Need help with my 7 month old Chow

[chowfrnd88]

I very whole-heartedly agree with Redangie and Yvonne. If you have a pup who is already nippy, the last thing you want to do is exert physical force. That's another thing we learned from our behaviorist, that a lot of people still believe that force (including rolling the dog over and choke collars) are the way to go, but once again you will just be negatively exciting your chow by doing this, setting everyone up for some bad times. Like the others said, there are non-physical ways (such as the training you're already doing) to get your relationship to where you want it to be.

[Yoshimom]

Sumo is only 11 weeks old. I wouldn't dream of putting a choke collar on him. He's our third chow. The others were older than him when they came home, so this early puppy behavior is a bit different for us. But I have learned that Chows obey you because they want to, not because you force or punish them. You just have to find ways to make them want to.

I'm happy to report that there has been less mouthing and nips over the past 24 hours, just using the suggestions we've gotten from this board. We're not 100% there yet, but each little bit counts!