Puberty? Biting other people!

[HilaryQ]

Hi all,

It's been a few years since I posted - which is indicative of the fact that life with our 3 yr old CAG has been easy sailing!

We got Atticus as a hand-reared baby from a wonderful breeder in CT. He is a calm boy in general, never flustered by our loud/active dogs, cross-country moves, vacations to in-laws, etc.

He is bonded to both my husband and myself (thankfully) and is generally NOT a biter. He will give the occ. nip when he steps up - very rarely it will be a hard nip. Nothing unexpected or hard to deal with with the usual measures as described in other posts.

The problem is that, for this month, we are staying with my parents and although Atticus loves the loud music and activity, he has developed a "bird-itude".

His wings are clipped but he can fly short distances - recently he's been flying to family members (my mother, sister, etc) and biting them without provocation (ie offensive, not defensive behaviors). And when I calmly tell him to step up to remove him from their shoulders, he'll pin his eyes and attack me too! In addition, when he is sweetly sitting with me and I am approached but a family member he may pin and attempt to bite them -- or me. Multiple times now he's drawn blood (fingers, cheeks). He is his normal sweet self once the family member is out of the room. The situation will change in about 5 days (when we move back into our own home) but it brings me to these questions:

1. Is Atticus showing signs of puberty/sexual maturity (3 yrs old)? If so, when can we expect him to settle down and accept "strangers" as he used to (if ever).

2. Should we give him a period of no strangers once we move home agan - therefore avoiding the behavior and preventing it from becoming concrete? Or should we saturate his experiences with lots of "strangers" and work harder on the counter-conditioning and positive reinforcement?

 

My husband and I are both comfortable dealing with and preventing nips, even hard ones, but my question is mainly should I expect from Atticus as he matures in terms of his perceived "strangers" ...

Sorry for the long post - and thanks in advance for your help!