HELP! She won't stop nipping!
So, Harriet is now 10.5 weeks old and doing great for the most part. She's got the basics of potty training down, can sit, and give paw. BUT, she's been driving me insane with the nipping. My arms, legs, and feet are just covered in scratches and it seems like I'm getting the worst of it! I assume she's just playing, but she gets quite rough and genuinely hurts me. I'm starting to think she knows I'm the only other girl in the house and is trying to put me in my place  I've tried bitter apple spray (she likes the taste), clapping / loud noise, saying no and replacing my body part with a bone, pulling away and saying 'owww'...nothing works. I am the most delicious thing on earth. We're starting puppy kindergarten this weekend (thank goodness!), but I'd really appreciate any tips on how to protect my limbs between now and then! Thanks! |
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| Welcome to the world of having a sheepie puppy! We call them lobster bites at my house! This is so common with a sheepie puppy. They will nip you and you need to nip that behavior sooner rather then later. Unfortunately, they have these razor sharp teeth and they will get you. It will eventually slow down and they will start losing those teeth at about 4-5 months. Try taking a stuffed animal and shoving it in her mouth when she goes to nip you. You need to redirect her behavior to something different immediately. We would keep a stuffed animal or similar item in our pockets at all time so we had something to use to counteract that nipping. We also found tennis balls to be effective here and large sticks when we were outside hiking around. We also got some bully sticks so she had something to suck/chew on. We would just watch her carefully if she was eating something like that. Good luck and just know that I think every sheepie puppy is like this. This is "normal" Eventually, it will pass. |
| For a while with Mady, picking her up felt like trying to pick up a porcupine. I don't have much good advice, except to say the crazy annoying puppy nipping phase passes, I'd say by 4 months old. |
Baba wrote: the crazy annoying puppy nipping phase passes, I'd say by 4 months old. Yay! Only 6 more weeks...  |
What you describe sounds really familar to me  When Inca (now 4yrs) was a puppy she was a terrible biter - I found the only thing that worked when she got really bad was to get up and leave the room and stop the 'play' immediately - she pretty quickly figured out that biting = no play. Also, I did carry around a toy at all times to redirect her when she started. Oh, and we found the more tired she was the worse it got - so we started to get quite militant with nap times, that helped too. It did all pass by about 5 months.. but I'm sure they're all different.. my boy was completely different and very rarely nipped at all.. wonder if there is a difference with bitches/dogs..  |
| My Phoebe was the worst ankle biter I've ever had. She's improving, with most people, but not my son. When he plays with her she turns into a little devil again. I think it's because he doesn't mean it when he says no, he continues to pet her and play with her instead of ignoring her, and just doesn't demonstrate any leadership with the dogs in general so they all think he's a puppy. You really need to be firm and confident so that your pup views you as a leader, in charge, and letting it know that behaviour isn't acceptable. |
| I agree with redirecting. 'Chew this', while shoving one of Mady's toys in her mouth, became a common thing. But I think that David is misremembering. I don't remember Mady chewing on us for more than a week or two. He must be thinking of some other puppy, not our Mady. |
| HA! Selective memory loss. My husband suffers from that too..... Definitely redirect with a toy. Loud, short one word redirection. Also, I'd hold off on puppy kindergarten until your sheepie has all her shots. It is important. Other puppies can carry diseases you don't want your fur ball getting.  |
| Teddy is 5 months old and he also stopped the puppy nipping at about 4 months. He would also get worse the more tired he got so that meant nap time. The redirecting with a bully stick, ball or toy would help unless he needed a nap. If I had a dollar for every time I've said No bite, leave it and off in the last few months I'd be a wealthy woman....lol Cindy and Teddy |
Mady wrote: I agree with redirecting. 'Chew this', while shoving one of Mady's toys in her mouth, became a common thing. But I think that David is misremembering. I don't remember Mady chewing on us for more than a week or two. He must be thinking of some other puppy, not our Mady. Kim's selective memory is awesome to behold! She completely forgets Mady nipping, and she was a terrible nipper! And since Mady was our first puppy experience ever, we were NOT prepared for it! Kim had serious reservations about Mady the first couple of weeks. The nipping was the main reason we got a private trainer for Mady at 10 weeks. Kim was extremely upset about it. But does Kim remember a single episode of Mady nipping her now? Of course not!  And of course, with me it's the opposite. She remembers ONLY the rare negative thing I've said or done, and completely forgets all the positive things... |
Inca's Human wrote: Oh, and we found the more tired she was the worse it got - so we started to get quite militant with nap times, that helped too. I second this!! I don't think that we picked up on Mady's 'I am tired' cues early enough. I think that the NEXT puppy we get, we will let him/her/them nap more often. |
I, too, had reservations about our first crazy biter - I would look forward to my partner coming home from work so I could take refuge  (I was the 'lucky' one who could work from home and be with puppy all day).. BUT the second one was a HUGE difference - don't know whether it was the enforced naps or the fact Saxon puppy just directed his biting at Inca instead.. but hardly any bites at all  Second one comes highly recommended  |
Inca's Human wrote: I would look forward to my partner coming home from work so I could take refuge YES! I felt really bad about feeling this way. Harriet's biting made me very nervous around her and even though she's improving, I'm still very cautious when I can see her getting into that nippy frame of mind. She getting better...somewhat. We've been using "stuff-it" (shoving a toy in her mouth) and stopping all play when she starts nipping. We've also started enforcing time-outs when she gets really nippy, which coincidentally is when she's really hyper, not sleepy. We put her in her crate for a few minutes to calm down and she's slowly figuring out that nipping isn't allowed. Hopefully, with a little more work and a little more time it'll pass!  |
| Yep... I looked like I was abused. Time outs worked best for us. |
| I have a question about those of you encouraging a time out for nipping...wouldn't that create negative associations with the crate? I thought you weren't supposed to punish in the crate, because then they would view it in a negative light. I still need my puppy to be in his crate, both at night and during the day, while I'm at work. I don't want him to view it as a bad place...how do you put your sheepie in a time out? And I'm also having issues with the nipping. He's a relaxed puppy most of the time, but good lord, when he gets in his nipping mood, my ankles are all scratched up! I am trying just to ignore him and walk away when he's being nippy, but he just follows me and keeps nipping at my heels! Agh! I hope this is a passing phase.... |
AlfieLove wrote: I have a question about those of you encouraging a time out for nipping...wouldn't that create negative associations with the crate? I thought you weren't supposed to punish in the crate, because then they would view it in a negative light. I still need my puppy to be in his crate, both at night and during the day, while I'm at work. I don't want him to view it as a bad place...how do you put your sheepie in a time out? And I'm also having issues with the nipping. He's a relaxed puppy most of the time, but good lord, when he gets in his nipping mood, my ankles are all scratched up! I am trying just to ignore him and walk away when he's being nippy, but he just follows me and keeps nipping at my heels! Agh! I hope this is a passing phase.... I agree with you and with Dahlia, we did not use her crate as a time-out spot. Instead, we would used the stationing/tether method. We have a rug that we use as "her rug" and we learned this in puppy kindergarten. We tether her or leash her to a spot that has her rug and a peanut butter stuffed kong or bully stick or something to do and she has to stay there on her own without support from us and entertain herself for awhile. This has worked very well and we really like the stationing method. We take her rug with us everywhere and she knows that when we lay it out that she will lay on her rug and relax with a toy. Of course, we still have to tether her since she is still a puppy. You can use a leash or a rope or something to keep your pup in that spot. As for the nipping, you need to be really diligent with stuffing a toy in their mouths, or a tennis ball, or a stick if you are outside or something to keep them busy. We also let our puppy chew on bully sticks and stuffed kongs etc. We made she she was entertained. We also noticed that when she would get overtired, she got more nippy. We made sure she had plenty of nap-time. |
| I feel for you with the nipping. I will never forget how painful those little razor blade teeth are. Hope it passes soon for you! |
| My trainer recommends gating off a kitchen or some other room where your puppy can be safely left alone. She said if you are in that room with your puppy and he/she bites you then you say ouch!! And everyone leaves the room and puppy is left alone. They are excluded from "the pack" (your family) for a short time, about one minute. Then you return and try again. This is supposed to be similar to what happens in a dog pack when a puppy is being bad, it is excluded for a while. Hope this helps. It worked for us. |
| When I said time out I didn't necessarily mean crate, though depending on what the puppy is use to, it may be the crate. Time out may just be walking away and ignoring when the puppy is nipping or putting the puppy into a different room for alone time. It may be time outdoors and then inside for a nap.....Kathy |
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