@fountainhead:
well he's 4 mo. so i'm sure most of it's just teething….he has lots of toys, goes on long walks, and has my aunts dog to play with......when he chews on something he's not suppoesed to i hold the back of his neck lightly and tell him drop it, then tell him good boy and leave it and he does real good with that...
i guess what i meant was chewing on our hands or jumping up and nipping during play. or when he's really excited and i try to pick him up he'll nip me all over and then run off. it's all playing, not serious biting, but he's very rough...and it's seems like if i let him chew lightly, well, give him an inch and he'll take a mile, you know.....
I think you might find, that if your dog starts jumping and nipping during play, give a verbal command or either No or No Biting, stop all activity, sit very still, completely avoid eye contact, completely ignore him/her, and allow several minutes to pass where both you and the dog can calm down, you will find this very effective. I usually wait until the dog sits down next to me before I acknowledge him again at all. If the same behavior repeats itself, then I repeat what I have mentioned above.
I agree with Tanza, and I would never use a muzzle esp at this age or purpose.
As I have stated in another post, I have usually found when my puppy gets nippy during play, he is usually hungry or needs to go out. Roo is will be 14 weeks old on Tuesday so we are in the 3 to 4 month window. We are continuing to walk 2.5 miles in the morning as well as 2.5 miles in the evening.
After each walk, we change from the short leash to the flexi leash and work on Obedience for 15 to 20 mins Max. He loves this because he gets to run at full speed, and receives treats when he performs a command correctly. We use a Martingale collar.
It appears we have the opposite problem that many others have in regard to crating or kenneling. Our puppy loves both his house crate and his car crate. Its gotten even worse since we bought him a bed that fits in his house kennel. All he wants to do is lay in the bed with his crate buddy, and we actually have to drag him out to play with him.
Yesterday he went swimming again for 15 mins in his new Outward Hound Life Jacket. He does not seem to hate it, so we plan on continuing to condition him to the water. I put him inside my sailboat yesterday just to let him walk around and explore. Hopefully if I do this enough along with the swimming, he we get comfortable and secure enough to sail with us on the weekends in the summer. Since we constantly heel the boat when we sail, I think the wobble board we bought for him will be very helpful in his training.
Jason
