Great news and much needed advice

[Alex Preble]

Today I took home my little girl!!! I cried with happiness upon seeing her! But she is a nipper. How do I stop that?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Well, all puppies nip, and we have all kinds of info here about dealing with that. It's rare that it comes up the first day you have the pup, though. Is she younger than 8 weeks old? 

[Alex Preble]

She is 7 weeks old, the mom was having issues so they let me take her early.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Which is going to greatly work against you with the nipping, because between 6 and 8 weeks, puppies learn bite inhibition from their mothers and/or littermates, one reason that it is actually against the law to sell or transfer ownership of a puppy before the age of 8 weeks in many states, including OK. An experienced breeder ought to have known how to deal with any "issues" the mother might be having.  Not much you can do about that now, though. 

I know what to do about this in an older pup, but with a 7 week old, I'm really not sure. Have a lot of chew objects to put in her mouth when she starts nipping. With an older pup, you let out a high pitched "Ow!" when she nips you and immediately stop engaging with her. Time outs work with older pups when they get nippy, too. I would talk to the vet about it when you take her in for an initial check, which I'm assuming will be within the next couple of days. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

And do not play tug of war or any games with her where you encourage her to grab or pull something away from you. 

[Adina P]

I like Ian Dunbar's puppy training to work with baby nippers.

[Sally M]

I guess we were fortunate with Penny. She never nipped or mouthed us. Yet, her brother (which my friend has) did mouth and nip and somethings still does (not so much now). Both Penny and her brother were adopted later when they were nearly 3 months old. 7 weeks is extremely young. She may be nipping out of fear; being away from her mother and littermates. May I ask? What were the issues the mother was having?

[Lynda Kamrath]

I would say to have a lot of things you want her to chew and give her one whenever she mouths you.  She just needs to learn that there are things she can have in her mouth and one of them is not you.  I would just say "Ahhh, Ahhh" and pull away my hand when she nips it.  My ALD was a nipper and he was not taken away from his mother early.  He was also a chewer and chewed on everything.  My husband found out that he did not like tabasco sauce and bought some large bottles and painted the things he chewed (baseboards, deck, etc.) with tabasco.  That seemed to stop the chewing.  But he did outgrow all of his bad habits and is a delightful boy today. 

[Linda, Charlie Brown and Beau]

Hi Alex ~ Here is the photo of your cute little girl.  When you start a discussion you can put your photo directly in the discussion if you like by clicking the image icon to the right of the LINK icon on the top row of the discussion box. The first few days at home for the puppy is a big adjustment period at 8 weeks let alone 7.  Remember she is used to playing with her siblings and they play so differently than we do! LOL  I would do as others suggest by redirecting her to things that she should chew on and crate her for small time outs if it become unbearable.  Have you you joined the Puppy Madness group yet. Check out the groups section on the main page and join as many as you like.Welcome to DK.

[Leslie, Yogi & Maci Bear]

What an adorable little girl

[Leslie J]

If you have friends with gentle, patient (vaccinated) dogs maybe you can set up some playdates. The other dogs will help her learn about bite Inhibition. She sure is adorable!