I was curious if anyone can help me understand why my Springer Spaniel always wants to 'go after' and nip at my hands.

Is this indicative of any sort of instinctual behavior or is he just being a pain?

Thanks for any help!

[sandyh]

my pup does that also, however i have learned it is because he is trying to tell me he has to go potty. he does this along with licking and when that doesnt work he combines it with climbing on me. He does not close her mouth. if you want to stop yours from doing this, everytime your hand is in its mouth grab its tongue. It has taken me 5 months to figure out the sign that (this untrained dog of my sons) he wants to go outside so for now i am not changing it. My daughters og use to do the same thing when it got excited and that is what she did and it worked. It took quite a few months but it finally sunk in,

[german sheep]

Maybe could be a pain, but then it would show this behaviour generally and not only with you.

If it is only you then think if you had a bad situation with the hands in combination with your dog. A smack or throwing the dog on its back or grapped when it wants to run or during a Vet. visit... alot of things can force such a behaviour.

Give some more informations

gs

[crstev]

I've go a young pup who's also going after the hands excessively and I can't figure out how the behavior started. I do my best I can to divert his attention to something else - a toy or a small bone. I think even at 10 weeks a pup can be taught not to bite a person but to focus on an object.

[german sheep]

There are different points to pay attention to:
1. a dog has to learn not to bite too hard, normally this is finished during the first weeks in the natural grown pack or helped through the breeder
2. you can compare a puppy with a little child. Littlans are taking everything in their mouth to check and study what this things are all about. So the pups are taking everything in their snout to find out how far they can go and what the hand does mean to them...the pup shows: do something with me I can understand...
3. maybe you have a very sensitive pup and during the first weeks it has made bad experiences with the hands. This must be nothing spectecular from our point of view i.e. checking their weight, or if the teeth are ok, or if the ears are already opened
4. maybe there was definitely something wrong/bad with the hands while growing up by the breeder --> shaking the pup at the neck or another way of punishing i.e. throwing the little pup on the back to show "dominance".

Both: throwing on the back and shaking at the neck is the clear purpose to kill your dog. In nature it is never shown within a familar pack situation.
If one lays on the back this individual does it for itself and where do you see that shaking at the neck? when a dog or wolf has catched a rabbit and has the intention to kill it.

gs

So be carefull to train your dog with hands, dogs very often show anxieties of hands after punishing them for a behaviour a dog only shows because from his point of view it was totally correct in this situation. A dog does no mistakes!!!!

[Lara's mom]

I'm a bit confused here...Are you saying that your dog is biting your hands or that he is using his mouth as a human being would use their hands. There is a difference. My girls will often grab my hand in order to get my attention or during play but, it is very gentle. I don't consider that to be a problem. However, if the dog is hurting you, that is a different matter altogether. Could you clarify?

A question: Have you used your hands to inflict any sort of punishment?

[german sheep]

whom do you mean Lara? MC5 or crstev?

LG
gs

[Lara's mom]

Sorry. I should have been more clear. the question was for MC5.