Naughty puppy question...

'kay...i have a question about Loki. He has always been mouthy with people ever since i got him (he is 4 months now) and i have tried doing all of the different things that ppl. on this forum have suggested, like yelling ow! (it just makes him more excited), or tapping his nose (he just tries to bite my finger), saying no! (it only works for a second, and then he nips me again!) When we are playing and he nips, i say no, and give him a time out, which works with calming him down. But the main problem is when we AREN't really playing, and he comes over and tries to get me to play by nipping me...what should i do then? It seems no matter what i do, he just starts bouncing around and biting everything he can get in his mouth (me) and making really sassy barks. If i try and pick him up and put him in a time out room when he's like that he will wriggle around and make little "rrrRREERRrrr" noises and sassy barks and try to bite me. If i say NO, he will just get more excited....
GRR! I'm getting really frustrated becuase he NEEds to learn that biting people isn't okay, even if he doesn't bite hard usually.
ANY training tips on bitey puppys would be so much appriciated!!! hes my first puppy, so i need lots of help!

Do a search on bite inhibition, looking in particular for info from Ian Dunbar about it. It's very easy to stop it, but not with the methods you've tried so far.

Firstly. Your pup is not being `naughty'. Dogs are not naughty - it's not a concept they understand. Your puppy is being a puppy.

As Redyre said, bite inhibition is what this pup needs to learn. You can do an internet search and it will turn up a wealth of information.

Your dog is right at an age where teething is a big part of his development. Does he have plenty of chews? A good hard Kong or something similar - you can freeze peanut butter into these and it keeps them occupied for just hours - and you need to STOP responding to his mouthing. When he mouths you, walk away. EVERY time. Everything you're doing is just teaching him that he will get attention from this behaviour.

Dogs work on reward. You are rewarding him for what he is doing even if you think you are disciplining him. EVERY type of attention is attention period, to a dog. They hate being ignored, and he will soon learn to associate his behaviour with being left alone.

Get `The Dog Listener' by Jan Fennell. Awesome book, lots of great info.

Good luck!

thanks guys!!

i agree, firm, low, stern NO! and then ignore him till he calms down.

No what?

I prefer to tell the dog WHAT to do, not what NOT to do.

The WHAT TO DO list is usually a lot shorter.