Nipping concerns....or not ? Hi. I'm new on here and looking for some reassurance. We've had 2 collies before, both beautiful gentle girls. We've also had 2 yorkies, 1 still with us aged 8. We lost our last collie aged 14 1/2 last July and in January this year we got Tess at 8 weeks. As you can see she's adorable. There are just a couple of niggles I'm not sure if I should be concerned about. She is very loving and affectionate, active, quick learner etc etc as you would expect. She is going to obedience classes and has sit, down, wait, leave, find, recall, paw and drop. All good stuff. At around 12 weeks she started nipping the back of my ankles after I put her food down and running back to eat it quick. She also ran at our yorkie nipping- they are fed seperately but my son left the child gate open. I know as a litter they were fed from one bowl and also given chicken wings; the 3 boys bullied the girls. Baring this in mind, I started making sure they are fed seperate, give her food in a quiet place and leave her to it, and from then to now (she's 7 months) I've been working on gaining her trust - walking a bit closer,dropping tit bits in etc etc. She is now ok if I walk about her, call her and she'll come for a treat etc. When she's done I trade the bowl for a titbit and off she goes happy. Fine. However, if I make any attempt to touch her when I put it down or take it back, she will snap at me. She will also nibble the feet of my 27 yr old son if food is about and he walks in. She is fine with my hubby and 14yr old. On top of this she is very playful,loving, has good bite inhibition with toys, does not guard anything else etc etc She even brings hide chews for me to hold. But occasionally if I go to fuss her she will snap - so far she misses but you hear the teeth snap ! Last week I bent down next to where she was lying to pick up a cup by the sofa and she snapped toward my face slightly catching my chin. She gets a stern "no" and is then ignored for a bit but she seeks you out licking and looking sorry. Again she will do this with my 27 yr old but not OH or 14 yr old. She is not smacked or alpha rolled or any of that when she's done something eg chewing the carpet - just a firm "no" . I should say both me and my older son are the only ones who do this, the other 2 let her get away with murder. Never had this before with any previous dog. Obedience trainer said "its puppy nuts", feed her alone and dont touch her, and dont bend over her or touch her back or head if she doesn't like it. To add to this she will snap if anyone she doesnt know puts their fingers in the car window to pet her - not that they should, and has recently taken a dislike to men coming in the house but is fine outdoors. She will settle if they ignore her and we put her behind a gate. Any thoughts. She is only a pup. Should I be worrying or plod on as we are doing. Thanks in advance.
All puppies go through a biting/nipping stage, usually its gets better once they’ve finished teething, but I would not expect them to snap at me for bending down beside them. When she goes to nip, I would try redirecting her with a toy, then play with her for few mins, if that doesn’t work then I would put her in time out for a few secs, Whatever method you choose you must be consistent and the entire household must comply. http://www.crickethollowfarm.com/biteinhib.htm As for guarding her food you could try sitting on floor, bowl on lap make her sit and hand feed.It helps build trust and to teach that good things come from your hands. I would also forget trying to touch her when feeding for the time being. You could also teach, nothing in life is free https://k9deb.com/nilif/
I would be inclined to totally hand feed her for the time being. As mentioned above it helps build trust but also she will come to learn that food ONLY comes from you and when it does fun things happen. So for example with my own dog as a youngster he worked for all his food whether that be a short 5 minute simple training session or something more advanced. You can supplement with some activity feeders or scatter the remaining food in the garden for her to search out. Her behaviour could also be linked to some herding instincts so perhaps look at ways on which to engage her natural abilities in a safe way.
