We should have called her Nipper

Well Chloe is nipping most of the time. We have tried tapping nose, putting her out, ignoring her, putting a rope toy in her mouth . . But she then barks at you, more so if you point your finger at her. She also has a habit of grabbing your clothes and not letting go - My son is her main target as he's the most vulnerable/sensitive and doesn't find it easy telling her off. We are getting a collection of clothes with teeth holes in them

Do you have any tips on what to try, what we're doing wrong?

Oh no!!!!!
Its so fustrating isnt it!!!!

With Ruby every time she nipped we made a high pitched "OUCH" then turned our back on her. Staffies hate being ignored!!!! It took time but eventually she stopped. If you have tried this and still no change..you cand get compressed air, when Chloe bites press it near her (definatly not in her face) and it should shock her to stop xxxx

hope ive helped a little bit, keep me updated xx

Me, Ruby and Beau xxxxx

It's good to hear they genrally all go through it. It bloomin hurts too When we scream and turn our backs, she usually just bites again!!

Compressed air . . Would never of said that. Just a short sharp shock (wow, try saying that when you've had a few) . . will be trying that.

Thank you, I'll definitely update you xx

MrsS wrote:Well Chloe is nipping most of the time. We have tried tapping nose, putting her out, ignoring her, putting a rope toy in her mouth . . But she then barks at you, more so if you point your finger at her. She also has a habit of grabbing your clothes and not letting go - My son is her main target as he's the most vulnerable/sensitive and doesn't find it easy telling her off. We are getting a collection of clothes with teeth holes in them

Do you have any tips on what to try, what we're doing wrong?

Tapping the nose won't work, you'll just make her head shy & she'll duck away from your hand & continue to nip!

Putting her out, just on its own won't really teach her anything. It needs to be a last resort.

This is the way to go...see notes at the bottom.

Giving her a toy to chew on is just rewarding her for biting!

You really need to say "Nooo!" firmly & in a low voice. Then turn away & totally ignore - no eye contact, no talking. And keep turning away every time she tries to get your attention. Then if she keeps on, don't say a word, but pick her up & put her out of the room, or in her crate if you use one. Don't give any attention until she's calm again, and then let her back in.

Watch for over excitement in play, because that's what will often start the nipping off, and stop before it gets to that stage.

Thanks for your input . . When we've been saying no or ouch and turn away, she is continuing to bite clothing and not letting go until I physically open her mouth. I thought the crate wasn't to be used as a punishment?

It is over-excitement sometimes, however more often than not she does it before you start playing.

MrsS wrote:Thanks for your input . . When we've been saying no or ouch and turn away, she is continuing to bite clothing and not letting go until I physically open her mouth. I thought the crate wasn't to be used as a punishment?

It is over-excitement sometimes, however more often than not she does it before you start playing.

Putting her in the crate isn't punishment as long as you're not telling her off or doing it angrily. If you just calmly pick her up & put her there, she should start to settle & calm down as it's her 'den'.

I'm afraid there are no quick ways of stopping it. It's a really normal thing for a pup to do - it's the way they play with their siblings. They just have to be taught that it isn't acceptable with humans. Honestly, if you all keep at it, she will improve & will eventually stop completely.

Also, is she teething? If so, you'll find that once her gums settle down, she'll nip less. Give her some frozen bananas or carrots to chew on to ease her gums and maybe she won't want to chew on you quite so much!

Thats fab, i'll start straight away. Don't get me wrong, I realise she's a pup and it'll take time, but it's up to us to show her right and wrong (it's like having a 3rd child lol).

Not sure about teething but she is at vets on Thursday, so will have a word.

The problem with pups is their teeth are like bl*ody needles!

But it will stop.........really!

So I need padded gloves and ear plugs I can't wait for life with her.

I've got both! (but the ear plugs are cause the oh snores! )

Agree with Caryll completly. Also sit down with everyone in the house and let them all know this is what to do. This way there is consistency and your pup won't get confused.

At 4 months she is probally begining to teeth so have plenty of frozen treats around to help her out.

I totally sympathise with you, we are going through exactly the same thing with Max, it's a nightmare and yep it flipping hurts too xx we are doing the time out in the crate and it is working very slowly. He is worse when he is over excited too so we will look out for that also x

Our pup Paddy made our daughter cry earlier by nipping her. It broke my heart. But know it's an ongoing thing to teach them. I shall watch here for help too!

Vlad lived up to his name for the first 3-4 weeks we had him! Only really went for my husband's hands, but he was a biter... he would get over excited and would just bite or nip. Thank fully, he has all but stopped this. We did what a few people have done on here. We would say "OUCH!" the "NO!" and either walk away from him or ignore him. If he persisted, we did the time out thing... we would put him either in his play pen or outside for a couple of minutes. He got the idea. Our little Vlad the Impaler!

"yep.... little pickle blue eyes what a cute litte dog his eyes are so blue .. oh look hes coming over to get a pat ... oh sh@t... dude your dog just nipped me ARgggh dude hes still doing it help me for the love of gods help me!"

yes went through that.

seemed like a never ending battle tried everything

My key flossafy with all animals and ive worked with trained dolphins.. is to try to think like that animal... or should i say try not to think like a human

Understand the nature of the best and the best is soon tamed



all the advice is good on this post but the best piece of advice comes from wait for it ...(sarge rip open an evelope) da da da daaaa.....

Carryl
"You really need to say "Nooo!" firmly & in a low voice. Then turn away & totally ignore - no eye contact, no talking. And keep turning away every time she tries to get your attention. Then if she keeps on, don't say a word, but pick her up & put her out of the room"

Your puppy nipping you is ALLLLL about attention... she is trying to...

a. find her place in your pack
b. trying to MAKE you play with her.

she would luv nothing more than to have you all rooling around the floor play fighting and dragging each other up and down the hall by the neck.

watch two young dogs play fight ...
they nip each other darting about looking for that opening scoring that tag... like two boxers

when she nips you its not so much about aggresion as it is interacion... she is totally unaware that you are a soft skinned human that uses your hands for affectionate interaction.

She is a hard skinned sharp toothed dog that uses her teeth to show affection...

so must definatly show her you love her by dominating her..... yes i said dominating her.....

with nipping the best and fastest whay to stop puppies from nipping is to do what carryl said... while they are small ignore them ... take all the enerygy away from trying to stop her and use it to ignore her with great disdain... in your best sounding alpha male voice command her to stop.

Or pick her up and remove her from the situation instantly say "UTTTT noooo bad!" leash her and sit down and make her sit next to you.

its all about energy... as the smallest pack member she needs to learn that YOU control her energy YOU control the love YOU control the food YOU control wether she lives or dies.

dogs NEED to be dominated with love and food... if your dog believes he is part of YOUR pack not the otherway around then you will have a gentle obediant amstaff.

it worked for me

sorry for the big post ive been told before that i have more wind in my sails than a fat dutch trading ship in the bahamas in 1700'z

but a small cute amstaff puppy that nips has the potential to become a fully grown something else.

(heres where the little winking emoticon would go if i knew how to do that lol)

bukketfulls of luck

OMG....I remember this stage extremely well.

It was as if I was reading about myself and my girl when she was a lil' thing.

I feel your pain ( pardon the pun ) I was at my witts end with RoXy and her nipping. I tried all of the suggested methods to get her to stop, but they did'nt seem to work for us.
Ignoring never worked for us, she would continue to jump and nip and follow us around. In the end I had a "tie-out line" for when we were in the yard, and a lead attached to my HEAVY entertainment unit inside........when the nipping and behaviour got too out of control and she would not listen to us to stop I would attach her to the lead or line depending where we were, tell her "NO" and then ignore her for a few minutes ..... she was'nt able to continue or follow us, and I could successfully Ignore her. After a few minutes she was let off again, if the nipping started up again we would repeat the above steps until she got the message.
I must stress, she was never left alone while chained, and it was only for a few minutes at a time. She could still see us ( although we were ignoring her ) and we knew that she was safe also.

Good luck with the little nipper and keep us posted. It can be a very frustrating time, but with hard work and consistence I hope you find a method which works in your situation.

Thank you ALL sooooo much for your posts, advice etc. I've not had much spare time to come on and reply however I have been doing everything that you lovely people suggested.

Since the weekend, she got her 'freedom' (10 days after last injections) and has been fantastic. She's really calmed the nipping down - only doing it when my son winds her up!!!!! and it seems like there IS light at the end of the tunnel. We've just got back from our morning walk and she will be asleep for a couple of hrs at least - i'm such a proud mummy

Glad to hear things are improving. Proper exercise is so important for them it really does help with alot of the behaviour issues.

She's always been a good dog, however she was definitely ready as it's taken alot of that excess energy away. We would be lost sometimes without this site to take tips and advice from

I remember that stage all too well but can assure you that if you heed Caryll's advice you will get through it. For teething, I put all the chew toys in the freezer and rotated them for him to chew on. This seemed to work.

Milly wa the same with us when she was younger she would nip us and those puppy teeth are like needles.I asked for advice on how to stop this behavoiur.And caryll and janey give me advice on what to do and it worked its true they dont like it when you turn your back on them.They realy do crave human attension i still use the it now with her when she has been naughty and it works.