Hi from a newbie!
We have a 9.5 week old fawn/white male boxer puppy called Jackson. He is just fabulous and we love him to bits. When we first got him (a week ago) he was very nippy and would bite/nibble whenever he wasn't sleepy. He has made massive progress over the last week and will now only bite/nibble when he gets over excited. We have been practicing NILIF with him which is having a really positive reaction. He is very very bright and has already mastered sit and down and is just learning stay with great results. I just have a couple of questions, if anyone can help?
We have friends coming for dinner this Saturday night and I am not sure how to continue with the NILIF. Do we ask our friends to keep following our lead or do we let them do their own thing and we do ours? Our friends will do as we ask but other people seem to get so excited about puppies that they just want to play with them, how do we combat this?
I am guessing that consistency is the key and we need to ask our friends to stick to the plan?
Jackson's only other problem is he gets so over excited. He just goes bananas and bombs it round the garden or house. I know this is normal puppy behaviour but there is no doing anything with him when he like it. This is about the only time he will bite and nip now so we just wanted to get an idea of how to calm him down? We have tried time outs and also focusing on training sessions which both have reasonable results but we just wanted to see whether anyone had any other advice?
Thanks in advance for any responses and thanks for reading - it turned out a bit longer than I meant it to!

Sorry if I sound stupid, but what is NILIF?

Nothing in Life is Free.  It is a training method designed to be non confrontational and elicit good behaviour by praising and positive things happening when the dog offers the correct behaviours.

I would say it is a very useful method with dogs that have not been trained and don't see any reason to behave differently.  They learn that they will get something for something, and not bey demanding it or by intimidation.

Here is a lik that explains the approach: http://www.petpeoplesplace.com/resources/articles/dogs/002-01.htm

I'd agree that consistency is key but I don't ever ask any friends to give my dog commands unless they're my dog trainer buddies. General public tends to do things like repeat commands over and over and forget to give release commands. :) For my guests I just ask that they don't give my dogs attention for bad behaviour like jumping up or begging. If I want the dog to sit for them I ask them to do it myself, then my company can give the dog a treat and I release it when I'm ready.

As for bombing around he's a baby and enjoying life. Unless he's in danger let him run. For the nipping direct it onto a toy; throw him ragger rope, ball, something else he can get excited with other than your hands or trouser legs. Usually I just cheer them on, after a couple laps around the garden they usually stop. 9 weeks old is so young I wouldn't expect focus for more than a few seconds. He sounds lovely. :)

Thanks Lori,

That's great advice and pretty much along the lines of what I was thinking as well. When he is being OTT and nipping it is easy to think that he is the naughtiest tiger in the world but like you say he is just a puppy and everything will fall in to place.

Thanks again - he is adorable and lots of fun!