Nipping at 1 year old!!

Hi everyone,

Joey is now 13 month old. He knows all basic commands such as sit, stay, leave etc but he still, hasnt mastered nipping or toilet training. We have been training him since we got him at 5 weeks old. We got him at 5 weeks due to irresponsible breeding. We did get to the point where he had started to just mouth without hurting and were training him out of it altogether but lately he seems to have gone back. He started playing with my 7 year old today and at first he was fine just giving kisses, then all of a sudden he nipped her ear but held on and pulled. He stopped as soon as we said "enough" but she was quite upset as it hurt. There were no puncture marks but there was little dents in her ear from his teeth. When the kids had gone to bed I started playing with him and he kept nipping my arm. It never used to hurt but now it does. When i said enough he stopped i ended up with bruising for a few days after.
We tried going back to the yelping we had done when he was a puppy, just ignoring him, time out etc but nothing has worked this time. He does not seem to do it to people he meets on walks though. I always warn people when they ask to stroke him but when they do he's lovely, he still jumps up at them but not at their faces anymore and there has been no nipping.
Just don't know what to do its not aggression its when he is excited. He is ok for a short while but then can;t seem to help himself.
As for toilet training iv'e been training him since we got him and started off with puppy pads. Then outside every half an hour and if i caught him doing it in the house i said no and out him outside. I have always used the word "toilet" when i put him out so he knows to go. When i say it he goes but he is still doing it in the house and their is no warning. Last night he was lying on the sofa, got up and peed straight away.
Other than this he is a good dog, just need to iron out a few kinks so if anyone has some advice it would be appreciated. Thank you

How much exersize does he get?

An hours walk every day plus lots of playtime with me and my partner through the day. It would be better if i could let him off the lead to get a proper run but his recall has lapsed a bit lately and because of the nipping i wouldnt want to risk it with other people.

What do you feed? x

We've got him on a raw food diet. We tried James well beloved when he was younger for six month because he was really hyper but it didn't make any difference so we switched him back and continued training.

Hmmm... He's in that teenage phase. My guess is that he will try and push some boundaries. The nipping does sound like play and it looks like you're doing the right thing there.

Keep consistent with the no's and I'm sure you will get there. As for the weeing, I think you need to watch for the signs and get him outside ASAP.. If you get him out before he does it inside then it's lots of praise and treats.

It is trying at that age but you will get things going good... Its Just gonna test your patience.

-Ian- wrote:Hmmm... He's in that teenage phase. My guess is that he will try and push some boundaries. The nipping does sound like play and it looks like you're doing the right thing there.

Keep consistent with the no's and I'm sure you will get there. As for the weeing, I think you need to watch for the signs and get him outside ASAP.. If you get him out before he does it inside then it's lots of praise and treats.

It is trying at that age but you will get things going good... Its Just gonna test your patience.

Agree with the teenage phase. Just stick with the basics like you are and be consistant and patient and he will get through it. For the nipping do you do any rough play with him or are any of the incidents occuring when you are on the floor? If so these may be causing the behaviour as these are signs to encourage play.

Our Oscar is a year old at the end of the month and we have had this quite alot, hes my first dog so i didnt know how much of it is normal so i had a behaviourist come and see him, his opinion is that he was just playing and geting far to excited and boistrous with a bit of a bullying aspect, sort of like ' no u will play with me actualy' attitude and he needed to learn that it was not acceptable to go that far with us. On his advice we have been giving him a very stern No and straight for a time out every time and on good behaviour plenty of praise and positive training. I must admit i somtimes feel bit over whelmed with him cus he is very exitable and did worry about it becoming aggresive but i am seeing the behaviour slowly changing now and am more at ease knowing that although its still unwanted behaviour it probably isnt aggresion and will improve with consistant training. Im not very experienced so prob not great at giving advice but thought you may feel better knowing your not the only one to of had this little monkeys arent they lol x

Thank you Michelle1429 they are lol I have seen a bit of improvement lately so just gunna keep going with the training. Joey is my first aswell so not sure about a lot of things but he is a very loving dog just very excitable. Good luck with oscar xx