We have just broken the nibbling habit, just in time as it was starting to hurt more than a little and breaking my skin.

Out trainer recommended that we "squeak" like a hurt puppy when he nibbled and sure enough it's stopped him. Any odd mistake and a firm no is used if he carrys on, which most times he doesn't now, a sharp squeak when he bites stops him.

Lottie,can I just pass on the Ian Dunbar method is very good,I wish I had tried it earlier,I started the treat in hand (closed) on Friday as a lure to get Zanta off furniture and to help distract her from playbiting and jumping up it works a treat,she knows treat is in hand you get dog to sit and say off while muzzle is away count to say 3 if muzzle remains off hand give treat if muzzle touches hand start counting again,Zanta has virtually stopped in 4 days,and is now mouthing gently which at 6 stone and 6 mnths is a good job,as for the water method I think it depends on your dog it worked very well on my other dog he only had to see water spray and was laying down behaving immediately didnt even have to spray him,Zanta is a different matter she finds the water fun and it winds her up immensely,I think you have to try a few methods until you find one that suits you and your dog.Good Luck. It does get better with determinitation on your part.

Good for you Zantababy For those teaching 'bite inhibition' you may find it very useful in the future should you or anyone else be required to perform small procedures on your dog, this is an example of what I mean

My elderly girl has a saliva gland problem, quite rare I think...one gets blocked and this forms a lump on her face below the eye. There is nothing the vet can do, an operation is not an option on a 14 year old with a bad heart and they are rarely successful anyway and can cause facial paralysis . The only choice is to express the swelling which has an opening into the dogs mouth...I do this every few days and with great care. I have been doing it for months, remember I am handling her mouth...most of the time she is so good but it is uncomfortable for her she has snapped at me and I would probably do the same in her situation. Because she was taught bite inhibition as a puppy she never sinks her teeth in she only mouthes my hand .

Had I not taught her bite inhibition but had just shocked her into stopping biting instantly by squirted her with water this task would be practically impossible to perform and I could easily have been bitten . If the swelling had been left to get too big it could have caused a problem with eating and this in turn could have lead to my losing my dog.

That sounds awful Mini - but glad you keep it under control

Well, I'm not sure how we've done it. Takara still gets barky and bitey and is a little terror when she does but we are consistently putting her in the kitchen for 'time out' when she gets too bad.

But now, today Takara was my mouthing my hand and I just kept saying 'gently - good girl' and then when she hurt -and drew blood - stopped stroking and said 'gently' she suddenly stopped biting and licked my hand.

Now when you say gently she stops biting and licks instead unless of course, she is in a very giddy mood when any command word is forgotten and pails into insignificance.

But in general, whatever it is we have been doing is working

You will get there as I said in my last post had a good 4 days,then yesterday eve,she went mad for about an hour running in from garden jumping on hubbies lap she is now 6 stone and only 6 months,we had to laugh it did look funny and constantly on the sofa trying to harrass younger sons girlfriend I was like a jack in the box up-down all eve.Then when she realise she has to stay on the floor she does her rolling about trying to nip legs ankles and bite trouser legs,and making Chewbaka noises while doing it,(white vinegar didnt work on Zanta) she liked it.Point im trying to get across is she use to be far worse than that and we have a significant change in her behaviour what you have to remeber is they are only babies and still learning and pushing the boundaries,one day you will realise it has stopped and find it hard to remeber what it was like.