually peaks 3 to 6 days after infection. The fever often goes unnoticed and may peak again a few days later. Dogs may experience eye and nose discharge, depression, and loss of appetite (anorexia). After the fever, symptoms vary considerably, depending on the strain of the virus and the dog�s immunity."

Also eating Rabbit droppings would be unlikely to create a rapid change in personality, at best they could perhaps pick up parasites, tape worms etc.. From that kind of activity..

As for the training methods described above, it would depend upon what your end goal was, I would not advice trying to hold a struggling puppy tattood to the floor as this would more than likely create a negative association and is more along the lines of what was done to dominate a dog back in the 50's...

I would suggest starting with the sit command, even a puppy as young as 8 weeks can handle this command and produce the behaviour when properly conditioned. Have your puppy in front of you and simultaniously apply gentle pressure to his butt and issue the sit command. He will try to raise his but numerous times during this procedure, each time gently push down and issue the sit command, after the 15th time or so you should achieve a 4 or 5 second sit.. give mild praise, and do again, each time the sit should get a little longer, and he should basically look at you at this point with a "what do you want me to do look", if he tries to go into a laydown, raise up his front back to sit. You should only do this for about 15 minutes at a time as puppy's do not have the greatest in attention span.. and will burn out quickly and become bored with the exercise... Once you have mastered them at a level where they can sit, issue the command and wait, now each time he attempts to leave the sit, issue the No command and sit his but back down.. it takes a lot of patience and understanding but keep working on it until he will reliably sit for 30 seconds or so... (the premise behind this aside from teaching basic commands that will be useful later in life) is that you are teaching your puppy to follow your commands, and look to you for direction... look to you as a leader and for guidance, you are providing him with a behavior that he can earn praise with. Once he has the sit and no command you can move the no command around to other things.. biting = no, (playtime stops, he put down), not releasing a toy = no (toy is taken away), pulling on leash = no and a leash check.. Another important but overlooked method is to always make them wait for their food.. when you feed, place the food in front of him and place him in a sit.. when he moves towards the food brush him away and reinstate the sit.. until he makes no attempt for the food and begins to look away from it or shows no interest.. At which time you can begin to program your new command (dinner, OK, eat, etc) and allow him to eat at that time. This as labman pointed out is another method of thinking like a dog in that he has to wait until his pack leader allows him to eat.. again you are in charge... And most of all remember.. "that the dog you have as an adult is the dog that you trained him to be as a puppy",

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''As for the training methods described above, it would depend upon what your end goal was, I would not advice trying to hold a struggling puppy tattood to the floor as this would more than likely create a negative association and is more along the lines of what was done to dominate a dog back in the 50's... ''

Oh come on now. I fail to see how anything in my post could be construed that way. Much of it was a quote from the manual prepared by a large, highly respected dog guide school. You really think they use outmoded, abusive methods? It is very important to form a strong bond with the puppy raiser.