Puppy biting hands and feet!

z.n

moonbabe58 wrote: »

With our lab pup the best way we found of getting her to stop nibbling on us like she would naturally do to her siblings is to mimic the noise she would make if something hurt. It stops her right away and we then introduce a toy for her to chew on instead. Our pup also loves cuddly toys, she will nibble on those in the same way she would with another dog.

We did this as well and it works. Don't use aversion techniques on a puppy- you will just store up so many potential problems for the future such as fear aggression. Aversion techniques are for sorting out a major problem when training has gone wrong. You are nowhwhere near that territory yet.

The puppy just needs to learn human and can be expected to make mistakes through ignorance of the human rules and/or over excitement. Maintain a calm attitude as any excitement from you will increase the puppy's exciability. You don't even have to speak or say their name-some dogs get way too excited by their family's voices. That is where positive reward training comes in. eg ignore the puppy if they are nibbling and calmly praise a lick or a calm sit. Get along to a clicker training class for socialisation with other dogs.

We have taught ours the word Gentle as well- say it when they lick rather than nibble. Pretty soon you can ask them to be gentle before the nibble happens- comes in handy when meeting new people as you can tell the dog what is expected of them in a way they understand.

I am not expert but have got a hyper-reactive GSD so have had to work out the best way to communicate with her and calmness is the key. Took me ages to work it out though.