Thoughts On "nitting"

[Guest Aberiah]

So my new grey, when excited, has been nipping me me in the arms and even on my behind as I'm walking ahead of him. Also, he vigorously butts/rubs his head up against anything he can and snaps his teeth at me. I feel like each week we see new aspects of his personality and this all started out kinda cute until it started to hurt. He almost drew blood on my arm last night and I have two little boys that I'm worried about. Also, he snaps his teeth like 5 inches from my face when I am putting on my shoes or sitting down and I'm getting a little scared. I know he is playing but that would do some serious damage to mine or my kids faces if he got too close!

 

I put his muzzle on one day as I was getting ready to take him on a walk and it almost seemed like he was relieved to do whatever he wanted without being able to actually hurt/bite me through the muzzle. Is it that they are so used to having these on when they are out of their crates that they have never had to worry about nipping someone?

 

I have found posts related to all of these behaviors within this forum so it seems to be a greyhound "thing" and I yell out, "Ouch!" when he nips but it doesn't seem to be helping much. Will this go away??

[Guest benfrench]

Matchbox has similar behavior. Not having little kids in the house and me being the only one he has ever done it to, it doesn't bother me too much. My wife doesn't like it and has told him so, and he hasn't done it to her since she told him that. You need to be firm and set the rules, he is just trying to play and doesn't mean to hurt you, but he has been with other Greys his whole life. Good luck and keep us posted.

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

Instead of yelling ouch, make a high-pitched, but short, yelping sound and turn your back to him. Become the most un-fun thing in the world for a little while, and he should soon learn that he needs to control himself.

 

 

Edit: I can't type today.

Edited October 18, 2012 by Jayne

[TheFullHouse]

My Emmy was an air snapper her whole life. I would make her back up before I bent down to do anything because I knew she would get so excited. The head rubber in my house is Valentino and I've never discouraged the behavior because he loves it so much and he doesn't hurt anyone with the behavior. Bandita is my nipper, she has made contact several times and each time I have responded with an ouch, turning my back and telling her ah ah ah. It took several times for her to learn that that behavior was not appropriate.

[Guest kkaiser104]

Teddi is also a nipper, though he's finally realizing that I'm not a grey friend for him to nibble on. I also do the "ah ah" and turn my back thing. It seems to work out just fine, and he's starting to get better about it. Just be patient! Also, you might make sure your boys don't come up to the dog until he's calmed down to avoid an accidents.

[GeorgeofNE]

Why is he wearing a muzzle on walks?

[TINMANPDX]

Elliott gooses me, or rather, pushes me along with his nose when he knows I am on the way to the kitchen and it's time for breakfast or dinner, or if i am heading for the leashes. He also gets his head up under my arm or hand and lifts it forcefully with his head when he wants attention or pets from me and uses the side of his mouth and mouths me when I won't get out of bed and feed him in the morning. He has never used his teeth when he mouths, he opens his mouth slightly and rubs his head up and down on my arm or leg to wake me up after whining and poking me with his nose fail to work. He never does any of these things to my husband, who says Elliott knows I'm a pushover. Funny thing is, I actually find his signals quite endearing, and aside from when he occasionally wants to have breakfast at 5:30 am instead of 6:30 am, I really don't mind at all.

 

He nits (chatters his teeth), air snaps or mouths himself when he is really excited. He also nits sometimes when my husband or I just look at him or say his name. Lea, is not nearly as expressive, but she does tend to purposefully block or crowd me when she wants my attention. she started nitting only after we had had her for over 6 mos, and only once in a while when she is beside herself with happiness.

 

If either of them used their teeth we would definitely give them a stern, "No", and focus attention away from them, which usually does the trick in most situations.

[a_daerr]

Instead of yelling ouch, make a high-pitched, but short, yelping sound and turn your back to him.

 

Yep, I actually started doing this because I saw Victoria Stillwell do it. All dogs have bite inhibition, but some dogs' aren't as refined. For example, if you see two dogs playing and one of them yelps (as if in pain), the other will instinctually back off. It sounds like your dog is testing you a little bit because he doesn't know how hard is too hard. My advice is, anytime your dog puts his mouth on you, make a high pitched yelp and turn your back. Let him know the play session is over. You have to be consistent, because dogs have sharp teeth! They are capable of injuring someone, especially a child, even if they weren't intending to. He won't want to nip if he thinks he's hurting you. When he calms down, you can resume whatever you were doing. With a little bit of time, the mouthiness should stop.

[Guest kahjul]

My new girl (6 months), also does both the nipping and the head rubbing. She now comes to me every morning when I'm putting on my shoes-I make a sock puppet and give her whole face a good rub-she loves it and it has decreased the head banging and rubbing. The nipping thing...I am grateful for some ideas. I had been giving her a stuffy or treat at the times I knew set her off, like when we first get up in the morning, or when I first get home from work. I figured if she had something else in her mouth, she couldn't get me. She came to us super spooky and skittish, so I was very reluctant to reprimand her. Now that she is coming out of her shell, and is rarely spooky, she has gotten my cheek, but arm several times, my thigh and my butt on a pretty regular basis. I'm obviously not handling it well. I usually just totally ignore her. I'm way more fun than a stuffy I guess. She has also nipped our other grey while playing which was over $300.00 to repair and now the other grey is afraid to play with her. They are both in muzzles now when they're together and they are only together when we're home. I'm going to try the turn and 'yelp' response, hoping that gets me somewhere.

[Guest Aberiah]

Thank you all for the reassurances and advice. I started yelping and it has worked wonders within almost two days. I think all of the head pushes and rubbing, and forcing me to pet him are super cute. Its so funny to read that all of our puppies are doing the same things!

[Guest PiagetsMom]

My Maya is my air snapper, my first, and I have to admit that I was taken aback at first. I recognize now that it's an excited, happy response, and it really doesn't concern me anymore. She doesn't do any nipping or nitting, but I'd probably discourage her if she did.

 

Mirage is my face rubber.....sometimes it's a little overwhelming, but I recognize it as his way of showing affection, and I've come to find it endearing.

[cometdust1]

Boy, do I miss my Jaxies' happy butt nitting!!! I'd give anything to feel that Butt nip again!

[KickReturn]

You are all very lucky. I wish my boy would grab me with his mouth or make a little more contact. It is wonderful your dogs have the confidence to express their affection in such an overt way. My boy is just too darn polite and "careful" with the humans to ever do that. He goes through all the motions but always just short of contact. The best we get is tap on the leg with the snout, and the occasional lean. However he will grap my leg with a paw when he's down and wants a belly rub.

[SkipSailors]

When Shane knows we are going for a walk, he will get very excited and try to "herd" us on our way. He will try to herd me into my underwear. He's not very good at it, usually pushing me in exactly the wrong direction. But he does it with heart. He will bump and rub and every once in a while, nip. Never hard. We yelp when he does, and he stops. It's never been bad.

[Guest d0ggiem0mma]

Maggie used to nitt me really bad when we first got her. She was pretty enthusiastic about it and it really hurt. Every time she did it I started yelping and walking away. She learned very quickly the behavior she was using to get attention was actually getting her the opposite. She almost never actually nitts me anymore, but she still noses me which is fine with me!

[Wonder]

Passion used to bite me in the butt when I first got her. OMG- I lost count the times she did that to me just as I was getting ready to walk down the stairs. I swear she was trying to kill me

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

I have a cat that "gooses" people, but not with biting. He's declawed, and just loves to use people as "scratching" posts (it's his way of being friendly, he usually pets us back while we're petting him, not kneading, but pawing). It's a little alarming when you're alone in the house and someone suddenly starts rubbing your butt, it's alarming when you're not alone too to be honest. He usually takes advantage of his victims when they're standing at a sink, washing hands or dishes.

[GreytNut]

Tiny did that when I first brought him home. It was bad enough when he did it to me, but when he did it to a neighborhood kid I had nightmares about him being branded a vicious dog. It had to stop. IMO it is never OK for a dog's teeth to touch human skin.

 

What worked was making a yelp or shriek when he bit me, then turning my back to him and folding my arms across my chest. I became a statue and didn't move until he calmed down. He got the point remarkably quickly and I had no further problems. Getting him to stop doing it to my other hound took a while longer. When he couldn't "nit" on humans he took out his excitement on her instead.

 

Sounds like the yelp/statue method is working well for you too!

 

FWIW, head butting can be dangerous in a house with stairs. Tiny was fond of head butting me in the middle of the back (yes, he was that tall), especially when I was at the top of the staircase. I wondered sometimes if he had a million dollar life insurance policy on me and was trying to cash in.

Edited October 26, 2012 by GreytNut

[Guest badderh]

My newest grey did this. We thought it was cute as well until it started to hurt. At that point I pretty much had similar thoughts "this definitely won't be good if a kid is around or let alone anyone". We started being really stern with him about it just saying "NO!" really loudly or we would push him away and ignore him when he did it. After about a month it stopped completely.

[sobesmom]

Your grey sounds a lot like my Diana. She's very "physical" and "mouthy" about showing her affection. And has absolutely Zero aggression.

 

My Diana is very "mouthy" when she's happy - and it really doesn't take much to make her happy - I walk in the door - she's HAPPY!

 

She "buzzes", that's fine. She "air snaps", that's fine. She shoves her head between my legs and stands there - under me - that's fine. I understand those are her way of showing happiness, and it's harmess.

 

But- she nips. Love nips... Tiny little teeth bites - but they hurt! She'll get a bit of my arm or the inside of my leg, or my butt. - and do a tiny "love-nip". It hurts! Especially when she gets the inside of the arm! She's left little bruises. And - I certainly don't want her to do that to anyone else (even out of affetion)

 

Now - she's NEVER "nipped" anyone else. Only me. She had other "exuberanat" behaviors that we've dealt wiith - jumping up on visitors -etc.

 

But - the lingering one - after years - is "love-nipping" mom.

 

With a new dog - I would'nt go too harsh. It's not a "bad" or "aggressive' behavior. It's just an "undesirable" one. Now - for me - after years of trying to curb the "nip" - I will try to grab Diana by the muzzle and say "NO NIP MOM". If I actaully manage to catch her in the act - she'll stop the behavior for a week or so. But I would NOT SUGGEST you try that with your dog.

Edited November 3, 2012 by sobesmom