The nose-tapping doesn't sound like the best idea to me... seems like the puppy would interpret that just as, whoo! Let's play rougher! Arrrr! LOL
From what I understand, the ignore method works fairly well (stand up, and no eye contact even, if possible, for at least 10 seconds or so). We did a little of the ignore policy, but lots and lots of replacing fingers with proper chew toys immediately after a quick sharp "No biting!" Once his teeth were around the non-human chew toy, we praised him. These included everything from stuffed animals to nylabones to the most wonderful and fabulous bully sticks. At a little over 5 months old now, and at the height of teething (we noticed two more missing teeth today!), Nikko really doesn't try to chew us anymore. Sometimes he still gets too excited during play and forgets himself, but it's almost always a mistake because he's going for the toy in our hand - not the fingers themselves.
Hope that helps a little... Be patient. :-) I'm sure others will chime in with other tips for you as well. And please, go check back through old posts - there are tons and tons of posts about biting, biting inhibition, etc. Lots of different opinions, and lots of helpful advice.
Lauren & Nikko |