chewing

Question
Beth, I have adopted a 3 month old male carin terrier, He has a real problem nipping/chewing at everything. I say "no" everytime he tries to chew on my fingers and it does stop him for a second but then he tries again. How can I train him not to do it at all?

Answer
Trisha -

That's a hard thing to do until his super sharp little "milk" teeth fall out.

The best bet is to take his muzzle in your hand when he tries it - closing his mouth with your hand. Look him right in the eye and say "No bite."

Then you immediately want to release his muzzle and offer him a toy and encourage him to play with it.

The point is to discourage the biting and encourage the acceptable behavior.  This pup is at an age where his mother would normally be teaching him these lessons, and would be just as sick of being bitten as you are.

So - Gentle persistence is the name of the game.

-Beth