I often get phone calls from worried puppy owners who think there is something wrong with their puppy because it jumps up and nips them and their children. All puppy owners will experience nipping, jumping up and pulling on clothing. This is normal puppy behaviour, but you don't have to suffer through it. First lets go through the reasons why the puppy behaves this way.

Put yourself in your puppy's situation. You have been torn from the only environment you've ever known, your mother and siblings. You've had to endure a journey in the belly of a growling beast (car ride) with two legged people you don't know and don't understand. You arrive at a place where there are tons of new noises, visual and sensory impressions. Your head feels like it is going to explode from all the new information and you are scared and shattered at the same time.

Your first reaction to hands approaching you might be to try and nip them, to defend yourself from this new unknown. If you get a slap on the nose, you are likely to try and nip harder, more ferocious next time.

Most puppies nip because they are either trying to get a reaction from you. Some puppies nip because they simply don't understand you. They don't understand English, so there is no way they can understand what you are trying to say to them.

It would help if you knew enough about dog body language to be able to understand what your puppy is trying to say to you.

Nipping, snapping and snarling are ways for the puppy to tell you that they feel threatened and scared. This is not a situation where you should assert dominance or force to your puppy. This will lead to a breakdown in communication and you might end up getting bitten one day. If your puppy is nipping, snarling or snapping at you, you should back away from him/her and try to coax him/her to come to you. Take the conflict out of the situation, by removing yourself from the puppy, softening your voice and making yourself smaller (crouch down or even better, sit on the floor).

She will probably also be trying to appease your anger and dogs are very energetic when doing this - extra quick wagging tail, ears folded back, lots of licking, jumping up to try to reach your face to lick the corners of your mouth (that is what wolfs and dogs do when showing submission), trying to press herself closer to you. This usually makes the owner even more angry and the dog tries harder to appease, etc. etc. It is a vicious circle and without the knowledge about how a dog works and how they talk with their body language, it is difficult getting out of this bad training situation.

Telling your puppy NO and pulling her away from the child or trouser leg she is nipping at will not teach her anything but the fact that she is given attention whenever she is around a child/trouserlegs and it is always very high energy attention, so her energy level will be up and full off bounce.

You have to try and take a step back from the situation and see things from your puppy's perspective. She might very well be jumping up and nipping your child because she does everything that is active and interesting for a little pup - hands flying everywhere, loud noises at a high pitch and generally a very wobbly body language, which intrigues dogs.

I can't say this often enough - children and dogs should always, always be supervised! For the childs and the dogs sake. It is not fair on either of them to be expected to be left on their own together, until the child is at least 10-12 years old and can understand the consequences of his/her actions. Children do a lot of unkind things to animals that we are not aware off, not out of cruelty, but out of curiosity. Testing their grounds... what would happen if I did this? If I put that stick in the dogs eye? If I pull his ear? That combined with a low or non-existing understanding of the dogs language can put them both in a lethal situation. So don't leave your children and animals unsupervised at any time!

Instead, set up training situations with your puppy and your child, where your puppy is rewarded with a nice treat if she sits down in front of the child (I would do this exercise with everyone she meets - strangers and family members alike!). By praising and rewarding her for good behaviours you will shape her into doing things that you like her to do, because she will strive to do them as they produce a big reward for her. If you want to punish her, the best method is to completely ignore her.

Nipping and biting is normal for a puppy. They use their mouths to try things out, to learn about things, just like babies do. It is also there to teach them biting inhibitions, in other words - how hard they can bite. Another reason is that they might be teething, so they need to bite on things to relieve their itchy teeth.

The puppy teeth are as sharp as they are because they don't have all the pressure that an adult dog has but the sharpness of the teeth will guarantee them a reaction to a certain amount of pressure, so that when they are adults and have all that strength behind their bites, they will have learned from puppy days not to use all their strength when they bite.

When ever he tries to mouth your hands, exchange your hands with one of his toys and have a good play with the toy. Don't just give it to him, make sure the toy is active and interesting. Also remember to praise him the instant he lets go of your hand and goes for the toy. If he goes back to your hands and those piercing puppy teeth sink into your hand and he is putting a bit of pressure behind it - say 'ouch' with a shrill voice (like a puppy would shriek if he go hurt or frightened by something) and back away or turn away from your puppy. If he reacts by stopping his biting and maybe even backing off a bit himself, out of surprise of your sudden sound, praise him and try to give him a calm stroke (stroke your dog on the sides of his neck and chest, never on top of his head - it isn't very nice for them), talking to him in a calming voice, praising him. If he reacts in the opposite way and gets even more excited by your 'ouch' and starts nipping worse, walk out of the room and give him a time-out for up to 5 minutes. Then go back in again and praise him with a calming voice, if he is calm and pleasant, walking slowly towards him to keep him calm and not excite him. If he instantly starts nipping you again as you walk in the room - walk out again and give him another short time-out. Do this on a regular basis and you will teach him exactly how hard he can bite and how exited he can get before he will loose your attention and the fun game that you were playing.

There is no point in scolding him or being physical with him when he nips you, this will only make him worse! It is important that you remain calm and collected when training him. Think of the nipping as a resource for you to have a well behaved adult dog - and use that resource while you can! You can also put some clove oil on your hands, trouser legs or furniture that she tends to nip/chew. Then invite him to mouth you. Think of what usually gets him started, what usually happens just before he starts mouthing you. - Is it your arrival home? Then spray your hands just before you get inside your home. - Is it when he is getting worked up in a play situation? Then spray your hands just before you get involved in a good play session with him.

This is important! You should never leave children with dogs unattended. For the childs sake, but also for the dogs sake. Most of the stories we hear about dogs biting children are due to the child putting the dog through absolute terror and putting the dog in a situation where it had to defend itself. These dogs were not sick or mentally ill, they were just being dogs, reacting like dogs. Therefor we should always supervise children with dogs, no matter how nice the dog or the child is. Period.