How to Stop Dog Nipping Hands in Culver City

For this Culver City dog training session we worked with Boston Terrier Duncan; sharing tips to stop dog nipping.

We started off the session by going over a number of dog behavior fundamentals. But we also had to undo some aversive training damage. Duncan had been sent to a board and train facility when he was younger. His guardian, like thousands of others, thought it sounded like a perfectly wonderful situaiton; send your dog to a pro who trains it to do all the things you want.

Although there are some good exceptions, most of the places that offer board and train training services use aversive dog training methods. Shock collars, choke chains, shaking cans, spraying the dog, yelling at it, popping the leash and worse. This is even more damaging when it happens to a young puppy as they are so, so, so impressionable and go though once-in-a-lifetime developmental stages. Take advantage of these developmental cycles and benefit for a decade. Miss or have a bad thing happen during these periods and you may have issues you deal with for the rest of the dog’s life.

Duncan showed multiple signs of aversive training; cowering, avoiding outreached hands, rolling over onto his back and ducking his head when I went to pet him. Even the thing I was called in to fix, stop dog nipping, can come from anxiety in dogs and that happens all the time with aversive dog training.

It’s always sad to see dogs who have lingering confidence and behavior issues due to being punished when they are sent away to learn and be trained. Dogs deserve better.

One of the techniques I used to help Duncan stop feeling the need to submit was to stop reaching to pet Duncan each time that he would duck his head. This would cause him to pause for a second, then look up to see what was stopping me from petting. When he looked up, I said “yes,” and then continued reach with my hands until I eventually got under his chin and petted him while his nose was in the air.

For dogs, nose up is a positive body mechanic. If the guardian can begin stopping her process of reaching for Duncan anytime he covers, wait with her hands in that same position until he looks up, then continue the process of reaching to pet him – she can teach Duncan that he does not need to offer submission of sub or subordination to receive pets or attention.

We also ran through a number of the dog training fundamentals that I always like to cover with my clients before we start working on advanced Dog behavior modification.

We introduced a marker word, loaded it, used hand targeting to practice the human’s timing, went over how to introduce a new cue word, covered dog consent, cut off signals and body language, shared a few creative forms of exercise, and explained the importance of creating situations for Duncan to practice self restraint.

Many people failed to teach or create scenarios for their dog to practice restraining themselves. This is a very underappreciated trait that dogs need if you want them to stop jumping, barking, running out the door or biting your hands when you reach to pet them.

We also discussed the importance of sleep. Duncan gave many indications that he was overly tired. Dogs who are overly tired and notorious for being overly mouthy and nippy. So if you have a dog that nips hands, make sure that you are getting your dog enough sleep each day.

After addressing all of the dog behavior fundamentals, we were ready to turn our attention to Duncan’s habit of mouthing and nipping hands. While not getting enough sleep most likely contributed, I think most of Duncan’s bad mouth habits resulted from him being punished as a young pup and not socializing or playing with other puppies when he was younger.

How to Stop Dog Nipping Hands or Feet

Mouthing biting and nipping are 3 of the most common behaviors for young puppies because they need to learn how hard or soft to use their mouth. Many humans mistakenly tell the dog know anytime they feel the dogs teeth. While this makes sense to humans, it actually backfires when trying to teach your dog to not nip hands.

Instead, its much more effective technique is to arrange for your puppy to play with other puppies within a month or two of their age. Puppies learn more in terms of bite and ambition, a.k.a. train a dog to have a soft mouth, in one hour of playing with other puppies then having a dog trainer work with your dog for 24 hours a day for seven days straight. But if you send your pup to a board and train, they likely wont learn this lesson as the people working with your dog is a human, not a puppy.

Since Duncan is no longer a puppy, I knew I needed to share some other tips to stop dog biting to help him. I pulled out my camera and sat down on the floor so that I could go over how to stop dog biting and nipping.

If you have a dog who nips or has poor mouth manners, you definitely want to check out the free positive dog training video below.

I recommended the guardian practice these tips to stop dogs from nipping hands a couple of times a day on the days she doesn’t work. Since Duncan’s guardian works very long hours, she will need to pick and choose her times to work with him.

She should avoid times where Duncan is overly excited or aroused. She should also make sure that Duncan has gotten plenty of sleep. These tips will help set Duncan up for success and make it easier for her to use this trick to stop dogs from nipping.

By the end of the session, Duncan was exhausted. He probably was a little underslept to begin with but after we made him use his nose and brain for a couple hours, the poor guy was wiped out

His guardian also felt a little bit overwhelmed and I wanted to make sure she would be able to remember all of the positive dog training tips we shared in this in-home Culver City dog training session.

I pulled out my camera and recorded a summary video to make it easy for her to remember. I recommended that she watch this video once a week until there’s nothing new in the video that she hasn’t already adopted. If he still has behavior problems at that point, I asked her to reach out so we can set up a follow up session.

But based on the progress we made today, I’m confident that she will be able to use these tips to stop dog nipping to help Duncan be gentle with his mouth.