Of course waiting until the storm calms down, i.e. when he becomes an old dog that has lived through its energy seems for most as the most humane solution but I say giving your pup back the same attitude is much more difficult but can produce much sooner results.

In the end this is what dogs do in the park when approached by the dog that is more energetic and dominant. They either submit and go on their back and hope for the least or tail under and try run/hide away and/or near the owner or go on the back legs to appear taller and snap back.

I am sorry my reply does not give you a suggestion because I do not know what is acceptable for you but give us a clue of what lengths are you prepared to go to stop your dog nipping your feet, etc.

Some say its disrespect to you and a sign of dominance, some say its just a puppy playing and each one addresses it differently. If you believe dominant, then act back like a more dominant one, if believing puppy playing then distract it with an alternative.

But as far as I have learned, animals do not play but exercise their instincts for the future survival and there is no better alternative than exercising their survival technique on a weaker pack member.

No. Don't abuse the pup. It's bad advice and you can read many threads with far better suggestions.

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Great to hear this i have a 10 week old golden cocker and love her so much but i am having the exact same problem but when i shout or smack her she gets very angry and barks at me should i be more calm and ignore this in the hope that she grows out of this please help as i don't want to be angry with her for this for too long!!!!!!!!

thanks willjust hang on inthere x

Thanks for the advice

This may help I wrote it a few years ago.

Bite Inhibition

Puppies have painfully sharp little piranha like teeth, almost like hypodermic needles, fortunately the jaw muscles are extremely under-developed, One of the main reasons why you should never play tug with a young puppy as you could dislocate the jaw and misalign or damage the teeth.

Nature has given them these underdeveloped muscles to enable pups to play-bite safely. Whilst very young and still with his brothers and sisters and he bites too hard in play he gets blasted with a ear piercing "yelp" which makes him immediately back off, he waits a while then starts to play again, but a strange thing has happened, the biting is a bit softer. The same thing when feeding from the mother, the pup uses too much pressure she yelps and moves away end of milk bar. He is then gentler the next time round and a valuable lesson has been learned.

This is nature’s way of inhibiting the force of their bite well before the jaw muscles start to form properly at around about 4.5 months, which also coincides with the time that the puppy teeth start dropping out and the new bigger more dangerous teeth start to come through. This is called the age of cutting.

This learning process is known as “Bite Inhibition” it is a vital and important lesson and is the only reason why your puppies are born with those hideous teeth. This is how your puppy learns to inhibit the force of his bite and to control his jaws, It is a vital that he also learns to inhibit biting us humans.

I see many new owners who are told to stop all play biting, however this could potentially have far-reaching and disastrous consequences. If the pup is trained immediately never to play-bite, he will never have the chance to learn control over his jaws. Therefore, your puppy must initially learn that all biting whatever the circumstances must be done softly. Then you can start to teach him never to bite at all.

This is how you should deal with this problem

1. Permit the puppy to play-bite by allowing your pup to softly chew on your hand. When he bites down a little harder than normal, "yelp" sharply and loudly and very short, turning your head away in rejection. Do not pull your hand away or the place he is biting. Let the puppy move away from the sound and your hand or leg, (pulling your hand away will only encourage him to lunge towards the moving object)

As an appeasement after your yelp the pup may come up and lick your hand, accept this gesture. Then allow the play to resume, but this time hopefully with a softer bite. If the play gets a little rougher, "yelp" again, thus further confirming that any pressure is totally unacceptable. Repeat this exercise as often as possible. And like the New York police chief who had a zero tolerance to crime you do the same with any hard biting.

You will find within a few days, that the biting turns into mouthing; you will have programmed your puppy into thinking that he must not exert any pressure whatsoever whilst mouthing because of your ultra sensitive reaction. Now you can teach him the “OFF command to stop all mouthing.

Stan Rawlinson 2002

Our cutesen dutesen pup is 'normal'.... hooray lol. We have had an escalation in 'biting' in the last couple of days (granted we have only had him since saturday but want to get the whole nipping under control as soon as possible a shave lots of friends with little children)

I have tried 'no' and offering him a substitute, this is ok for 10 secs then he comes back with avengence, and i swear bigger teeth lol. I have tried the yelping too, but he just thinks we are playing with him and either comes at us again or growls and barks........... so now we give him lots of attention when he is being 'lovely' and turn our back and walk away from him when he nips and bites! So far.... so good!

Glad to hear there are many other people tearing their hair out with nipping and it's not just us. We got our 10week old German Wirehaired Pointer 'Albert' on Saturday and he is into everything and biting with the sharpest of teeth and claws. We are trying the ignoring and 'yelping as if it it hurting' when he trys and sometimes it works but his attention span is so short. He also seems to go for every plant to bite in the garden which worries me as I know some can be dangerous to animals although I'm not sure what is and isn't. I try to ignore him when he bites the plants but he still seems intent on chewing them. Any advice!! I suppose he will settle down a little once he can go out more (only just had first jab so still a couple of weeks to go yet). A friend of mine says you can buy something which you spray onto items to stop them chewing them..anybody tried this and is it any good!. Looking forward to many more chewed feet.....

I would start to teach the "leave" command Hold a treat in your palm, make him sit and offer him the treat, if he goes for it close your palm amd say "leave" firmly the second he withdraws open your palm and say take it, if he "snatches" close you palm again. Only let him have the treat when he isn't trying to grab it (if that makes sense).

This will take time to teach but it is good to make a start. I would keep him away from the plants for now by attaching a long line in the garden and not letting him at them.

I found a "time out" worked better than yelping, some dogs seem to find the yelping too exciting.

If the dog is being over playful and gets nippy then a few minutes out of the room with zero attention then reintroduced calmly will help but i would re iterate this will take time (possibly a couple of months of hard work). It is an age and stage thing and you just have to train through it in a consistent way

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"I am not perfect and i don't have to be, before you start pointing fingers, make sure your hands are clean" - Bob Marley

https://sites.google.com/site/blisschalet/

reliable resources:
DogStarDaily website - i strongly recommend downloading the 2 *free* pdf-file books to be found there -
Free Downloads | Dog Star Daily
the titles are Before U Get Ur Dog and After... .
they cover socialization and bite-inhibition exceptionally well!



fun4fido posted a helpful blog-link, but it did not work -
Teaching Bite*Inhibition - blog - fun4fido | clicker training 4 dogs
hopefully this one will!


** this ** OTOH links to a frequent-spammer -
Stop Dog Biting – How To Stop Your Dog Biting
and the recommended advice - hold the muzzle shut etc - are very bad suggestions, IMO.
how grateful will a future vet-tech or vet or groomer be when the pup or dog later DUCKS and growls
or simply evades and gets nervous, when anyone reaches for their collar or tries to examine or treat or clean
their ears, mouth, eyes, teeth, etc!
they will be less than happy, pursuing the dogs snaking head, and even more unhappy if the dog gets anxious-enuf
to snap defensively when they persist!

puppies are no different than infants + toddlers -
they explore the world with their mouths, testing textures, edibility, finding out what this is.
also dog-mouths are the analogy of human-hands - they use them to manipulate the world and objects in it.
how else can they pick something up, play with a friend, nibble an itch, groom-out a burr, etc? thats what dog-mouths do!

pups who leave their dams + sibs before 56-days / 8-WO are especially prone to be hard-mouthed and have very poor
to non-existent dog to dog social-skills: signaling play, non-threat, appeasement, deference, greeting, etc.
RETURNING the pup to mom + sibs is the best option -
if U cannot or do not, find other pup-tolerant adult-dogs to teach the puppy Dog-Social-Skills, as we cannot teach that.

Open Paw’s Guide To The First Two Weeks With Your New Dog | Dog Star Daily

Puppy Biting | Dog Star Daily

YouTube - How to teach 'leave it'- without intimidation
anything by *kikopup* is safe and generally Excellent!, too

SINGLETONS are a special-case -
pups born solo or sole-survivors - are often even worse, as they never experience any frustration
as neonates and juveniles, but their dam (or foster, whether human or other) is entirely focused on that ONE -
they can become intensely-resentful of any interference in their goals and desires, and may BITE full-force and
full-mouth over such minor things as stopping them at the door to clip a leash on their collar!

if U are a pet-owner who has adopted or bought a pup who was a singleton, Get * Early * Professional * Help
from a CAAB, vet-behaviorist, or highly-experienced pos-R trainer who is familiar with Behavior-Modification.
APDT-uk or COAPE are safe resources -
if OTOH U find a supposedly-good trainer who starts spouting dominance, RUN do not walk, away!
singleton-pups meet the mildest of restraint or interruptions with serious threat, and will escalate to violence
with little provocation!
rehearsing or practicing violence is not at all helpful - in fact, it is seriously detrimental.

if U are breeding and get a singleton,
find a foster-dam - k9, feline, a pig with a litter, who cares! - ASAP.
let the pup nurse the dam immediately for colostrum over the 1st 12-hours, but spend that time finding a foster-dam,
of any mammal-species - a shelter-dam with a litter, another breeder with a small-litter, etc.
OR alternatively find a foster-litter for the pup-mother to rear with this solo-pup; either way works.
the foster-litter brought to the dam of the single-pup can be bunnies, kittens, it does not matter; any mammal
that is not a rabies-vector species is fine, mum will generally take them to her bosom immediately.

happy training,
--- terry

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terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
*wolves R wolves, dogs R dogs, + primates R us.*
tmp, sept-2007