biting and nipping

kmes

Haha!
Yep! You would have to train your puppy to go to his bed/crate/special room on command.

But honestly, the "ouch" and no more attention method has always worked very well for me. Thats what I would go with! However it does take patience and consistency. It will not work overnight!

yecrua

I had this problem too at first. Exact same thing. She would play, get excited, start biting, and anything I did to distract her would just make her snarl and lunge back. If I left the room, she would pick right back up where she left off when I came back.

Then my first day in puppy class my trainer taught me to reach back to the very back of her mouth and push down hard on her tongue when she bites. It hurts a little, yes, but mostly it is just uncomfortable. Basically it teaches that human hands in the mouth are not fun. The biting stopped, essentially overnight. Now she gives kisses instead.

I know a lot of people say training should be positive only with no correction, and certainly the harsh methods of the past were waaaay overdone, but sometimes a little bit of physical correction can communicate better than months of treats and praise.

BTW I did try growling and lunging back, to see if I could intimidate her. (in a moment of desperation when nothing was working). Needless to say it only egged her on.

Dawnben

I would get a new trainer. Any painful training is a thing of the past.

yecrua

We may have a bit of a miscommunication here. Either that or just a plain old difference of opinion. I'm not talking about hitting, hurting, or otherwise harming her physically or psychologically. I for one would much rather make her a little uncomfortable while I teach a lesson and then be able to enjoy playing together again than spend weeks yelping and running away every five minutes and she has no idea why until she finally gets it. I'm sure that other techniques can and do work, but I think a lot of people get so worked up over the dangers of fallout etc. that they dismiss a lot of really good training techniques along with more extreme measures that are harmful. I spent three weeks on my own trying the "yelp and run away" technique and got no progress whatsoever. I'll go with what works. I guarantee you my dog has more fun now that she gets to play with me for more than two minutes at a time.

kmes

My definition of "correction" is anything used to communicate with an animal that you did not like a behavior. I'm not sure that many people here can say that they have NEVER used a correction. (Also I am not trying to start a debate on corrections- so sorry to anyone who has a different definition! I did not mean to offend!)
But you find that most people here do not use forcefull physical corrections. Instead we may use a very, very mild corrections such as a verbal correction.

For example, all that is needed with my dogs is a simple "oops" if they did not follow a comand correctly (they know "oops" means try again), or an "Ah-Ah" if they are doing something they should not do.

However, IMO positive training and some patience will pay off and you will end up will a happier dog who wants to work for you.
Too much correction can result in a dog not wanting to work with you. Think about it! If you were to always fail would you want to keep trying?
Also harsh or even forceful corrections can result in a fearful dog!

The most important training tip I have recieved is:
Reward = Repeat
It simply means that a dog will repeat any behavior good or bad that it is rewarded for. Everyone seems to understand that dogs will learn and perform for a reward. But people don't always understand that dogs also do things people don't like because dogs are also rewarded for their bad behavior. So to end a unwanted behavior, all that is needed is to figure out the reward and remove it (this is often easy... but can be very difficult for self-rewarding behaviors like chasing cars!).
By the way, this is the reasoning behind removing all attention when a puppy nips at you. Nipping puppies are rewarded by attention they recieve from their owners.

I can't imagine this actually working for anyone!

It is however an excellent way to be bitten/scratched on the face by an overexcited, nippy puppy! Or even to cause a fearful dog to snap at you!

Sorry for the long post! I just felt the need to explain and elaborate on certain things here!

Dawnben

I don't think there is any miscommunication here. You are hurting your dog and in doing that you may be creating a life long fear in the dog. I trained mine by the yelp and leave method and it worked very well and very quickly without any pain involved. Maybe it was you that needed the training. Watch a litter of puppies and you will see that this is how they get the point across. They yelp and leave the area. Pain may work but it just takes a second to create a life time of fear or resentment. Its your choice.

kmes

Lets all be respectful of one another! It makes for a much more enjoyable experience for all!

For now, I am going to close this thread so that there are no further arguements!