I am the first time owner of a GSD. She is the second dog I have owned. My first dog was a stray who was not well trained although a very sweet dispositioned animal. My GSD is a handfull. I need to know if there is anything more I should do to ensure that the nipping and snapping will end completely. It has gotten much better(easier and less often) since most of her adult teeth are in and I am following every suggestion I can get my hands on. However, in play, she still will get carried away at which time I tell her no and put a toy in her mouth. When she takes it I tell her "good girl". We have been socializing with everything I can think of, we attend a puppy class weekly, go for long walks on the prong collar, etc. She does not really care if she is petted....she used to nip and bite every time we tried to pet her (is this normal? She doesn't do this every time anymore, just about half the time).....She also gets extremely excited when someone comes to visit and my cat is afraid of her....which I would appreciate some help on this too. My cat was here first, although we did have another dog who died from cancer I don't think the cat remembers. The cat got along with my first dog very well, as the dog was here first. They drank from the same water bowl, slept together, etc. So I know the cat can like a dog......I think she's just afraid because my GSD is so rambunctious around her and don't know how to proceed. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hi Jesse, I would say that the nipping and biting if it is play is normal at 5 1/2 months, I have a 7 month old GSD who likes to play rough. I use the command word "enough" at that point the playing stops and a treat (toy or food) is given, I actualy enjoy this type of play although he is getting a little strong now, it is important to make sure you win if you play with your dog this way so that dominance issues dont rear their head, Im sure your dog will grow out of it. For now though a strong "NO!" will get the message accross if you dont like this play. You will need to be consistant your dog won't understand if one day you want to play and the next day you don't. Welcome to the joy that is GSD's

I agree with Darren. Our 18+ GSD Rescue has recieved the same training methods as Darren has mentioned. It works and it works effectively. But as he says, you must be constant with the commands and the results your girl gives must be the right everytime. Never let her get away with it and you will soon have her doing everything you like her to do <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> .

Good luck and remember... Training and patience is the key to unlock all of your dogs potential! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

Here's a post I wrote a while ago for another list on how to get a puppy to stop biting. I've used it on all of my dogs and it hasn't inhibited their bite.

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I believe that if you communicate with your dog or puppy as another dog does, you will achieve much greater success in a shorter period of time than with any other method.

Part of normal puppy behavior is rough and tumble play involving mouthing and biting its littermates as well as its mother and father. When you bring a puppy home he will play with you the same way. Since your skin is much more delicate than that of a dog, this will hurt. This is especially true since a puppy's teeth are like little needles. They cause pain because they are so sharp and can, on occasion, puncture the skin.

In my experience, yelling in pain may stop the dog, but rarely works more than a few times. I think the puppy is startled by the sharp loud noise and inhibited for a moment. But after a few times of this occurring, the puppy learns that nothing bad or uncomfortable happens and he learns to ignore it.

I believe that the best way to stop a puppy from biting too hard is the way his mother does.

When a puppy is nursing and bites down too hard on his mother's nipple, she will take his whole head in her mouth and bite down, slowly increasing the pressure until the puppy goes limp, exhibiting submission. She will hold that pressure for a moment and then releases it. After a few repetitions of this, the puppy becomes conditioned to the amount of pressure that is appropriate. He learns that a little pressure is O.K. but that a harder bite brings an unpleasant situation.

No, I don't want you to take your puppy's head in your mouth. The puppy's head is probably be too large for that, and besides, there’s all that puppy hair on your tongue.

Feeding a piece of food, is excellent for starting the "off" or "leave it" command but that method will take a couple of weeks of training before you can expect the puppy not to bite. I don't have a couple of weeks to train my puppies and they can cause a lot of pain and do a lot of damage in that time.

I advocate that when you are playing with your puppy and he bites too hard, you should immediately engulf his head with one of your hands. Slowly increase the pressure of your hand, squeezing HIS lips into HIS teeth until he stop moving and becomes passive. Hold that level of pressure for just a few seconds and then release the puppy.

Don't yell, unless it's involuntarily as a result of the pain from the puppy's bite. Don't scold, don't shake the puppy. His mother does not do any of these things and she manages to get him to stop biting too hard in short order.

I have never had to do this more than five or six times before the puppy learns what is and what is not, an appropriate level of force when playing. It is usually done in one afternoon with a reminder or two the following day.

Some of the readers of this may say that it is cruel or may cause the puppy to bite even harder or that it will cause hard feelings between the puppy and the owner. I will counter that it doesn't do any of those things when the puppy's mother does it and it won't with you.

Lou your suggestion worked on my very hard puppy in just 2 days. This is a pup that thought a strong correction with the prong collar was "a really cool game"... Thanks

Dave Lilley wrote: Lou your suggestion worked on my very hard puppy in just 2 days.

***** Two days!!! What took you so long!!!! ROFL

***** Seriously Dave, your post made my day. Thanks for sending it along. Glad to be of service.

Lou,

Brfore your head gets too big, I have been doing it with my 11 week old BRT for 2 days now. See blinks her eyes twice at you and goes right back to it!!!!

Richard Cannon wrote: Brfore your head gets too big, I have been doing it with my 11 week old BRT for 2 days now. See blinks her eyes twice at you and goes right back to it!!!!

***** ROFL. First of all remember that not every technique will work for every dog. She's been doing what she wants for 11 weeks. Expect it to take a bit longer than if you'd started this the first time she bit too hard. BUT I’ve never seen this fail except for a couple of reasons.

***** First . . . not holding firmly enough to get the point across. It sometimes take quite a bit of pressure and you have to remember to force her lips into her teeth.

***** Secone . . . not holding her down until she goes completely passive. If she’s still making noise or fighting, you haven’t gotten the point across. Throw a bit more force into pinning her. I'm not advocating that you squish the life out of her, just enough so that she doesn't struggle out.

***** I’ll give you another two days to get it right. ROFL.

I have owned plenty of dogs in the past, but this is my first GSD. He is now 8 months old and stopped his mouthienss about 4 months ago-until about a week ago. It is not too bad and he outs on command, but is also doing ALOT more chewing on his toys. Is he teething or is this a dominance issue I should be dealing with? I do like to play rough with him also, so maybe he is trying to initiate play although it hasn't worked so far. I like to be able to start and stop any rough play.