Words of encouragement for those with nippers / biters...

[Anne]

I just wanted to post a quick note with words of encouragement for those with puppies like mine.  From the time we got my goldendoodle, Rocky, at 8 weeks, he was such a mouthy/nippy/bitey little guy.  I would guess his teeth were on me 50-100 times a day!  Sometimes gently, sometimes rough (I have a few holes in my jacket!).  I tried the can with coins, yelping like a puppy, "NO", time out.  Nothing seemed to help.  But I think my problem was that I was trying everything.. and nothing consistently.  There were also times when I just didn't have the energy to react and let him do it gently.  Anyway, long story short, on the advice of my trainer, I was determined to be consistent and decided to put him in a time out EVERY SINGLE time his teeth touched me.  I even set up a time out spot outside (attaching his leash to swing set).  I have been doing this for about a week and the results are dramatic.  I think he only was in a time out 2 times yesterday and it was only for very gentle mouthing.  I'm so relieved as I was very concerned about this problem!   By the way, Rocky is just over 4.5 months old.  Good luck!

[Gwyndolyn Morasko]

Kona just turned 5 months and he is still biting me a lot, but not drawing blood as often.  I'll sure be glad when his baby canines are gone in a few weeks!  About one week ago, I taught him the command "Off!" by giving him a little treat every time he backed off and looked at me after that command.  So I'm able to get him to stop biting me very quickly with that command, but it doesn't last very long.  He thinks I'm just in my training mode and he's doing a cute trick by backing off.  Then he goes back in to bite more. 

I guess I need to stop giving him treats and take him out for time out if he returns to bite my hand after that first "Off". 

(I must admit that it gets very exhausting being 100% consistent with the time outs!  Sometimes, I just want to rest!)