Nipping at my 5 mo. old

[Magz]

I know both my Son and my Pup are both just babies in their own, but her nipping is tough to deal with. We want to give Juno plenty of interaction with the baby so they know each other and so on. I know this will come in time and we don't have to rush it, but when Juno is ready to play, all she does is nip as I figure a puppy to do. We have a great rope toy that I quickly resort to once I feel her teeth. Yesterday however, she wanted to play with my son who obviously can't play the same way. She jumped up and nipped him in the face (playfully of course). My wife was furious! I tried to explain to my wife that Juno is still learning how to play and nipping is what she knows until we break that.

I felt bad for Juno because my wife was so mad. I'm not a fan of hitting a dog and my wife gave the ol' nose tap right after she nipped him. Juno obviously didn't get the hint because she thought my wife was playing. Juno began to bark at my wife as to say, "come on, come get me, this is fun," but my wife was already angry and the barking just made Juno look like a punk opposed to the sweet puppy she is.

What are some of the things that helped with you and your dog when it came to nipping, barking and biting?

 

[ELubas]

Hi there. There are some great articles on this site on bite inhibition. Do a search and you will find them. I am a real believer in protecting puppies and young dogs from themselves I have fur kids and skin kids and I was always very, very restrictive about babies interacting with dogs.

A 5 month old has no understanding of dogs and dogs do not inately know that babies are delicate. So in my nervouse nellie opinion the pup should never be that close to your son's face. They will grow together and as your son gets bigger and your pup get calmer (with lots of positive reinforcement training) they will bond naturally. They do not need to be interacting at that level to bond-it will just happen and it will be wonderful.

In the meantime, while I totally understand your wife's reaction, it is counter productive as you know. Everything surrounding Juno's interactions with your son should be a positive experience for the pup as that is what will bond him to your boy. Juno is at the height of his craziness too so lots of training, long walks, and play are in order. A tired puppy is a good puppy.

When my girl Nysa was a pup our youngest grandson was born. I probably did not let thm nose to nose until she was well over a year and he about the same. Today they are madly in love still and she is gentle and calm. But as good as she was even back then I never wanted to put her in a situation where something might go awry.

So err on the side of caution I say-and exercise, exercise, exercise that pup I used to hold my grandson and throw the ball, which Nysa LOVES, and he would howl as she did boxer burns around us Good luck.