# How to stop the nipping



## rdefino (Jan 2, 2013)

We have a new 8 week old standard female that is nipping my wife and 7 old daughter. She doesn't nip me, probably because of my deeper voice.

what can I do to help getting her to stop the nipping with them?

We give her chew toys and other stuff, but she will just jump on them and nip.

Any thoughts.

Thanks


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## msminnamouse (Nov 4, 2010)

This has been discussed a lot lately, you can look for the other threads for more suggestions. 

I redirect dogs to toys by shoving the toy in their mouth when they mouth and then praise them for biting on the toy. Repeat until they know that toys are for nipping and humans are not. Make the toy interesting, flail it around, make it squeak, make it act like a prey item.


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

The basic procedure is squeal loudly every time the biting hurts, and stop the game, withdrawing all attention for a few seconds. Muttering grumpily about how you refuse to play with horrible man-eating puppies is optional! This must be done consistently and persistently by everyone - the idea is to teach the pup how to inhibit her bite, and to be gentle with her teeth around humans. This is very important - sooner or later in most dogs lives they may be pushed to snapping point - if they already know how to be very careful, no one will be hurt.Over the weeks, as she learns to be more gentle, you can squeal and turn away for less painful nips, until she learns that nipping of any kind ends the game.

This is explained very well on Dog Star Daily, along with lots of other excellent information on raising a pup!


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## WhosMyFluffyPuppy (Jan 12, 2013)

Both sets mentioned above worked for me: a loud OW when it was a nip and stopping play and attention trained my dog that nipping ends the game. When we're just cuddling and petting him (not playing), gently redirecting to a chew toy worked well if he got mouthy. Eventually he learned that if his mouth touched skin, attention ended. It took a few weeks, but the nipping and mouthiness ended and now I can call it "a phase" of his puppyhood instead of a habit LOL


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