well… we've been using the "ouch!!!" and give an alternative... method thus far. but to be honest, it hasn't been working all that great... (but i'm sure patience is key). It does seem as though she has lessened the pressure at which she nips and actually goes for clothes more than parts of the body now... but the nipping continues.
when she does grab a hold of clothing, she tends not to let go... and rather than get into a tugging match with her, i gently place a finger into the the side of her mouth at which time, she'll let go...
Generally, when she starts this, she'll continue... basically, once she lets go, she'll be at it again within the next 15 seconds... we've tried engaging her by playing with her in more appropriate manner, i.e. "fetch".. well.. attempted fetch...lol. but nothing really settles her down. even sitting down petting her, she'll flip on her back to have her belly rubbed and she'll get really mouthy in the process... it appears that she simply gets more worked up if we engage her. I've tried placing her in her crate after and giving a toy/treat and let her stay in there for 10 minutes or so... and she'll settle... but when we let her out, she's at it again...
It's kind of hard to tell if any progress is being made since she has good days and bad days...
Also... she is not like this the VAST majority of the day... in fact, she's a perfect angel most of the day... extremely obedient, and very close to being house trained (not that we'd trust her alone just yet...lol)... but she roams the house most of the day, finding places to nap and sun bathe... she rings a bell to exit and enter the house... all in all a super sweetheart and well mannered... it's really just twice a day that she becomes somewhat "rowdy."... in the mornings, and early evenings... and she's like this for maybe a half hour or so... it's just like she's a totally different puppy! Jumping on the furniture, sprinting around, and trying to nip people.... she's obviously having fun because she's play bowing, and just looks like she's having the time of her life. but she certainly won't listen to any kind of commands to sit or down... even though she KNOWS "sit" and "down" very well... (as she does it ALL the time except when she's in this mode...).
She does get walked in the morning for about 30-45 minutes... and on somedays, she gets walked in the evening... but she is played with throughout the day... her version of fetch... which is us throwing a toy and her running to it and pouncing on it... with an occasional retrieval!
At any rate... we're continuing to do what we are doing in hopes that she'll catch on... she's a very smart pup from what i see MOST of the time... it just appears that she has no desire to listen for these short bouts of time.../sigh... Either way... we just figure... persistence... persistence...persistence...
any further recommendations would be greatly appreciated... anything i can try, or adjust to what i am already doing... or do i simply stay the course? i just want her to engage in any other way, rather than nipping at people/clothes.... We're patient with her... but for a pup that learns things fairly quickly, she's having a bit of trouble catching on to this...
Oh and Tanza.... Carol said that the litter didn't really display any real heirarchy... no pup really displayed being alpha or othewise.. they simply got along very well...so nothing really to report there...
thoughts???