Nipping while training?

[Jescano]

Ok, so I know puppies nip. And I think I'm handling it the right way but I'm not positive. I've been feeding Jinx his breakfast by using it as treats for the past couple days. and a lot of his lunch as well...

 

So heres the problem. When we do normal things like sit, stay, come, down, wave, he takes the treats very nicely. When we do things like roll over, spin(right), twirl(left) he gets very nippy and sharklike about the treats(even just kibble) when he does this I just pick him up and put him in his pen for a bit. Is there anything else I should be doing? I don't know why those other tricks get him so worked up :-/ He's doing great learning them though.

[Sekah]

Basically, a dog's mouth gets harder the more excited they are. It sounds like he gets really invested in the trick and isn't keeping his manners in mind when it comes to the reward. If it's really bad, I'd probably do what you're doing and put him away if he gets manic. If it's more mild (perhaps early on in the training session, before the shark emerges) I wouldn't release a treat until he takes it gently. If he lunges at your hand, withdraw without saying anything and offer it again a bit more calmly. See if he in turn takes it more calmly.

 

In turn, do some training sessions that focus on how best to take treats. Here's a video to get you started.

Once your puppy has a firm grasp on proper behaviour you can begin expanding his self control by asking for gentle treat taking in more arousing training sessions.

[Oko]

Maybe try feeding him a little bit first, out of a bowl, a toy, or on the floor before you start training? I know Feist gets super mouthy if she's hungry, and I try to let her have a little food in the morning out of a food dispensing toy before we train with it, just so she's not starving and she can think straight.

[Jescano]

I have been giving him a handful just before training, but that doesn't help. He generally takes treats very gently, even high value treats. He just seems to get overly excited when we do "fun" tricks. I've found if we do a couple "fun" tricks and then "boring" tricks, that seems to work. The "boring" tricks calm him down so we don't get to the sharklike point. When he does get like that though, pulling back and waiting a few seconds helps.

 

OT - We've been working on speak. I don't know how he picked up on it, but if I say "speak" loudly and use a big hand signal(hand opening and closing like a dog barking) he barks loud, if I make it small and say "speak" quietly, he makes very minimal noise.

 

He's too smart

 

His attention span is getting a lot longer too I've noticed. Now it's more like we're breaking up training sessions with play instead of breaking up play with training sessions.

 

I'm loving starting with such a young dog. Most of my "family" dogs have been rescues with their own issues(not saying they're not great). He's like a blank slate, and I can mould him to be whatever dog I want.

[mum24dog]

I'm loving starting with such a young dog. Most of my "family" dogs have been rescues with their own issues(not saying they're not great). He's like a blank slate, and I can mould him to be whatever dog I want.

 

Except he isn't a blank slate; he comes complete with a genetic history and temperament of his own.

 

So many people I know who thought that and did everything right when bringing up a pup but still ended up with a dog with behaviours they didn't like.

 

the best you can hope for is to apply what you already know and keep your fingers crossed.

[Root Beer]

I would do a very basic off switch-y kind of thing in this situation. First, I would teach a doggie zen game and reinforce by offering the treat on an open palm - that way the dog can't grab. Once that is solid, I would cue one trick, but when offering the reinforcer, offer it in a closed fist and wait for the dog to offer moving off of it slightly before offering it in the open palm.

 

I've done that before and it tends to work very quickly. Really what it does is to teach the dog to be mindful of where his or her teeth are going.

[geonni banner]

I'd let the dog know that the nips hurt. A loud and heartfelt "Ouch!" goes a long way in that direction, as does turning away and "nursing" the affected digit. He probably has no intention of hurting you, but biting is not OK. Let him know that.

 

Every dog I've ever had - hard or soft, young or adult - got that they were to keep their pearly whites to themselves using this method. Most got it in one. The thick ones took two or three.