NIPPING

Dixie is 4 months old, and he still nipping at me, I've tried everything. i say no in a firm voice, i left the room, stop playing with him, i have even given him his chew toys when he starts nipping. i just don't know what too do now.

please i need help!!!!!!

Have a read through the info sheet below which may help:

http://staffy-bull-terrier.co.uk/stopyourstaffypuppybiting.html

The link Kathy gave you has great info. The key is consistancy from everyone the pup comes into contact with.

still pretty young too, might need a bit more time to sort it out. puppies nip, not that it's OK, they have to learn not to. Jelly is getting there, she's nearly 7 months. just keep at it with the tips at the link and have patience.

Well, for a start, he's still very young. But it will get better!

When he nips/bites do you tell him "No" in a firm voice (not shouting)? Do you turn completely away from him & give him no interraction at all until he stops?

If you do the above (without fail each time) and he carries on, don't leave the room yourself! Firmly, but gently pick him up without a word & put him out of the room & shut the door for a couple of minutes. A subtle difference, but it reinforces the idea that you are the boss & it's you that's put him outside, not him that's driven you out.

Seriously, it will get better, but you need to be consistent & so does every other person who comes into contact with him.

She'll get there if you stay consistant with the training

Try putting butter on the back of your hand, she should lick rather than bite. This didn't work for me but worked for my husband so it's worth a try. I show Maggie the back of my hand and the minute she turns away I click and treat or just treat if you don't click. Someone else suggested putting the treat in your hand (in a fist), show the dog the back of your hand (which in theory she can't bite) and give the treat the minute she loses interest/turns her head away. Dixie looks gorgeous by the way

Caryll wrote:Well, for a start, he's still very young. But it will get better!

When he nips/bites do you tell him "No" in a firm voice (not shouting)? Do you turn completely away from him & give him no interraction at all until he stops?

If you do the above (without fail each time) and he carries on, don't leave the room yourself! Firmly, but gently pick him up without a word & put him out of the room & shut the door for a couple of minutes. A subtle difference, but it reinforces the idea that you are the boss & it's you that's put him outside, not him that's driven you out.

Seriously, it will get better, but you need to be consistent & so does every other person who comes into contact with him.

Sorry Caryl I don't agree with this advice, first saying "No" in a firm voice to a dog you are joining in the game, also it is negative, dogs and pups do better if we give them something to do but that isn't always possible.

Picking him up is not a good idea, it is very scary for a dog to be picked up, most dogs learn to accept it but many don't and will bite if you pick them up, I fostered a 6 year old dog who would bite if you picked him up, he never learnt that he doesn't need to be frightened of it.

To help us understand our pups and dogs, get down to their level and get an adult to stand over you as if they are going to pick you up, I felt very threatened when someone done that to me. Also seeing all those legs and feet walking past close to me was also very frightening.

Over the years I have found that turning my back on a nipping pup and putting them out of the room didn't work, it seemed to at first but then there was very little consequence for the bad behaviour so my pup started to do it again. What did work was walking out of the room and leaving the pup on his own, pups, especially Staffies, dodn't like being left on their own. I count to 10 then walk back in, if the nipping continues out I go again. I continue like this until the pup stops. The most times I have every heard of was the owner going out of the room 10 times, that was for a young adult dog who had learnt that nipping works.

As you say, consistancy works, it has to be done every time and not when you feel like it. It doesn't matter what is on the tv or how comfortable you are, if you get nipped out you go for the count of 10. Pups soon learn that there are consequences to his nipping, he is left on his own and as he worked it out for himself the message seems to get into their brains better.

Dogs, especially pups, don't have a long attention span, if you leave being outside more than the count to 10 he won't associate being left on his own with the nipping so there is no point in going out of the room. A lot of owners fail because they stay out too long.

As to being the boss, I don't want to boss my dogs, I find that far too stressful to me as well as my dogs. I do need to have house rules which everyone, including myself, has to obey. As their owner it is my duty to teach my dogs to live in our society, to understand some of our words and to keep them fit and healthy. My dogs are dogs first and my family second, I have to respect that they are dogs and can only behave like dogs while I am teaching them to live in our society.

Cyril baby wrote:
Sorry Caryl I don't agree with this advice, first saying "No" in a firm voice to a dog you are joining in the game, also it is negative, dogs and pups do better if we give them something to do but that isn't always possible.

Picking him up is not a good idea, it is very scary for a dog to be picked up, most dogs learn to accept it but many don't and will bite if you pick them up, I fostered a 6 year old dog who would bite if you picked him up, he never learnt that he doesn't need to be frightened of it.

To help us understand our pups and dogs, get down to their level and get an adult to stand over you as if they are going to pick you up, I felt very threatened when someone done that to me. Also seeing all those legs and feet walking past close to me was also very frightening.

Over the years I have found that turning my back on a nipping pup and putting them out of the room didn't work, it seemed to at first but then there was very little consequence for the bad behaviour so my pup started to do it again. What did work was walking out of the room and leaving the pup on his own, pups, especially Staffies, dodn't like being left on their own. I count to 10 then walk back in, if the nipping continues out I go again. I continue like this until the pup stops. The most times I have every heard of was the owner going out of the room 10 times, that was for a young adult dog who had learnt that nipping works.

As you say, consistancy works, it has to be done every time and not when you feel like it. It doesn't matter what is on the tv or how comfortable you are, if you get nipped out you go for the count of 10. Pups soon learn that there are consequences to his nipping, he is left on his own and as he worked it out for himself the message seems to get into their brains better.

Dogs, especially pups, don't have a long attention span, if you leave being outside more than the count to 10 he won't associate being left on his own with the nipping so there is no point in going out of the room. A lot of owners fail because they stay out too long.

As to being the boss, I don't want to boss my dogs, I find that far too stressful to me as well as my dogs. I do need to have house rules which everyone, including myself, has to obey. As their owner it is my duty to teach my dogs to live in our society, to understand some of our words and to keep them fit and healthy. My dogs are dogs first and my family second, I have to respect that they are dogs and can only behave like dogs while I am teaching them to live in our society.

I'm sorry, but I really have to disagree with you on several aspects here. Firstly, we're not talking about an adult dog, we're talking about a pup that is used to being picked up. Saying "No" isn't joining in any game as long as you totally ignore the pup afterwards until it is calm. If you walk out, you have reacted negatively to the nipping - the dog has forced you to leave a room in your own house! Not on, in my opinion. Putting the dog out of the room may be negative reinforcement, but it shows the pup that it is not dictating to you when & where play occurs (because in 99% of the time nipping is just a pup's way of playing).

I am not a fan of the whole 'pack leader' nonsence either, but you still have to be in charge. A dog must understand that there are times when your word is law & he must comply immediately - for the pup's safety as well as possibly other people's). Yes, you're right, they are dogs and must live like dogs, not hairy humans, but they must also live within my family's rules (just as my kids have to!).

Caryll wrote:
I'm sorry, but I really have to disagree with you on several aspects here. Firstly, we're not talking about an adult dog, we're talking about a pup that is used to being picked up. Saying "No" isn't joining in any game as long as you totally ignore the pup afterwards until it is calm. If you walk out, you have reacted negatively to the nipping - the dog has forced you to leave a room in your own house! Not on, in my opinion. Putting the dog out of the room may be negative reinforcement, but it shows the pup that it is not dictating to you when & where play occurs (because in 99% of the time nipping is just a pup's way of playing).

I am not a fan of the whole 'pack leader' nonsence either, but you still have to be in charge. A dog must understand that there are times when your word is law & he must comply immediately - for the pup's safety as well as possibly other people's). Yes, you're right, they are dogs and must live like dogs, not hairy humans, but they must also live within my family's rules (just as my kids have to!).

I do love a good discussion.

It doesn't matter if it is an adult or a puppy, dogs still learn the same, you are assuming that the pup is used to being picked up, even if he is doesn't mean the pup likes being picked up. We can't see what is happening so can't assume anything.

No the pup hasn't forced you out of the room, it is your choice to go out and leave the pup on his own, by picking him up even if you don't speak he is getting attention, when you walk out he gets nothing only being left on his own.

When dealing with our dogs and pups we need to try and think how they do, when nipping they are playing, it is how pups play, they are not trying to force us out of the room, they want us to stay with them so they can continue to play, if we go out of the room there is nobody for them to play with.

Bearing in mind how we use the word "No", no you can't watch the tv, no you can't play out, no you can't take that toy off your brother, etc, it takes us a long time to teach our children that "No" means all that and a lot more but dogs don't speak English so how can they understand what it means?

Think how we say the word when our pup is doing something he shouldn't, we jump up saying "No", if we get nipped we say "No" in a higher voice than usual because the nip hurt, to a pup it can look like we are coming to join in the game and the word is short and sharp like a bark.

It depends on what you mean by "Being in charge", my dogs can tell the difference between me meaning what I say and half meaning it. If I mean it they do what I have asked immediately, if I only half mean it they take there time. When we teach our dog something we get them into the habit of doing something when they hear a word, take "Sit", if we teach this in the kitchen we have to teach it again in the living room, hall, garden etc. we get our dog into the habit of sitting when we say the word. If when we are teaching the sit and the dog is slow, we repeat the word we are teaching him that he sits the second time not the first, this is more obvious with recall, I often see dogs that will only go back to their owner when they call 2 or 3 times. So to teach our dogs to be obedient we need to get them into the habit of doing what we want as soon as we say the word, this is good training and has nothing to do with being the boss, in charge etc. The better we teach them the safer they will be.