How do you stop your pup from nipping at you or biting? He does this when playing, but never the less, I don't want it to become an accepted practice.

that is a good question i would like to hear some on this .my only solution is to smack my pup on the snout

Pop them on the snout and tell them "No" or hold their mouth closed and tell them "No". That worked for my pup.

I grab my pups by the top of the snout, and around their top teeth. I then force their lip into their upper teeth until they yelp. It usually only takes a few times until they get the hint.

give a toy to him and when he starts playnig with that, love him up. other wise ignore him and the behaviour will fade away.

I'm doing all of those, he's stubborn. I'm trying the non corporal punishment method the most but he doesn't seem to care. It's like he thinks it's part of the game. I guess I'm going to have to do more popping on the snout.

you have to give it time, wont happen over night. He thinkts its part of the game thats why he keeps doing it. Ignore the bad reward the good. By popping him you are still giving him attention and he seems to take it as a reward which it not what you want of course.

After mine would nip at me I would say no and sqeeze is snout putting pressure on is lips in to his teeth, took about a week and he hasn't don it since.

Dogs are social animals and they communicate with their mouths… they bite, nip, lick, growl and bark to express themselves. Puppies have another issue going on also in that they are teething. Understand their need to chew and always have something for them to chew on.

As far as the nipping part, your pup is socializing and wanting to play with you, but it’s very important that you don’t allow your pup to control the act. Show him that it hurts and bark loudly at him “NO” or “OUCH” and grab him by the mouth, stick your finger to the back of his mouth and put his head on the ground and hold him till he stops… or pop him on the nose as some have suggested. SHOW him that this is not accepted behavior. This is how another dog would handle it. If you have ever watched pups play… they bite and wrestle until one gets a little overboard and the other one yelps and bites the crap out of the instigator, then they go back to playing at an acceptable level of “viciousness”… or in the mother’s case, she will growl and or put the pup down by grabbing his neck until he submits… Don’t just ignore him, that’s sending the wrong message. Teach him what is acceptable and what is not.

Good advice from FC. My pup did this constantly and I would roll his lip onto the teeth, pinch until he yelped, and say, "No bite!" Even now he'll come up to me and mouth on my hand but very, very gently. He is just trying to get my attention and wants me to play with him, but as mentioned he does not control the amount or kind of attention that he gets.

Oh, and after I'd correct him he started picking up toys in his mouth and then come over for the attention -- almost as if he could not control himself so he knew he should get a toy in his mouth and not be tempted to mouth my hand. Has not been a problem for a long time now, but it took a few weeks of stern correction to get the problem solved. FWIW

Thanks guys. It is like he can't control himself and at times I can tell he's trying to control things in regards to play. That's when I turn him over, hold him down, and/or do the scruff of the neck thing.

He's picked up on a lot of things so fast I just assumed he would this too. I'll give it time and keep consistant. Thanks again.

my dog is 6 months old and does the same thing, he has gotten better but when he gets excited he starts to bite. I have tried grabbing his jaw, poppin him on the snout and holding him down while holding his mouth. Whenever me or my wife hold him down he tries to bite and I dont think its in a playful manner. I do think it has alot to do with socialization, when we take him out and he sees other people he's very friendly and doesnt try to bite.

He has also started jumping on the glass sliding door when he's in the back yard and I cant figure out how to break him of that. I try to go out there to tell him no and he takes of thinking its play time.

when he does this immediately make a loud "yelping" noise, fold your arms, turn your back from the dog, and slowly walk away ignoring the dog.

the dog will learn that nipping means that play stops. be consistant

Thanks guys, He's actually stopped it.

I bought a lashing/riding whip and he nipped three times. Twice for me and once for my wife. After him nippping, within 3 seconds I gave him a suprisingly very light tap with a loud "NO" and he stopped. The bridge of the nose thing didn't seem to bother him but a tap, decisive, but never-the-less still just a tap, seemed to work very well.

Way to go

I used to teach puppy kindergarten and I raise many competitive puppies for FT'rs. Get the DVD "Sound Beginnings" by Ian Dunbar. You can get it at sitstay.com. It shows a command there called "Off". It teaches the dog to stop what it's doing and back up. It's better then telling the dog NO. No is a negative not a command. You must be specific when teaching a dog what you do or don't want it to do. Also any command that requires "man handling" will be unable to be performed by children.

Get this DVD. We teach the off command to all puppies and dogs that come into our kennel.

Angie

Good to have you over here Angie. Have read alot of your stuff from the RTF and retriever talk. Good stuff and very knowledgable. Hoping one of these days to be able to afford getting at least one of my pups over to ya.

Stupid me,,,, not "Sound Beginnings". Sheesh now I've got my puppy DVD's confused?

It's the Sirius method of puppy training by Ian Dunbar at Sitstay.com

Sorry,,,,

Angie