# Need advice for nipping and walking with leash



## LaVidaLoca (Feb 20, 2012)

Hi,

our pup is now in her 14th week and 70 % of the time she is doing really good and behaves - as a V pup - very well. Everyone who meets her is surprised about her calm and friendly nature.

We can go out with her and she will sit/lay down the hole time under the table without moving. It's like she has been always out  She sits when people want to pet her.

At the beach when she's off -leash she never walks to much away. Checking where we are and sometimes it's like she's walking heel. It's only the second week we have her. 

But there are two things :

In the evening and early morning she goes nuts. I call it her "5minutes" ( which can last up to 15-20 minutes ) 
She starts nipping at our clothes we're wearing - following us, jumping and still nipping. ( She does not jump at all during the day )I tried a lot of things and ended up today with saying to her "leave it " and giving a treat. I also put in a small plastic box few coins and when I shake it - it makes a noise. But this does not always work when she's so into nipping. After she left nipping of our clothes she runs to the sofa corners and starts nipping them. This nipping thing is really challenging. As I said - this happens mostly in early morning and evening. And yes, she gets exercise.
Maybe someone has another good advice to stop her from nipping. What about a Spray?Any experience?

Which commands do you use to stop nipping, jumping or just when you don't want her to do something?
STOP ? Leave it? or OFF?
I don't want to use the command NO because this word we use quite a lot in our daily life.

The other issue is:

When we go out for a walk she walks few meters and the she stops. I don't know if this is defiance. I tried different methods. I'm very consistent and stand on my way waiting for her to come, not giving up and going home - how she would like to have it. After few seconds she goes few steps further and then stops again and sits. This is not everytime but very often. I don't have the impression that she is afraid of something. 
I tried the friendly way like opening my arms and calling her enthusiastic to come. She comes and sits again. 
I tried to ignore her behaviour and moved forward and pulling slightly the leash. But honestly I don't like that to do it. If it's not a area where cars are around I let the leash down and go out of the lobby and then she realizes that I'm going out without her and then she comes running. But I can't do this all the time and next to streets where cars driving. 
She is used to the leash - so I don't think the leash is the problem.

Any advice for this walk-stop-sit when going for a walk?

Thanks in advance.
LVL


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## Katja (Mar 9, 2012)

Furniture nipping: at 14 weeks, she's awfully young to be allowed access to furniture. Can you put her in a crate or ex-pen, especially at the times you know she's more likely to do this?

Jumping up and nipping at clothes: we've had exactly the same problem, usually when taking Keke out in the evening. We wear clothes we don't care about too much, and he is always leashed. We don't hold the leash, but when he starts jumping up and nipping, we pin the leash to the ground so that he can't jump. Sometimes the only thing to do is to hold him out at arm's length with the leash - not exactly hanging the dog, but making it uncomfortable for him to try and jump. Then it's straight back inside and to the crate - jumping and nipping means that all the fun stops as quickly as possible. Because I don't move very fast, sometimes I'll sit down on the ground, pin the leash to the ground, and just refuse to make eye contact until he settles down.


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## mollys mum (Feb 3, 2012)

Molly is 14 weeks today and we have problems with nipping. 
Every technique seems to work the first couple of times we use it but she's very clever and she quickly understands or gets used to the various methods we've tried.

We had an interesting turn of events last night. I've been trying "ouch" and leaving the room but she seems to know that I'm not genuinely hurt and it only works occasionally. 

Last night when she was in full flow she caught me on the nose and I have a 1 inch gash which bled quite profusely. I didn't tell her off but just stopped and held my hand up to stop her. She instantly knew that she'd hurt me, even though I didn't acutally say anything. I was in tears and she was really upset. 

She followed me round with her ears down looking up at me with her big eyes and the more I saw that she was upset, the more upset I got! She even took herself off to her bed. I was the one feeling guilty but she was the one that did the nipping!

When they are nipping it's really frustrating and we haven't found the complete solution but after seeing her so unhappy last night I will try very hard not to get cross and will just gently restrain her until she calms down. They are very sensitive dogs, she is still a baby and she will grow out of it eventually.


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## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Hi Molly,

I do hope your face isn't too sore, that sounds awful. Will you need plastic surgery :'(I too have little bite marks over my hands from my 14 week old pup. I don't get that close that he can bit my face ???

He is just teething, and to some extent can't help the nipping. The way I handle it is to keep lots of soft toys(Hard ones don't work) around and when ever he goes to nip me or my clothing I say very firmly NO and replace my hand or whatever with a soft toy -then play with him as a reward. He very seldom nips me now, but my poor Great Danes ears are now the target so I am having to sort that out with "the Nasty Can" and NO.

Good Luck, I am sure you will get lots of good advise from the forum.

Don't be disheartened - he will grow out of it


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## Ruin (Nov 9, 2011)

hotmischief said:


> The way I handle it is to keep lots of soft toys(Hard ones don't work) around and when ever he goes to nip me or my clothing I say very firmly NO and replace my hand or whatever with a soft toy -then play with him as a reward. He very seldom nips me now


This is what I've done with Malcolm, who's now 19 weeks. He doesn't nip unless really playing, and even then it's VERY light. I had a toddler playing with him yesterday. I was keeping a sharp watch, and the baby put his arm in Mal's mouth and Mal just sat there holding it. No pain, no biting, and a very happy mom watching and laughing at how cute.

The over exaggeration of pain and ignoring them helps a lot too. Whenever Mal get's too excited and he bites harder than I'd like him to, I make it seem like he cut a piece of me off and ignore him until he's sitting beside me whining with apology. 


As far as the jumping and the excitement... we're just now learning to jump, but what I remain consistent on is making him sit before we do anything. Site before I open the door, sit to put his leash on, sit to get pets, sit to get fed, sit to be given a treat, sit when we're on the corner waiting to cross the street, sit when we're out in crowds and someone stops to talk to us. He knows that in order to interact he first has to sit and then wait for the invitation. Give it a try, see if it helps you out at all! 

Good luck with your little one, I know we're having loads of fun, especially over the past few days!


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## KonasPop (Aug 9, 2011)

Hi there and congrats! there are several similar posts if you use the search on nipping and early jumping. 

In the evening and early morning she goes nuts. I call it her "5minutes" ( which can last up to 15-20 minutes ) 
- The zoomies! This doesnt ever stop, so you manage it. And at the current age its pretty normal for it to happen in the morning before and after #2, and evening the same. We get her all riled outside and let her explode in figure eights in the yard/field. This lasts about 45 seconds ..then we can do normal things. 

What will happen is you'll start to see the signs...her eyes will dialate to the size of UFOs and she will really just start running, nipping, sometimes a small bark, back and forth just crazy looking - jumping will happen too. 

Leave IT - command for not eating something yucky or meeting a baby, etc. 
OFF - command for no paws on me, furniture, jumping up, etc. 
Wait - command for freeze!
Drop It
here - most important. 

We never use no, only commands she knows. 

5mo is young - really young. Dont worry about the sit stuff - she's gonna grow out of that you just wait 

Work on basic training for now and very short yard work or walks...training should capatalize your sessions right now...short, bursts, but training, fun, training, fun training, training, done..



THis happens once a day at 15mo right now, many times i can start it so that I know we've done it and i'm not waiting for it all day.


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