What Is The Best Way To Stop The Nipping/biting And Jumping

[goldee]

What is the best way to stop the nipping/biting and jumping up of a puppy?

She's only just over 8 weeks so it may be to early to teach her. She is always so excited and wants to play and she grabs your hand, fingers, arm, feet and bites them.

Her little teeth are like needles!

She'll be sitting on the other side of the room or garden and if you move your feet or hands she'll come bounding up and punce on them. Very cute but also it hurts! We try to distract her with toys - which works for a bit and then soon as you move she's back at your feet. Or we say no but i dont think she's got the hang of that word yet.

I'd rather try to stop it sooner than later.

Edited May 26, 2010 by goldee

[koalathebear]

Hi there - we just had the same problem with Elbie and have received a lot of helpful comments here: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=194979. Perhaps you'll find something helpful there. It's a very recent thread so it might save everyone posting the same replies I've been going through and reading the puppy help threads and a HUGE number are from desperate puppy owners trying to stop their puppies biting so I'm sure the old hands must be getting weary of answering the same question

To our relief, Elbie has finally stopped his biting. He went balliastic for about two weeks and would not stop attacking and biting. We even had scratched faces and bitten lips and chins! Now, he's stopped biting although he still jumps up - but he's getting better.

Good luck!

Edited May 26, 2010 by koalathebear

[goldee]

Hi there - we just had the same problem with Elbie and have received a lot of helpful comments here: http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?showtopic=194979. Perhaps you'll find something helpful there. It's a very recent thread so it might save everyone posting the same replies I've been going through and reading the puppy help threads and a HUGE number are from desperate puppy owners trying to stop their puppies biting so I'm sure the old hands must be getting weary of answering the same question

oh thanks, i probably should have done a search!

Did any of it help yours?

[koalathebear]

Did any of it help yours?

I recommend you try the other methods of stopping your puppy from biting before you try the one that we ended up using when we were desperate. The other ones (discussed in more detail in the link above) are:

- yelping/yipping

- stopping play

- time outs

- grabbing by scruff of neck

etc etc.

Although none of those worked for us, many other people have had success. For us, we had to use a water spray bottle - which is something we really didn't want to do. It's not a good thing to use negative training techniques on a puppy, especially if the puppy is shy. Fortunately for us, Elbie's very confident and bouncy so a few sprays in the face were enough to deter him from doing it again. I think your puppy is too young for a water bottle

The risk with the water bottle is that your puppy could realise that as long as you don't have the water bottle, he has free rein to bite you Elbie's not like that - we were lucky that he seems to be deterred from the biting now even when we don't have the bottle to hand

Each puppy is different and different things work on different puppies.

Edited May 26, 2010 by koalathebear

[W Sibs]

8 weeks is not too young to start teaching her the rules.

With my pup... the boyfriend yelps, but with me, I give her a firm 'Uh huh' and then immediately stop playing. I won't touch her or acknowledge till she calms down again... then give her a chew toy or something she can chew on (because she is teething).

It's working for us. She hates being ignored from anyone... so she knows when we stop playing with her, she has gone too far.

[Miz J]

She's getting what she wants from you and thats a reaction, most pups do this and is horrible with those needle teeth. A sharp noise like a yelp or something similiar may work. As much as she is scratching and nipping, ignoring the behaviour is another option so she doesn't get a reaction. Stand up and don't let her get to your hands. You just need to try some of the good suggestions on here and see what works for you all.

I don't miss that at all, when Henry was a pup he was an absolute toe rag for nipping. We tried swapping the fingers or whatever for a toy to chew but all that taught him was that if he nipped he got a reward!!! Clever bugger. We decided to use a sharp noise then ignore it, as painful as it was for our teeny puncture wounds. It didnt take long, he soon learned that if he didn't nip he got to play. It was interesting to watch him with our older female. She would yelp when he bit and walked away turning her back on him till he calmed down, thats what prompted us. I guess she taught him about inhibiting bite too because we never had to do that.

They are all individual, try a few things and see what works but more importantly you all have to be consistent. Best of luck