[gemy]

I'm going to chime in here too. It is so true how quickly we forget the puppy stages! I too had a "growler" but not a nipper. This was my BRT. My Yorkie as a pup neither nipped nor growled, but as you have now realized staying with Mom and breeder until 12 wks is almost always recommended.

I want to introduce the concept of "hard" versus "soft dog". And it has nothing to do with the type of breed at all, each breed within the breed can have "hard" or "soft" dogs. By these terms I mean the following: a hard dog will shrug off just about the most firm correction you can muster to give. He will either accept correction "in the moment" or ignore you and go on about doing what he was doing. The acceptance is only in the moment, how-ever, 5 minutes, or 2minutes, or 2 hours later he is back to doing that misbehaviour that got the correction. They usually are supremely confident dogs and self assured dogs. But headstrong, oh yes, and will not hide or try to sneak around the discipline, they are in your face showing you No Nope not doing that!. You can raise your voice till the cows come home, and it has very little or no effect. That is a hard dog. Now understand this is also relative to breed size. What may pass for "hard dog" in a Yorkie, would be a soft dog in a larger breed.

A "soft" dog will literally cringe if you raise your voice a few decibels. They will even cower at the sound of your loud tones. But that doesn't necessarily mean they've learnt the lesson you are trying to teach at all. Often times the soft dog more passively resists the obedience command, obeys for a few seconds, then breaks the command.

this hard/soft is an inborn nature. Can be exaggerated or minimized by the early rearing skills of the dam and the breeder.

So observe your dog when you correct him. What is his body language saying? A video tape is very useful for this. If he bites you and you let out a real yelp an Oowie; how does he respond? Does he immediately let go? Does he turn his head away? Does he release and either laydown or sit, or walk away? Does he let go and immediately come back in to a different area for another nip?

I believe that all dogs are not borne of the same temperament or disposition, and training methods need to be adjusted for their innate nature. If a firmer tone of voice is working for you and for your dog; then use it!. But observe your dog's response. Be open to changing it up a bit. See what is working best for you two.

I own one very hard dog, one very soft dog, and one in between the two. My very hard dog was my first competitive obedience boy and we work thousands of hours to bring him to the good natured man he now is. My next dog was somewhat in between the two, and so small a Yorkie. I was deadly afaird to hurt him. So I worked more with my trainer to learn the proper techniques at the right level for this one. My third dog was and is very soft. She is the hardest bar none to train!.

I wish the best of luck with the training. Bite inhibition is so very important and I'm glad to see/hear you are making progress with it.