Grumnpy teenager?

[Sarah16]

Mollie is now 7 1/2 months old and I'm still struggling with her biting and nipping. Ever since we have had her she has always been quite nippy. She is a working cocker spaniel and she is very bouncy and exicitable. We have tried squealing like a puppy, we have turned our backs on her, left the room, put her in a different room, tried a stern 'no biting', but nothing seems to be working.

We have had a behaviourist to see her who says she is just overexitable and thinks she is 'top dog'. We have tried to follow his program, but it doesn't seem to be working. Last week she actually seemed to be getting slightly better, but this week she has gone back to jumping up and biting us again. I don't know where I have gone wrong - I feel really fed up at the moment as we all love Mollie.

I have treid to give her enough stimulation, we go for 3 walks a day (can't let her off lead she has gone completely deaf when out at the moment), we do trainging and play during the day. She is fine during the night, sleeps all night.

She jumps up and nips when she wants to play or for attention, we try to ignore her to break the cycle. She nips if she gets excited, or is tired. Sometimes she just mouths gently sometimes she sticks her teeth in hard.  Sometimes she might only mouth  and not hurt at all, other days like today she  has been very mouthy and couple of times she has really stuck her teeth in. One was when I went to take her lead off and she turned and bit my hand and the second was when she jumped on the settee I told her to get off, she jumped off then ran to me and grouled and bit my leg.  She is not possesive with her toys, if she steals a sock I always exchange it with a chew of treat, but at the weekend she grabbed my daughters trainer, my daughter crawled under the table and said drop, Mollie growled and her lip curled up, my daughter then went to reach for the trainer and Mollie bit Beths hand. I think that was because my daughter tried to take it away when Mollie warned her and didn't try to exchange it for something else.

Sorry this has been a longer post than I intended. Mollie is lovely and loves cuddles and company but I just don't know how to break her biting habit as I don't like having visitors around as Mollie just gets excited and jumps all over them and then starts nipping them.

[Cazzie]

Do you have any gun dog trainers near you? 

[Sarah16]

How would I find out about gundog trainer in my area, would I just go on google? i feel this is part of her problem, both her parents are on a working farm, and think she needs a bit more to stimulate her.

[Cazzie]

How would I find out about gundog trainer in my area, would I just go on google? i feel this is part of her problem, both her parents are on a working farm, and think she needs a bit more to stimulate her.

Pm me which part of the country you are in and I will see if I know of any in your area.  I think you would benefit grately from someone who is a professional in training and understanding working breeds of dogs. With cockers as you know give them an inch and they will take a mile, they are easily excited and outgoing I certainly know it was me that needed training to train my cocker as they are ex clever. They are not the same as training a lab or collie, their brains are wired up differently IMO. I will certainly do what I can to help. 

[Cob-Web]

It can be really tiresome when a puppy is past the cute, forgiveable stage and is still nipping/biting - it hurts and it's not funny 

What are you feeding Mollie? Some dogs react more than others to additives, or even high protein diets - so you may find that a change of diet help; there are lots of threads discussing different options if you use the search facility 

Are you doing anything other than walking Mollie to tire her out? You could teach her tricks, do obedience work with her, start pre-agility training (no jumping until she is a year, though) or, as Cazzie suggested, gundog training - dogs are difficult to physically tire out at this age, as their exercise should be restricted in order to protect their joints, so they need mental stimulation more than physical 

A long line will help with the recall training (there are lots of threads on this too), and group training classes are brilliant for teaching you how to keep her stimulated, too 

[Sheryl]

I know Kali's trainer says that if anyone comes to her with a dog that has any sort of behavioural issues, the first thing she does is check into the food because it is often amazing how a change of food can change a dog  

[Sarah16]

I changed Mollies food from JWB 3 weeks ago to Burns and she kept getting stomach upsets and bad wind (children were leaving the room to get away from the smell) Mollies wind has improved alot and so has her stomach, but not her excitability.

I do training with her 3 or 4 x a day, we also go to training class once a week, she doesn't do very well at the class as she just wants to play and watch everyone else rather than do any of the exercises - at least she is getting lots of socialisation.