Hi be gentle with me I've never asked a question on here before so here goes,
we've just got a 10 week old whippet pup and everythings going fine except he
nips at hands and anything else that sticks out he's even jumped towards our faces.We have tried tapping his nose and a firm no as the books tell you to do
(this is our first dog) but they dont tell you what to do if he then proceeds to
bite your finger.Any advice would be great.

Cheers everyone
Steve

Hiya,

Firstly, id recommend u chuck that particular book in the bin! Then register yourself on here ....

All puppys play bite, its how they learn from their litter mates (originally) how hard is acceptable, and so how to regulate their bite. Bear in mind that a pup unlike a small child does NOT have hands, therefore, even more so than a small child, will want to investigate everything possible with his mouth. (If you have ever watched a toddler for more than ten seconds you will notice that everything in his/her hands ends up in the mouth fairly quickly).
Tapping the pup on the nose will either make him bite you harder, as you are still interacting wtih him, and therefore are playing, or, make him wary of hands coming towards his face.

You are far better to ignore the biting, fold your arms, turn away etc. This will not work instantly, nothing in dog training does! If you persevere with one method, ie the removal of all reward (ignore, turn away etc) then he will quickly give up. If however, you do this and occasionally someone does interact with the pup when he is behaving in this manner, he will persist all the more.

I have a lurcher pup, now 11 months old, who used to do this, he stopped at approx 10 weeks, after only 4 weeks in my home, so it CAN be done!

Good luck,

Em