First time puppy owner, advice about nipping please?

[thewizardofsoz]

Hello, we've previously have two rescues we got as adults so puppy and puppy training is new to us.
We've had our 11 week old cavalier King Charles x poodle for two weeks now and I'm not sure how much of his behaviour is normal puppy behaviour and if I'm dealing with it correctly.
Basically, he's very nippy and seems to get very easily over excited, for example when playing with the children in the garden he will grab onto their trouser legs and growl, and once he's on he's difficult to remove. I've told the kids to stand still and not react and I then remove the dog, firmly tell him no and give him a toy to play with and tell the kids to ignore him for five minutes or so.
To me he really does seem to be acting quite aggressively but like I say, this is new territory for me!
Any advice kindly appreciated.

Mouthing (nipping/biting) is absolutely normal puppy behaviour and it hurts. Have you looked at the puppy survival threads on here (we are on part 3 but 1 and 2 would be useful for you to see that this is very common even more so when they get excited or tired.

Sounds like you are doing the right things as the key is to distract them with something else to bite and in my case when that didn't work a short timeout calmed him down.

Thanks for your reply, I will definitely have a look at that thread.
What do you mean by time out though, I have been dubious about shutting him in his crate as I don't want him to associate it with punishment.
Also, is the growling normal?

Our pup was the same - we were told to keep lots of toys around and focus his biting on them.

Either that worked or he just grew out of it.

Some pups growl whilst playing although mine didn't. Mine was very bitey when he was overtired so we did put him in the crate where he used to fall straight to sleep. As he got older the timeouts were crate/behind baby gate or simply out of the room for a few mins until he had calmed down.

It's perfectly normal behaviour, but it can be very painful! They grow out of it eventually. Don't worry, you haven't got an unusual puppy.

Thanks so much everyone, for your reassurance and ideas.
The kids just get a little frightened by it and I don't want it to turn into an issue if you know what I mean.
Glad none of you think he's aggressive!

I had holes in my jeans where he would launch himself onto and hang on. They are land sharks

I know someone who had to walk around wrapped in a roll of Lino as their pup was that determined to nip and try to climb up her legs. If you haven't got that far then it's totally normal (the pup did grow out of it eventually 😊)

Tbh you got a nutty hyper spaniel crossed with a high energy, high intelligence poodle - there is no way on this earth it was going to be a calm puppy.

Aggressive growling is very different to play growling - try googling for videos that show the difference. In the circumstances it's highly likely to be play growling.

All puppies nip. Plus running DC = puppy thinking play time (but he only knows what puppy play time is not what people play time is). Once he learns he won't be played with if he plays like that, he should stop.

Do you make sure the DC don't actively engage him in over excitable play? My DC only play calmer games with our pup (now 1yr old dog). When DC aren't about, I play the exciting / 'rougher' games with dog - like tug. I always say tugga tug as we play and he knows if I stop saying it he must stop tugging - was quite easy to teach him by just stopping, staying still and holding the toy with two hands so it stayed still when he tried to tug, then as soon as he stopped, saying tugga tug and playing again.

Also my dog (Cavalier pup) generally only got excessively nippy and jumpy when overtired (kind of like a toddler), so I'd put him in his crate and he'd be fast asleep in 1-2mins.

My dog is 7 months and she is still very mouthy when playing but she never bites or nips now whereas when she was a baby she'd bite properly and sometimes draw blood. It was frustrating and painful but We'd just stick her in the cage with a pile of toys and come back to her after an hour and she soon realised it was wrong. I've found shouting no or feigning pain just frightens them unnecessarily

You need to closely supervise all play with the kids. If they run then they will get grabbed!
Redirect onto a toy. Every time.
I couldn't have wolfie pup around the kids off lead or They would get hurt.

Thanks very much guys, yes I am monitoring them very closely all the time and encouraging the children to be calm and not overexcite the pup. I was very prepared to have a boisterous, hyper puppy in the house and I know a certain degree of mouthing, nipping etc was normal, I suppose I was just a bit taken back by how much and how hard it is to distinguish between play and aggression.
It's really reassuring to know that it's normal and there's nothing drastically different we should be doing. Other than that he's a very good boy and his training is going really well.

Oh bless! We literally had wolfie pup on a lead the whole time. Children could never get on the floor with her. An extra long tuggy toy would work or a big fluffy toy waved in front of pup's nose. I would really avoid more than a minute or two of kids and pup playing together. Small people are just too exciting.

Forgot to say wellies are your friends

Honestly all my clothes were ripped to shreds when my 8 month was a small puppy. I know how you feel!

Instead of using the word 'no' use the word 'off' and then place a toy near her mouth when you get her off.

The problem with the word 'no' is that it's too commonly used and can become confusing for the dog.

Great tips, thanks a lot!

I remember days where I wondered if the mouthing would ever stop!! 🙈 It's worth keeping in mind that at 3 months your puppy is teething too, so some mouthing will became they are desperate to chew something.
Sounds like you're doing all the right things

Toys, toys and more toys. Our house is littered with them. It doesn't help that my 3 year old son puts his hand in the dogs mouth constantly!!!