Nipping & Aggression -- Charlie 10 week old

[Eric & Joey]

OK, so house training and crate training is going great...Charlie's (10 week old) even ringing the bells to go out.

Now, our biggest issue is she is nipping at all of us, even when we give her chew toys. When "NO" doesn't work I've tried the water gun. Seems to be the best so far.

Also, she tends to get aggresive at times with me...my guess is she's trying to see who is the Alpha dog (from my 2 episodes of Dog Whisperer...). I try and stay calm put my hand in front of her in a semi-crouched position and say "NO", "HEY", or "SHH". It makes her retreat...but not surrendor.

Does anybody gone through this? Any advice??

Thanks so much,

Eric & Joey

[Riverkatie]

Ok, nipping at this age is great! Honestly!

The biggest danger is a dog that never nipped as a puppy. This is because you never get to teach then to have a soft mouth. They grow up and all is well. then one day one of the kids falls headlong over them and the dog (who never learnt bite inhibition as a puppy) turns and bites.
The same scenario with a dog who learnt bite inhibition turns and inhibits that bite, no matter how shocked and surprised she is.

However we do not want the puppy biting for ever, so what do we do?

First thing is we don't put adult dog scenarios into puppy minds. No 10 week old puppy is trying to be the alpha dog. Honestly. The pup really truly does not want to be top dog right now. Now with the same problem at 18 months....

However Charlie is 10 weeks old. She nips and bites because that is what puppies do, this is how they play, and it is a real opportunity for you to teach a soft mouth. Other little puppies are the best thing in the world for this, so sign up for an off lead puppy class if you can.
At home never let her bite clothes, they cannot feel so you do not know how hard she is biting. Have you taught her what 'off' actually means? She will not 'off' it you do not first teach her the word!
If she nips and it is only mouthing let her at this age. We want her to learn to mouth gently. If she nips then 'ouch!". She comes back for more? "Ouch, you rotter! I'm not playing anymore" and leave the room for a few seconds, then back and make up "sit, down, take it, off" Lets play again! More mouthing, nipping....repeat and repeat. This is a little puppy, it takes a few times around the block to get it. Kids, of course are great at this, they do it instinctively!

Remember dogs do not speak English (or spanish, hebrew or any other language) unless we teach them what the word means, so if you want her to let go of your clothing, teach her that when you say 'off' it means 'take your teeth right off whatever you have them on right now!'

A free training video that might help

Teaching Bite Inhibition | Dog Star Daily

Hope all this helps.

[Riverkatie]

A bit more for later...as Charlie gets older you get ever more sensitive. Until in the end charlie thinks, "gosh my humans are so sensitive, i am going to have to play bite so very gently" and then you have it, a soft mouth and an inhibited bite. Now you train her to stop playing with her mouth on your skin. There are lots of other games to play....teach her some of those!

[deepnite10]

good advise from katie..

pups mouth to play and show affection..we have our hands which we use to play and show affection..dogs mouth...

as mention d, mouthing develope the limits of their bite..

when Toby was a pup he d mouth he d mouth..and now he won t even bite down, choosing to lick instead..