I have a 16 week old Chihuahua/Miniature Pincher mix. We adore him very much. Our biggest problem is he is nippy. We go try to pet him and he bites our hands. Never hard enough to hurt to badly and never has broke skin. If we try to hold his mouth shut then when we let go he jumps at us and nips again. I do not know how to handle this. We love him dearly and I can not handle this nipping. Thank you in advance for your help.
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WATCH "THE DOG WHISPERER" on the National Geographic Channel (if you have it) or try to rent it from the video store. Cesar Milan's method absolutely works! His basic philosophy is to convey your dominance over the dog in a healthy, calm, assertive manner. For instance, he's featured many chihuahuas on his program and almost all of them have the same problem as yours, because people tend to treat the dogs as toys or 'people', rather than a DOG. Cesar will make a "claw" out of his fingers, touch the dog quickly and firmly on the neck/shoulder area and firmly hold the dog prone until the dog relaxes and submits to his dominant position.
I cannot recommend this method enough -- I have used it to train several dogs (much larger than a precious bitty chihuahua!) and the dogs (and their humans) are happy and well adjusted. Good luck to you!
I have and do watch Cesear Milan and I love the guy. I have used his method and when I use the claw it works as long as I have Kodi on the ground, but the minute I release him he jumps and nips at me again. I repeat the process but will be there all night. He just is not getting it. I can not figure out what I am doing wrong.
My dachshund-mix doggie did this when we first got her and I tried something my Mom told me her mom told her about years ago: when the dog nips you, in a high-pitched voice (trying to sound like a puppy) say "Ow, ow, ow, oh you hurt me so bad!" and whimper and whine like a puppy. And boy it worked; only took a couple of times doing it and she quit.
Don't worry, all puppies go through this phase. It is part of their natural developement. When he gets in a "nippy" mood, stop paying attention to him. Walk away or go still and don't look at him. Or try substituting a toy that he can chew on instead of your hand.
I am also a huge fan of Caesar's. I actually watched a show today where the woman had the same problem as you.
His solution was to make a fist and hold it right by the mouth, the dogs mouth was not big enough to nip the fist. When you do this never pull the fist back always move forward.
My puppy used to do this. I started putting peanut butter on my wrist and she would lick instead of nip. A little messy but it works. You could try it. Good luck with the little puppy.
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