Have just visited this web site for the first time to seek advice on how to handle my new puppy. He is a beautiful dog, affectionate, playful and extremely confident however, I like many of the others on this web site, am having a lot of problems with him biting, jumping up aggressively and nipping and hanging off my trouser legs! While he is only like this for a couple of hours a day at most, my husband and I are literally covered in scratches etc!

Just wanted to say thanks really - I now know I am not alone(!) and that this is perfectly normal behaviour (especially it seems for labradors?). I am afraid we were starting to revert to the shouting/tapping on the nose in sheer desperation (not that this seemed to work much better than anything else - he just gets more and more excited). Having seen the comments of others who have managed to get through this stage (all limbs intact!) I will perservere with saying "ouch" and leaving the room for a few minutes.

Thanks to everyone with experience who posted their words of wisdom!

Chana = good luck with your new pup. If your puppy nips - then it's not you who should leave the room - you should put the puppy out. Just for a couple of minutes - pick him up smartly don't look at him and put him out - turn and go straight back into the room closing the door. That way you reinforce that you are in control of who's in the room not the puppy. After a minute - call him back in and gently praise him. Also when playing - don't let it get to excited as that encourages them to nip :D Watch for the signs and then switch the activity to something else.

hth

Pam n the boys

Good luck Chana

although you shouldnt encourage it it is, like you said pretty much inevitable until they get a bit bigger

but we did survive and Darcy never bites now, we can put our hands in her mouth and she is very gentle!!!!!

Hi Chana

He is being a typical Lab baby I am afraid.

Do keep up with the 'OUCH' and 'NO' when he bites and if he jumps up turn around and keep your back to him and ignore him, this should discourage him from doing this ! Try not to tap on his nose too much as this can cause damage.

I doubt he is doing it as you say agressively he is just being a pup !

Good luck and let us know how you get on !

Lucy

Good luck - we went through this, and as long as you are persistent, they will stop doing it!

Hi there!
I also have a lab (black). Having gone to a dog trainer for this and other reasons I can tell you his advice worked 100% on all fronts and the key to it all seems to be ASSOCIATION. To train your puppy to do or not do someting you have to make sure he associates good things with the correct behaviour and bad things with the wrong behaviour. For labs in particular good things are mainly food, play time and cuddles. Bad things are being deprived of all of the above. So: when the puppy bites you, make sure you immediately stop playing or feeding him (depending on what you were doing at the time) and just ignore him for 5 minutes. Then resume playing and feed him rewards or play with him some extra time if he is not biting. To make sure he knows why you stopped playing or feeding him, make sure you say "ouch" very loudly as soon as you get bitten and before banishing him to a separate room or corner for a few minutes. My lab stopped nipping me straight away and never tried it again. Hitting or even tapping them does not work!!! It just proves we failed to communicate.
Allowing him to keep on nipping you may result in a lot of worrying times in the future.
Wish you all the very best!
Pia

Hiya, i had the same problem with my staff as a puppy and i found that totally ignoring her when she was biting and just carrying on with what i was doing worked with mine. Don't get me wrong it wasn't easy as she carried on doing it for about 2 weeks but everytime she was calm i would give her a treat. She still jumps up but without the biting. Its hard but you'll get there.