Puppy biting me on walks

[Flibbertyjibberty]

Hello, I've got a herding breed puppy. She's 16 weeks old and for the last month or so, she's been snarling, nipping at the backs of my legs and jumping up and biting at my hands and coat on walks. Sometimes it's at the start of the walk, sometimes the middle or end, often it's for the whole time we're out. I wondered if it was over stimulation but we've just been isolating for 10 days and she was back to it immediately today! I've tried stopping, making her sit, turning my back, ignoring her, giving her a toy etc. but nothing works. As soon as we start to walk it begins again.

The bites hurt, she's ripped the back of my coat to shreds and it's getting annoying now - any idea on what I could do to stop it happening or is it just a phase that will pass?

Is it a herding thing? I always know when it's going to start because she either nips the backs of my legs or runs round the front of me and stops. Should I be doing something differently when we're out? Is she bored?

Help!

Yep, very common in herding breeds, but it's also very common in young puppies in general. They explore the world with their mouths.

You need to ignore it completely and be consistent with it. You can't ignore it sometimes, give her a toy sometimes, make her sit sometimes - you'll just confuse her as there are no direct consequences.

She needs to learn that nipping = no attention whatsoever, but don't expect immediate results. It can take a good few weeks to stop it. I walk a young collie who used to bite the lead - I'd say it took me 6-7 walks of consistently ignoring the behaviour for her to stop doing it.

if she comes from a working dog stock, you have to really "use her brain" from a young age.take a toy,tennisball and distract her from the nipping.follow "her lead" what she is interested in doing with toy and make her "work" for her enjoyment.she will love it and soon forget about the "boring nipping".

Very common indeed. My current pup (also a herding breed) is now 6 months old. A couple of months ago he jumped up quite a bit during walks, usually trying to grab our hands or the lead. We did our best to ignore it and distract him. He has mostly grown out of it, though it can occasionally still happen if he is overstimulated. Too much sensory input can be overwhelming to puppies, especially pups who think it is their job to control the environment as herding dogs often do!

Oh, and I would imagine that her excitement was especially high today if she hasn't been able to have her usual walks while isolating for 10 days.

Okay, thanks all! Useful tips. I will get back to ignoring it then - I started trying the sitting etc because ignoring wasn't working but perhaps I didn't stick at it long enough. Thanks a lot!