Excessive Nipping

[jamielynne]

During play my Corgi pup (three months old) always wants to nip/bite/chew at my face, my hands, etc. He does it mostly to me, but also to my mother and others in our household, though not to people outside of our home. It is a very irritating and painful habit, as I have scratches from his teeth on my hands and it often hurts when he gets your nose/lips etc. Everytime he does it I firmly tell him no, often with a tap on the nose--nothing hard, but enough to get him to focus and stop biting for a fraction of a second. Yet the reprimand doesn't seem to work.

Is this a Corgi thing? None of my other dogs did this as puppies. Will it go away as he gets older? And is there anything I can do to make him realize that biting is not good?

[Cheetah]

Corgis are nippers, so they'll do it more. But most puppies do have to learn not to nip at some point. Tapping Shippo on the nose only encouraged him to nip back.

With Shippo, when he started biting me too hard during play, I made a HUGE deal out of it. I went "OWWWW! You &$%@#!!!!" got up, and just abruptly ended playtime by ignoring him, leaving the room if I had to. Nothing physical needed. I tried yelping like I read, but Shippo was particularly hard-headed and needed something louder to deter him lmao..

This is only one method. You puppy may respond to it, or may respond to something different.

[Michael Romanos]

A lot of Corgis use their mouth as you would your hands. So they grab things like a person's hands with their mouth. It's perfectly normal as is the learning curve of how to manage the mouth grabbing and a friendly nip without going hard out. It is the handlers duty to teach a Corgi how far they can go and when it may hurt or is not appropriate. A loud OUCH when grabbed or nipped too harshly usually is all that is required to quite quickly relay to a Corgi to relax their grip a little and come in a little softer. It is very much a puppy thing which I regret because my Taylor does not do grabbing of hands anymore. It use to be such great fun.

[Louwants]

I was lucky, Duncan was much of a nipper. The hardest habit to break was my husband allowing him to mouth his hand. He saw nothing wrong with it (he's never had a dog, so I have to "train" him more). Duncan did try the grabbing the pant legs while walking, and I'd spritz him in the face with a spray bottle and tell him no. Same with his excessive barking. Now, he has a BAD whining habit. I have to work on that. My husband and I both are the blame for that. We didn't realize that when he would whine in our laps, that we would start petting him.....BAD PARENTS!!!

[fogebotom]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

A lot of Corgis use their mouth as you would your hands. So they grab things like a person's hands with their mouth. It's perfectly normal as is the learning curve of how to manage the mouth grabbing and a friendly nip without going hard out. It is the handlers duty to teach a Corgi how far they can go and when it may hurt or is not appropriate. A loud OUCH when grabbed or nipped too harshly usually is all that is required to quite quickly relay to a Corgi to relax their grip a little and come in a little softer. It is very much a puppy thing which I regret because my Taylor does not do grabbing of hands anymore. It use to be such great fun.

I'm a little confused on the last part of your post-you miss the grabbing of your hands?

As a trainer, regardless of the type of dog, grabbing of hands, nipping at heels, or any sort of behavior that uses the dogs mouth is not acceptable, at all. Granted a dog should be taught what we call bite inhabition or how to bite softly. But making biting a game is what leads to bite issues that I see all the time in training classes.

Let's take a step back-as a puppy within the litter, the pup is taught how hard to bite and when to bite. Following that on, when to bite is the most misunderstood thing new owners know. Owners need to realize that there is a series of warnings that our dogs give us when they feel uncomfortable, stressed or are in fear. First is a look, next is a growl, then a bite. By making biting of any kind acceptable, we leave that dog with no other options but to skip all the other warnings and go straight to bite mode as we have shown the we are acceptable to it and we also don't respect what the bite really means.

Yes puppies chew and bite-a loud OUCH-high pitched, roll them away from you and get up and leave. Substituing a chew bone or toy in place of your hands. Squirt bottle aimed at the leg nipper as you are walking along with a sharp NO. There is a time and a place for all of this with a working dog going to stock. And even those dogs are taught when and with how much pressure to use. It is never a game nor does the handler of that dog allow them to use it when ever they like, or a good handler that is.

It's something that needs to be stopped immediately or you end up with more issues later on.

Cindy and the crew at Foggy Bottm

[MyPemCharlie]

I believe this is part of the breed. Charlie has been a huge challenge to teach to not bite me during play. My rottie learned in one week not to nip me, and never put his mouth on me after just a couple corrections. Charlie seemed to not believe that "Ouch!!! No BITING!" really hurt me.

I never posted about Charlie's biting, because their is really good advice in the archives here on how to teach them to quit nipping. At first, NOTHING seemed to be working, but being consistent and repetitive (over and over and over with the same corrections and isolating him when he didn't stop) finally worked.

The good news is that they do quit over time. Charlie still very rarely nips me in play, but it's maybe once a week (and not as hard), not every single time we play. My scabby hands and arms are healing...and yours will too! Just be sure to consistently correct him every single time and he'll eventually figure it out.

[Michael Romanos]

I believe it is the right of a dog to use their mouth as a hand because God gave them four feet and no hands, so their mouths can and do act as a hand.

[Freppan]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

I believe it is the right of a dog to use their mouth as a hand because God gave them four feet and no hands, so their mouths can and do act as a hand.

Religion. <shifty glances> Something I think we should refrain from involving. It doesn't offend me, but you know how some people are. <shrugs>

[Peggy]

Originally Posted by jamielynne

Is this a Corgi thing? None of my other dogs did this as puppies. Will it go away as he gets older? And is there anything I can do to make him realize that biting is not good?

You've been given good advice on how to stop this so I'll skip that. However, this is not a corgi thing, it's a puppy thing. I don't know why your other puppies haven't done this but I've raised puppies of other breeds and they have nipped, grabbed etc.

Puppies like babies put everything in their mouths. It's how they explore the world. They have to be taught what's ok to chew on or bite and what's not.

Peggy

[Michael Romanos]

Well if you don't believe in God or a god, don't bother celebrating Christmas.
I though it was a kind of saying....... like: God gave me two hands so that one can feed a Corgi while the other can fondle a Corgi at the same time. Good God - is God a religion?????

[missfancypants25]

Originally Posted by Michael Romanos

Well if you don't believe in God or a god, don't bother celebrating Christmas.
I though it was a kind of saying....... like: God gave me two hands so that one can feed a Corgi while the other can fondle a Corgi at the same time. Good God - is God a religion?????

She never said that God was a religion. She said that we should refrain from involving religion. And while God may not be a religion, it's a religious concept.

[Freppan]

Christmas has so little to do with religion now and everyone knows it. Doesn't mean a family can't get together and eat good food and talk. Buying gifts is really optional but it makes it more exciting.

ANYWAY. My aunt's corgi nips like crazy and I don't think she's going to do anything about it. She seems a little low on the dog knowledge even though she's had many. I hate to say that though, because she's very cool most of the time. I won't be surprised if the corgi that I hope I will have ends up being a better dog than hers, behavior wise. <hides before anyone can hit me> I mean... is that really a mean thing to say? I'm not sure.