Dog keeps nipping

toocleverbyhalf

Can anyone advise me? I have an 8 month old Labrador who nips constantly. He pulls my clothes & when I stroke him he tries to turn his head to nip me. I could understand this when he had baby teeth, but he's now got all his adult teeth and I'm scared he'll do some damage. I give him plenty of chews & toys but he seems to prefer my hand and arm!! Any advice? Thanks

bedpotato_2

Personally I always found that puppy teeth hurt more than adult teeth. They're so very sharp!

The best way to train a dog out of any undesirable behaviour is to respond to it by withdrawing your attention when it does what you don't want it to do. Dogs want attention and company. They love being fussed and stroked and played with. Hence, the way to stop play biting is to just stand up and walk away when it happens.

Do NOT look at the dog when ignoring him. Do NOT talk to him. Act as if he isn't even there. Do something all on your own, an activity that doesn't involve him - such as washing up. He may bark and whine and jump up at you or whatever, but just ignore him until he quietens down. Then, when he's calmed down, go back and sit with him and stroke him again - but make sure YOU are the one deciding to do this, and make sure you are not going back to him when he's whining. Otherwise, he will reason that the result of whining is that you come back. He needs to learn that the result of whining is that you carry on ignoring him. Hence, he will learn to settle down.

When he's quiet and you go back for more play or cuddles, as soon as he bites you again, repeat the process and stand up and walk away again. He'll soon get the message that biting = isolation, no company and end of play time.

This way of training dogs out of bad behaviour is much more effective than punishment. Punishment is giving them attention. it may be negative attention, but it's still attention. If the dog bites you and you react by yelling: "no, bad dog" then the dog sees it like this: he's got a positive result because at least you gave him some attention. From his point of view, you are interacting with the dog and not getting up and walking away. In fact, if you react to play biting by shouting or scolding, the dog is likely to think that his initiation of a play fight has been interpreted by you as a challenge, and escalated to a REAL fight. Hence, it may just train him to bite even more, and become genuinely aggressive as opposed to just playfully aggressive - which is why so many dogs are aggressive. When they play bite, their stupid owners are always yelling at them or squirting them with water or giving them a smack, which is merely reinforcing the instinct of aggression. A lot of dogs attack humans because they've been (unintentionally) trained by their ignorant owners to think humans are aggressive, and represent a threat. So, I repeat: the best way to train dogs out of undesirable behaviour is always to WITHDRAW YOUR ATTENTION.

HTH

toocleverbyhalf

Many thanks for taking the time to reply.
I've just done what you suggested, and he looked really puzzled when I walked away! I'm hoping that the message will sink in with repetition.
I also think its time he was castrated, the vet said to wait till he was a year old, but I've had dogs in the past & they were done about this age. I didn't want to use this as a cure all to behavioural problems. Is there a reason why it can't be done now?

Fire_Fox

It's well worth watching a few episodes of 'It's me or the Dog' which you should be able to find online.

david39

When puppies grow up together they mouth-play with each other. That is to say they gently nip each other. When the nip is hard enough to hurt, the recipient lets out a sharp squeal and looks alarmed.

This is how a puppy learns with how much pressure it can nip without causing distress - nipping is the way a dog warns others they are doing somethiung it does not like once they have ignored the more passive signals.

In the absence of its siblings, the puppy is practicing on you and the way to stop it is to react as if you are another puppy. When it hurts you, let out an exaggerated cry and pull the foot/leg/hand away and rub it, to show you have been hurt. Make the cry loud enough to startle the puppy. If the puppy is only gently mouthing you, ignore this and let it get on with it.

Once the puppy gets the hang of it, it will soon stop doing it altogether and it will have learned the difference between a gentle warning and a full scale nip.

This nipping is an important part of the dog's development. If you do not handle it correctly, the dog will grow up not knowing its own strength regarding nipping humans and could quite easily damage a child or even yourself if you tug a knot with a grooming comb or accidentally tread on a paw.

toocleverbyhalf

That's what's concerning me: he may hurt a child. I used to squeal loudly when he had his baby teeth & it seemed to work. I'll try that again. Thank you.