My puppy nips at me when overexcited

[BecauseIsaidS0]

Hello! I have a 13 week old pug who is an absolute delight. Now that he's got his vaccinations, I have started taking him out on a leash.

Being a puppy, he gets really excited when he sees people. I keep him close to me, but if someone asks if they can pet him, I let them do it, warning them beforehand that he gets rather excited and will try to climb up their legs and lick them

So far so good, except that a couple of times I have noticed him getting way too excited, a bit frantic in fact, so I've taken him in my arms and when I have done so, he's bitten me in the arm. Not nipping, but actual hard biting. He's also done this at home after some playing.

We are starting puppy training classes this week so of course I will ask the trainer, but since it's 6am and I'm insomniac I thought I'd ask here too.

Awesome stuff! The RAF display team at Crufts this year were force free :)

That's lovely. It's always nice to hear about new dog training methods. I've been out of the loop for ages but I like to read about it.

Anyway...Op I used to find that yelping sharply and turning my back and withdrawing got my dogs attention. He learnt that if he hurt me the fun stopped.

Pugs are dead vicious!!

Sorry I didn't come back MuttyNutty, fell asleep.

Look for the subtle head tilts, lip licks, yawning, polite circling away from other dogs for example

This is fascinating. I certainly see the Mutt do this, especially around the one dog that gets in her face all the time. They play well together, but when they first see each other the pup is just 'too much' for her. I'm going to watch it closely now.

It's Army Search Dogs that we see all the time, we aren't allowed near the Police Dogs, they'd be too dangerous. The search dogs are fab and so loyal to their handlers. We also have some 'hunting shooting fishing' dogs. They don't play, but join us on camp for walks and help to clear the woods.

Thanks for the explanation. It makes sense. I'm really interested in this, would you recommend any references for me to use?

Here is the little monster. I tried clipping his nails this morning and he was having none of it, so I decided to take a million steps back and reward him with a treat when he lets me touch his paw. It will take forever, but I'd rather do that than force him to it.

Aww. I love pugs!

Eve - Are you looking for books regarding calming signals that dogs show? In this case, it's not available on Kindle, but Calming Signals by Turid Rugaas is short and excellent.

If you are looking for literature about positive training methods, then Don't Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor is excellent and The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson too. Anything by Sarah Whitehead will be based in positive training methods too.

Just a few for starters.

In Defence of Dogs by John Bradshaw is also a good one.