# Best way to stop/correct a puppy from nipping??



## snoop (Feb 24, 2011)

Hi, so I got my new German Shepherd pup yesterday, he is only 7.5 weeks old and today he has been nipping really hard. He bited my hands, arms, legs, tables, bed, crate etc, lol.

I have lots of different kinds of toys but he still nips a lot. What's the best way to stop him from doing this and the best way to correct him when he does it?

Thanks.


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

Puppies bite, that's what they do. They explore their world with their mouth just like a baby and you wouldn't complain or correct a baby for putting everything in his mouth, so don't do it to your puppy either.

All you can really do is keep shoving toys in his mouth every time he gets near and wait it out. He will stop biting on his own by around 6 months of age. So what if you get bitten from time to time when you aren't fast enough with the toy? You got a puppy and biting goes with it.


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## Holmeshx2 (Apr 25, 2010)

Best thing is to stuff a toy in his mouth when his teeth are on your flesh. Don't just hand him the toy actually engage and play with it praising him when he plays with the toy and give him a simple "eh ehh" when his teeth are on you.

Also, this will help SOME but you're still going to get bit they will grow out of it. Jinx was done around 4 months and trust me I thought we had no end in sight then one day she stopped nailing my legs then a bit later she stopped the hands and no longer bites us (unless we are rough housing with her)

She used to chase us into the kitchen and nail the backs of our ankles constantly definitely invest in band aids and maybe some wine to keep calm until it passes lol.


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## JeffM (Dec 19, 2005)

Redirect with a toy as much as possible, but as Elaine said, they do it and it was the toughest stage we had to deal with hahaha.


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## snoop (Feb 24, 2011)

Thanks


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## CLARKE-DUNCAN (Apr 8, 2011)

snoop said:


> Hi, so I got my new German Shepherd pup yesterday, he is only 7.5 weeks old and today he has been nipping really hard. He bited my hands, arms, legs, tables, bed, crate etc, lol.
> 
> I have lots of different kinds of toys but he still nips a lot. What's the best way to stop him from doing this and the best way to correct him when he does it?
> 
> Thanks.


Apparently you should make a squeal just like his litter mates would, when the game got to rough! And then you should ignore him for a few minutes untill he gets the idea that he is being to rough with you! Like others have said he should grow out of it!


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## Holmeshx2 (Apr 25, 2010)

the squeel doesn't always work. The first few times we did it Jinx would back off then when she caught on to the "game" we would squeel and she'd bite harder as if she was going to really give us a reason to scream lol.


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## BGSD (Mar 24, 2011)

Holmeshx2 said:


> the squeel doesn't always work. The first few times we did it Jinx would back off then when she caught on to the "game" we would squeel and she'd bite harder as if she was going to really give us a reason to scream lol.


Exactly. Mine does this too. Now I have to carry around a spray bottle and give him a little mist of water when he gets too rough.


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## PaddyD (Jul 22, 2010)

All good advice about. They aren't called Land Sharks for nothing. Your pup is very young, don't hold it against him for being normal. It could take a few months to get past the mouthing phase, be patient. Our dog was very mouthy and she still is at 22 months, but she learned bite control and never bears down. Young pups' teeth are very sharp so keep band-aids handy. For us the loud squeal worked pretty well but a pup is a pup and you have to be more persistent than them. Not an easy thing.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

there's no correcting a 7.5 week old pup. puppies nip,
some longer than others. i remember when my dog was
6 months old. i was sitting at the computer. my dog was walking down the
hallway. as he neared me he moved over and nipped my knee and kept walking. it was a "walk by nip". he had plenty of room
to pass without nipping me.

i don't know if this is the best way to help with the nipping
but this is what i did. everytime my dog nipped i pulled him back
by some neck fur and said "no biting". then i would rub his mouth.
if he nipped again (which he always did) i did the same thing again.
if he didn't nip i praised and petted him. now that i think about
it my method didn't work that well. don't worry he'll grow out of it.
enjoy the pup.


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## Germanshepherdlova (Apr 16, 2011)

CLARKE-DUNCAN said:


> Apparently you should make a squeal just like his litter mates would, when the game got to rough! And then you should ignore him for a few minutes untill he gets the idea that he is being to rough with you! Like others have said he should grow out of it!


I agree with this advice, that is how we taught our dog when he was a pup to stop nipping so hard!

The first day we brought Brutus home, the kids were so excited, and eager to play with him. He had vomited on me on the way home, so upon arriving home, I went to take a shower . When I got out of the shower, my kids were climbed up on the couch, huddled together, with a terrified look on their faces, I said, "Whats wrong?" and they both said, this puppy won't stop biting us! We could never pet him without him nipping. Every time we walked across the floor, he would charge at us and nip the back of our heels. Needless to say, there wasn't a pair of socks in the house that didn't have a hole in the heel! It took a lot of patience, but we finally got him to stop after a few months.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

my GF was doing Yoga one day. she was laying
on the floor. i heard her say "don't pull my hair",
don't bite my nose", "don't bite my arm", "ouch, don't
bite my foot". ROTFL. oh yeah, the huge exercise
ball she was usuing (it's the size of 2 beach balls all in one)
well he took care of that. ROTFL.



PaddyD said:


> All good advice about. They aren't called Land Sharks for nothing. Your pup is very young, don't hold it against him for being normal. It could take a few months to get past the mouthing phase, be patient. Our dog was very mouthy and she still is at 22 months, but she learned bite control and never bears down. Young pups' teeth are very sharp so keep band-aids handy. For us the loud squeal worked pretty well but a pup is a pup and you have to be more persistent than them. Not an easy thing.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

to your pup you and everything in your house is a chew toy, something to
rip or nip, scratch, knock over, shred, etc. you have to crate them
and when they're not crated you have to watch them with
eyes of a Hawk.


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## CarrieJ (Feb 22, 2011)

Aw...the little fish hooks in the mouth....landsharks.

I would pull my hand away quickly and say "OW!!!" loud. When she stops biting...give up a chewy set of keys or little toy of some sort. I didn't like cloth as she was growing I wanted her to get the picture of what were her toys vs. cloth draperies..sweaters, socks, etc.
Dogs really don't generalize so it can be difficult for them at a very young age to separate dog toy cloth from my dishtowels.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Here you go: http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/training-our-puppy-basic/134407-teaching-bite-inhibition.html


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