Monday, April 26, 2010

Stop Puppy Biting

The best time to train your dog to do or not do anything is when they are a puppy, and when it comes to biting, it is even that much more essential you start early.

Start by having puppy toys available for your pup to play with and never allow games that allow your puppy to bite a person. Wrestling with your puppy, as many do, by putting their sleeve/arm in their mouth to play tug a war only reinforces biting and is the beginning of not only a bad habit, but a dangerous one as well. If your puppy does bite you, even in play, immediately give a high-pitched "Ouch" loud enough to startle the puppy. When puppies play with one another and are hurt, they let out a yelp. They can relate the “ouch” to their yelp and your puppy will quit learn to stop.

Never reprimand your puppy by physical means. Everyone in the family should be consistent with this training. Be careful not to allow the puppy to mouth or bite on your fingers. Some people mistakenly see this as affectionate or cute behavior where in fact it is reinforcing that it is all right to bite people, and can develop into serious dog aggression if untreated.

If your puppy continues to bite use this method to discourage biting. Loosely hold the puppy’s lower jaw between your thumb and forefinger allowing it to take your hand in her mouth. Do not squeeze on the jaw too hard. Light pressure will be enough to let it know what it is doing is wrong. Gently hang on to the jaw so that wherever it goes your hand goes with. It won’t take long for your puppy to get annoyed with this and the next time you next put your hand near your hand and ignores or licks it instead, praise it.

Another option is to use a puppy training aversion substance that tastes bad, such as Bitter Apple. Put the substance on a glove and every time the puppy goes to bite the glove, it will draw back. Just be care not to use this method solely or the puppy may only fear the glove and not the action.


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1 comment:

  1. Puppies bite for the same reason infants do. Their teeth are still growing in and the sensation it causes decreases when they bite on something. I've yet to see a baby or a puppy that doesn't go through the biting stage.

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