Puppy almost leaving because of Nipping,Help !

[Theboss]

Hello Guys,I have a 2 Months and a half old White Shepherd,And it's giving us a Hard time with the Nipping/Biting.
I have tried Yelping,Leaving the room and closing the door,Stop giving attention,all of this,and It doesn't seems to work very well,he does stops sometimes but a few later he comes back again wit it....And
he still tries to catch my hands sometimes when I'm petting him,and he goes stronger the most excited he is,Sometimes he nips like crazy when he's really excited. some day I tried to grab him by the scruff and putting he away but he started to Snarl and bite again.

(I have tried the off command,but he's got a VERY short attention,He knows Siit,paw,lay down but when it comes to "Leave it'' he never responds. looks like he cant control himself not to get it.)

But the worst of all the problems,Is that my Grandma,who's also living with us,has gotten his legs bitten all the time,and because of her age,his bites makes her thin skin bleed ,and he's might be about to leave to our farm because of this.
What can I do ? It's a matter of few days before someone decides him to leave.

[Cassidy's Mom]

Have you tired redirecting to a toy? And then playing with him with the toy?

The reason he's not responding to the "off" command and the "leave it" command is that he doesn't know what they mean. Training is a process, and there's simply no way that a 2-1/2 month old puppy has fully learned those commands.

This game is great for teaching impulse control - work on it every day and you will see some progress:

"It's Yer Choice" - YouTube

"It's Yer Choice" - YouTube

How have you trained the other commands?

[OffgridAlex]

How long have you had him? 2 weeks?

Keep him on a lead and away from your Grandmother.

Nothing anyone can tell you here is going to stop the biting in the next few days or even weeks.

[wolfy dog]

Please work him through it. I too pulled out my hair when WD was that age and if you could see him now; perfectly social and gentle. Don't give him an opportunity to bite your grandmother. Give him tons of good chew toys, raw beef joints, filled Kongs etc. Plenty of socialization and exercise. But if he is tired, trained also crate time to give everyone a break. I am so glad I stuck it out because all this hard work will pay off in the form of an awesome dog.
And yes.....leash time inside as well as outside and a class to keep you on track.

[selzer]

Call your breeder and ask for advice.

Puppy nipping is perfectly normal, but you can improve the situation. Protect Grandma and do not give your pup access to Grandma's legs.

Teach the GENTLE command. Do this with treats. Teach the pup to take the treat gently, and say Good Gentle. Advance to having the pup have to work the treat out of the hand, only getting it if he is Gentle. GOOD GENTLE. After he understands the idea of being gentle with his teeth, you can say, GENTLE with my fingers. Gentle with Grandma.

Give him outlets to bite, hooves, antlers, raw meaty bones. A cotton rope wet down and frozen can be something he will like to help his gums and teeth. Always redirect to the appropriate object for biting. Only if he doesn't redirect, then separate him so that he cannot bite. Do not close doors. That isolates him. Use a baby gate to take a break from the chompers.

[Jag]

How much exercise are you giving this pup? What kind of 'play' are you doing with it to exercise its brain? How old are you? Teaching 'gentle' (then praise, praise praise!) is easier than teaching 'no bite'. Shepherd puppies bite. They use their mouths for a LONG time. Sometimes it takes weeks to get a 'gentle' bite most of the time. It's not a quick fix...or at least my last pup wasn't. Keeping the pup from chewing on grandma is the easiest part. Just leash the pup to you. Use gates to keep the pup where it's not going to be easy to get to grandma. The hard part is getting through the phase. It's perfectly normal for a shepherd pup. Whatever it is that you're doing that causes the pup to snarl at you... stop doing it. You're going to create an aggressive mess.

[Theboss]

Well I'm 20 if that matters...I got him with 45 days.
I tried redirecting him, but when he's too excited or biting her legs, he wont even chew the toy. He gets kinda Hyper sometimes, and I dont have much of a space in the apartment, and I can't take him to the park because of the vaccines.
When i leash him he starts to jump like a cow and chew the leash and cry , i tried this...
And also i cant teach him to "leave it" , hes too stubborn and hyperactive... Couldnt find a decent method on the internet for that (he wont give up getting the treat in any way)
I guess i will try the "gentle" , and one more thing, he doenst seem to pay attention when you call him ... I tried saying his name several times and giving treats when theres eye contact but when I call him he just ignores sometimes! But with other tricks he's just a fast learner, with paw it took me 2 trials only!

[selzer]

I am confused. Where are you located? Are you in the US? Do you have a farm, or do you live in an apartment?

Look, don't give him the command to COME unless you can enforce it. Which means, do not tell him to come and let him ignore you. If he is unattached then he will quickly make a game of making you chase him. Giving him commands that you let him ignore or make a game out of will teach him to ignore. Only give him the come command when he is on a leash for now.

Classes. A trainer in group classes can teach you how to teach your puppy.

Your puppy is not stubborn. It is a baby. Tricks are trained easy because they are fun and hold his attention. The trick is making the regular commands fun too. Start and end every training session with something fun that you can start and end on a positive note with lots of treats. Only give a command one time, then help your dog comply. Teach him with treats to get into position, praise and treat for doing it right. repeat only 3 times in a row. Break it up. Keep it short. Make it fun.

[OffgridAlex]

Did you get him when he was just 4 weeks old?

[wolfy dog]

Originally Posted by OffgridAlex

Did you get him when he was just 4 weeks old?

45 days is 6.5 weeks old, which is about three weeks too young. This is part of the problem as he hasn't learned "gentle" from his litter and mom.