Okay, I know nipping is a puppy thing, and maybe even a Corgi thing? Whenever Harper gets hyped up, all she does is nip and bite. She's drawn blood several times and I have scratches all over my legs, arms, hands. It's getting to the point where at times, it seems impossible that she will ever get over it and we just get fed up. We've tried lightly tapping her nose or bottom, yelling "no bite" and "ouch", and grabbing her muzzle. Anyone have any ideas? Other than this, she is such a great dog and we love her unconditionally! How can you resist their little smile, even though a second later they nip your finger?! Haha

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Sorry to hear that. What worked for us (Miles is almost 14 weeks old now) is not letting him put teeth on our flesh even lightly. If he nipped the play and affection/attention would immediately stop. We had to do it quite often. It was hard not to play with him, but we knew better. Pretty soon he got the idea that "humans will play with me if I don't nip/mouth". 

Hi Ali & Harper, Corgis are herding dogs, they were bred to nip and bark to keep animals in place. Check out the About Us page for animal planet segment. To discourage this unwanted behaviour, say ouch, stand up and ignore her. When you can sense that she is about to nip, say "uh uh", if she backs off or show bite inhibition, say "gentle, Good girl". Timing is everything. Taping and grabbing muzzle will aggravate her / thinking it's a game. Good luck!

If she bites I'd make a dramatic yelp noise, and then immediately turn your back and ignore her. Get up and walk away if you need to. If she continues, put her in an xpen or a puppy safe room for 5-10 minutes. You have to be very consistent about it. I agree with Sam that tapping her nose or grabbing her muzzle are just going to further excite her.

I've heard this.  If any tooth contact, give a wildly exaggerated high-pitched pain yelp, then turn your back and ignore the dog.  Dog learns, "Ew, these humans are fragile, I'd better be careful". Everybody in the household must understand this, be with the program, zero tolerance.

Rule is:  you can stick your fingers in the dog's mouth anytime you want, but the dog can NEVER initiate tooth contact.

Same author (Daniel Pinkwater, "Superpuppy") as the above wrote that isolation is sort of a "nuclear option", and 4 min. is plenty, after that, dog's forgotten what it's about. 

I've heard that mouthy/bitey behavior can be a consequence of splitting a litter too early, that pups learn bite inhibition weeks 8-12 among themselves.

You DO need to break this habit.  It could become a really serious problem.  It could cost the dog's life if it ever nips the wrong person's child.

DouBao is 6 months now and used to nip really bad that my boyfriend was afraid of touching her...She even nipped my ankle everytime we crossed the traffic light...sigh....

So I used "OUCH!'' first as a warning. If it didn't work (most of the time it didn't work for DouBao back then), I would

- OUCH,

- stop playing,

- leave immediately,

- shut the door behind me QUEITLY (you don't want to scare the dog...)

- and count to 10 (the dog should be left alone during this 10 seconds, not with other family members).

- And then go back to play with her like nothing happened.

If she nipped again, another round starts from the top.

If she played really rough, I will give her "Time Out" in the crate and let her out after she gave me a sit/down as I told.

DouBao gets so much better now. And she developed soft mouth and understand OUCH means "get your teeth off me now". As it has been mentioned, Corgi is a herding breed and you are fighting against its instinct (nipping) which it was bred for. Therefore, it is a long run. Mine still has a bit nipping on my leg when she gets outside and excited. We still need to work on it.

Just remember it will gets much better when their permanent teeth came out. And be consistent with what you're doing, Corgi will get it. They are smart dogs! :-)

Pancake never nips or bites, but I have accidentally scratched my hand on his teeth before while he was trying to get his toy. It wasn't really his fault so I didn't do anything, but it did hurt. I drew a little blood. I try to make sure when I play with him its always the stuffed animal he is going for and not my hand which he is good about. Sometimes he acts like he is going to bite but he never does. He just opens his mouth and kinda puts his face against me. I always tell him no firmly if he gets anywhere close to biting, but I will remember this ouch thing if he ever does chomp down on me.

The answer to your question is hidden in your question: "  whenever Harper gets hyped up "  The most important thing you can do is learn what gets her hyped up and not do that.  Pups have lots of energy and need lots of walks, exposure to new situations, and can learn simple commands with a small treat reward.  You need to find outlets for her energy that are safe, age appropriate and that teach her the kind of gentle interaction you are looking for.  Any rough housing should be eliminated. A puppy class would be fun and help you all, provided she's had her second set of shots and is at least 12 wks.old.

Ahh I need to try this! Fawkes nips when he's playing do much. He's 9 weeks. The worst is when we're going potty and he's gets excited and bites my toes. We do the high pitched ouch, but lately he's been stopping....and then going right back to nipping. I need to leave him. Knowing him, he'll gallop behind me thinking im playing and nip again! Problem is, he is such a happy dog that he's always nipping/playing!

Napolean eventually grew out of nipping, yet he never nipped a lot. I think for Harper you need to reinforce good behavior (with treats, toys, and praise). I think she's taking the loud "OUCH" and "no bite" as something that is positive. The fact that you're yelling loudly (which could be taken as a shout of joy or play) signals for her to keep on biting. I think she's mostly playing with you but it if she continues to perform this behavior it could get worse (biting strangers, jumping up for food, etc.). I think you need to reward her when she's NOT biting. This kind of training takes immense timing. As she nips you, you must stay calm and be quiet. Since by now I'm guessing she's really used to getting some sort of reaction from you, she will back off. Once she does stop nipping you have to treat her and give her TONS of praise and cuddles. During this time of praise, if she gets too aroused just start ignoring her again. If ignoring her makes her even more excited just get up and come back until she's calmed down again. Once she's calm, walk over to her pet her, treat her, and praise. Just keep doing this until she gets the idea that biting does not come with any reaction, thus, the party comes when she behaves (no biting) :) In addition, mouthing is important for puppies (it's just that for us nipping people is wrong) so you must have toys she is allowed to gnaw on (like a kong ball stuffed with peanut butter, a bone, etc). Plus, a lack of exercise could result in restless behaviors in puppies, such as biting and nipping. So get her all the exercise she needs! I hope this helps, and good luck with the sweet girl :)

Here are also some videos on solutions to puppy biting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKjk84OkzcI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c77--cCHPyU

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