Great Ways to Stop a Dog From Nipping People Who Try to Pet Him

For this Mar Vista dog training session we shared tips to help 2 year-old Min Pin / Chihuahua mix Henry stop nipping people who try to touch him.

Dogs nip people for many reasons. One thing you always want to rule out at the jump is that its not a physical problem. If Henry has a back injury, addressing that condition would be the proper way to address the problem. Since Henry shows no signs of that, its probably not the case here, but having a dog chiropractor take a look at his back is not a bad idea.

Assuming that Henry’s issue is due to people petting him at times he didnt want to be petted, I handed my camera to the guardian so I could show them an easy way to stop a dog from nipping people when the dog disagrees.

By combining a pleasant experience or high value reinforcer with an easier form of petting, the guardians can help Henry learn its not nice to nip people who try to pet him. It will take some practice, but Im very optimistic that the guardian will be able to train the dog to stop nipping people who go to pet him.

Stopping dog nipping with positive dog training this way is easy and long lasting. Teaching the dog to stop nipping will be really important in Henry’s case because he is such a cute dog.

Combining this force free dog training technique with practice at having people stop the process of trying to pet him when he turns his head or backs away will help him adopt a new way of saying no. Instead of nipping people when he disagrees, he will start moving or turning away instead.

I shared a number of other tips in this in home Mar Vista dog training session. To help the guardian remember them all, we recorded a roadmap to success video.