Stop him nipping me!

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Sarah83
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Stop him nipping me!

Post by Sarah83 »

Having a slight problem with Rupert at the moment. When we come home from a walk he's always rather over excited but lately he's taken to nipping our hands once we've taken our coats off. Not really sure what to do as we're not giving him attention when he does it and it tends to be a "fly by" nip as he races past to get a toy. He literally only does it the once after a walk and never at any other time but the nip is hard enough to bruise. We do rough house with him at times but we have a rule that he MUST be holding something when we do because his bites are far too hard. He's extremely good with this rule and if we start the game he'll grab something to hold. Keep a toy by the front door maybe and hand that to him when we come in? He can't really bite when he's holding something. Any other ideas?
Dakine'smama
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Re: Stop him nipping me!

Post by Dakine'smama »

Have you tried making a little "erp!" noise when he nips you so that he understands it's hurting you? That's what litter mates do so if your little one was around brothers and sisters long enough, he would understand not to do that (unfortunately my puppy had ONE sibling so the same does not work for him---frustrating!).
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Noobs
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Re: Stop him nipping me!

Post by Noobs »

Do you have a quiet/cool down routine post-walk? Murphy and I sit on the porch for a few minutes when we come home from walks. He used to get the zoomies when we came home so sometimes I would put him in the spare room with the babygate closed and leave him for a minute or two while he calmed down. I know Rupe has given you trouble before by being too exciteable so maybe one or both of those things will help.
emmabeth
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Re: Stop him nipping me!

Post by emmabeth »

I think id build in a routine at the end of a walk that means he cant do this - perhaps stay on the lead, through to another room, give him a toy, shut him in that room while you go and take off dog walking gear... and then let him out to play with you (perhaps have another toy ready in case he has let go of the one he had when you came in).
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Sarah83
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Re: Stop him nipping me!

Post by Sarah83 »

Yelping gets him even more excited and usually results in him drawing blood. What I did last night was "ah!" (more because it hurt than anything) and put him in a time out. We've tried putting him in another room while we take stuff off, we've tried sitting quietly, we've tried working through a few boring commands such as sit and down with him but as soon as he's free to do so he starts with the race around and nip if he passes us. I was thinking a toy because he can't nip while holding it but can get his zoomies out of his system. Why he can't get them out of his system on the field where he has more than a few metres to run is beyond me :lol: It never lasts long, a couple of laps of the living room and dining room (open plan) and he lies down and goes to sleep.
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