Stopping Dog Nipping with Positive Dog Training

For this Los Angeles dog training session, we help 5 year-old Chihuahua Terrier mix Miles to stop nipping and lunging at people who get too close to his guardian.

We set Miles up for success by meeting him outside his guardian’s home. Some dogs get more territorial at home or in confined spaces. Being outside provides a number of distractions which can help when you are trying to stop a dog from nipping at people it doesn’t know.

After approaching Miles with soft body language and offering some positive reinforcers, he grew comfortable pretty quickly. Within a couple of minutes, he was taking treats form my hand and I could see he was relaxed enough to take this in home LA dog training session inside the home, lol.

I covered a number of reasons why dogs feel the need to nip to correct humans. Often this is a result of confusion as to the dog’s position in the group. Introducing rules, adding structure to petting and rewarding desired behaviors are all great way to establish a healthy leader follower dynamic.

To stop the dog from nipping people he doesn’t know, I handed the guardian my camera so I could share some dog behavior tips. You can learn how to use counterconditioning to stop a dog from lunging and nipping at people in the free dog behavior video below.

This technique to stop a dog from nipping at people will take some time and practice, but if the guardian goes slow, Miles should start to see people as the source of treats, not something to bark or nip at.

I wanted to make it easy for the guardian to remember all the dog behavior tips I shared in this dog behavior session so we recorded a roadmap to success video that you can check out below.