How would you deal with a dog that nips when excited?

Just wanting some advice, for one reason or another.

So what would be the best way to deal with a dog that nips people when excited? Can it be trained out of a dog? If so, what would be the best way to go about it?

Thanks people.

The dog has to learn the consequences of nipping.

Excitement usually occurs in situations like:
You just get home from being out
You've been playing
On a walk

This makes it quite easy to give a consequence. Say, you just get home and the dog gets excited, you give him a fuss and he nips. Fuss stops and you could even leave the room.

If he nips during play, the game stops immediately.

etc etc.

Think about what the dog is loving at that moment, and remove that thing from the situation (like play) each time he nips - you could also give a no reward marker to ensure he knows why the game stopped. (Like a clicker but catching unwanted behaviour)

Also - if it is during play, try not to wind the dog up enough to make him nip while you're doing this training.

That's how I've always done it anyhoo. Sorry it's not very well explained, I'm on my way out to transport a rescue springer!!

Thanks Lottie. Is it possible to train a dog out of the habit, or is the habit pretty much ingrained once learnt. The dog in question is about 4 years old BTW.

Cheers

If it were me my first port of call would be to leave the room for a few minutes every time the dog bit so it learns that nipping = being alone. Assuming a firm 'NO' is getting no response? Perhaps give the 'NO' command and then leave the room so the dog associates 'no' with stopping the behavior.

That is what i'm doing with my kitten at the moment (diff animal same principal) anyway, never in my life have I had one as, er, how can I say nicely, feisty as this! And i've had a canny few cats! Anyway it's working a treat for us although a lot of messing about sometime I will just squeal and this also has the desired affect, like teaching a pup not to mouth but he soon starts again, with the leaving the room he gets quite upset and calms right down for a good while afterwards.

Hope that helps.

JMO but for the most part you can 'undo' learned habits, some easier than others, just how long the dog has been doing it will reflect on how easy it is to 'undo' it. Imagine trying to stop yourself biting your fingernails or something, same thing really, although, takes a lot more willpower on your part than stopping yourself from doing a habit, to compensate for the dogs lack of!

Thanks Kel. It sounds like the firm "no" does work, it stops him nipping at that particular time, but the behaviour as a whole persist's as it were!

Will pass on your advice, sounds like persistance and consistancy is the best way to go about it really.

when toro jumps up and starts to nip, i hold her paws till she wants down, she soon gets bored x

It is, and going from my own experience on reversing learned behavior, as soon as you let up, i.e. let him nip and not say no or persist in whatever method chosen, then you are back to square one. Like giving in smoking for 6 weeks and then having a fag one day, you just can't do it like that, lol!

Yeah I have to admit, I get hold of Isla's paws when she's in full on Springer mode and it usually works!

Thanks, will let them know and see how he goes.

Used to do that with Storm, he would bite my hands.

When Storm nipped I would just ignore him and walked away, he would follow but would get no attention untill he sat nicely(not bouncing and moving).