We are first time corgi owners and am new at the "puppy raising process." Stella, our 10 week old Pembroke, is the sweetest puppy ever - except when she gets really nippy and mouthy. We are aware that this is probably "normal puppy" behavior - but her teeth are awfully sharp! I do my best to teach her bite inhibition by letting her mouth my hand and when she does - I shout "NO" and she lets up on pressure. Sometimes when she does not stop and will start to give a growl - we will shout "NO" and then ignore her or give her a time out in her pen. She usually calms down (we praise and let her out when she does), but goes right back to it.

Is this typical puppy play?

Do you think tapping the nose or using a spray bottle for when she gets really nippy an effective method?

It is also funny and cute - when we shout "NO" she will usually back off, give a shy snap at the air (she always tries to get the last word :)) - then submit.

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Shiro did that to my fiance a lot (not to me though) so he just couldn't take it anymore and bit him back. That actually helped but I wouldn't recommend it. I've never heard of it as a reliable method. LOL
LOL - that is the first I heard of that - I am glad it worked!
Totally normal!! I know, it is frustrating... they have SO MUCH energy when they're little.
When mine was a pup, we used to call her the tasmanian devil because she'd just come at you full-force with those sharp-as-razors teeth - it was all a blur of teeth and fur until you made your escape! Just make your mantra "this too will end..."
When it gets to be too much, a time out in the kennel is okay... not as punishment, but just a way for her to calm down and settle down. Sometimes puppies can just get so riled up, they don't know when to quit!
In a year, when your snuggling with your calm, lovely, well-trained dog... you'll know it was all worth it! With love and patience, your dog will be your best friend and will want nothing more than to make you happy.
I wanted to emphasize Alice's suggestion. When Pooka would bite us, I'd always say "No, bite this" and put a toy/chew in her mouth and if she bit that instead, we'd play tug-of-war or fetch with it, which was a reward.

And of course, all the other stuff ^_^ but this was a big part of our training too, teaching them what is good to bite.
I don't really remember, but I want to say he wasn't biting as much by 4 or 5 months. He'd still try to mouth when he got excited but he wasn't gnawing on people and drawing blood.
That's nice to know. I'm looking forward to the 5 month mark! :)
Thank you - that's good advice. What you say rings a true bell. Whenever Stella starts to nip, I will say NO in a low deep voice - she will look at me for a second, back off, nip at the air, and will eventually lie down.

However, when she is REALLY riled up, nothing stops her.... LOL
Are you giving him chewy things to do to replace your hands?
Yeah, most the time it works, but sometimes she will just ignore the toy and continue to go after the hands.
Lola does the same thing. She loves to bite and chew on any part of our bodies that she can get to. We say uh-uh and then give her a chew toy, but usually she pays no attention to the toy (or just for a few seconds) and is back trying to bite and chew on us. We only say uh-uh once and then do the stare down trick, and if it works, the second we go to praise and pet her, she starts to chew again. We can go through this cycle forever it seems without her understanding. We just have to keep trying!
That is exactly what Stella does!
This totally reminds me of Stanley when he was young. We were new to puppy ownership as well and had to suffer through being introduced to puppy nipping. Thankfully, he got over it before we lost our nerve.

See this video on our profile: http://www.mycorgi.com/video/vicious-corgi-pup

-Stan's Dad

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