Posts Tagged ‘stop your puppy from biting’
Stop Puppy Biting
The sharp teeth of a puppy can cause you quite a bit of pain. We need to eliminate this nasty little habit of biting before it goes any further. In order to stop puppy biting different methods may have to be tried. Any bad habits must not be rewarded. In order for your puppy to grow up to be the best dog that he can be it is our responsibility to help him. Dog behavior is never “good” or “bad” it’s just behavior. It is going to take some time, but stopping a puppies bad habits needs to be done.
When puppies play, they bite because that is the way they have always done it. Nipping and biting their new owners is very common for puppies and will most likely be the first problem they have to overcome. All new puppies take part in this behavior, but as a new member of your family actions will need to be taken to control it.
“NO, no biting” with a sharp tap on the nose is an action that can be taken when he grabs a hold of your hand or ankle. The pup is only going to think that you are playing if you tap him too softly. A timid correction has no value, and the bad behavior could become worse. One good tap on the muzzle, that gets the puppies attention could stop puppy biting. Another way to go is, immediately after he bites, grab his muzzle with one hand, point at him with the other, and firmly say “NO”, this will eventually tell him that biting is the wrong behavior. Some pups catch on pretty fast and some of them, well you will just have to be patient. You will eventually be able to correct your pup verbally once he understands what is going on. This verbal “NO” command is going to prove to be very handy when he starts chewing on your shoes, socks, newspapers or anything else laying around for him to test his teeth on.
Another method to prevent your pup from destroying your personal items and nipping you is chew toys. The chew toys and doggy bones will also come in very handy during the teething stage when he will need something to chew on to help eliminate the pain. Take your time and choose the appropriate toys, ones that will hold up the longest under the intense gnawing of sharp little teeth. The toys can get stuck in your puppies throat if they are to small so choose carefully.
Any biting while rough housing with your pup needs to be discouraged at this young age or otherwise it will become more difficult to stop puppy biting. It is going to take some time to fix the problem no matter what method you choose to use. All puppies are going to go through the biting stage. Remember to just stay firm and show a lot of patience and this stage in your puppies life will be history.
Tips to Stop Puppy Biting
If you have a new puppy in your home you must have already noticed his passion for chewing and biting everything he can get his little mouth close to. Among the targets is the skin on your hands and feet, any loose shoes you haven’t put away, and well, I am sure you already know nothing is safe. I know from my own experience there is almost nothing they won’t stick in their mouths. You will need to save your flesh and household items from those little sharp and pointy teeth and the damage they can do. In nature puppies bite things in their environment to figure out what’s what. They find something that smells interesting and start thinking “Hmm, can I eat this? If it tastes terrible, they may still play with it instead of eat it. Hes thinking even if he can’t actually eat it, maybe it’ll still be fun to destroy. Besides biting due to the teething, it is natural for puppies to play and to play rough.. Although they really seem to be biting each other (and now you), it isn’t done with any real anger, so you can’t punish them for just being themselves and trying to have a little fun. When a puppy is too rough play fighting with the other puppies in the litter, either they or the Mama dog will intervene to chill it out a bit. For example, if one of the puppies gets a little too rowdy the Mama stops the puppy from biting by clamping down on the scruff of the puppy’s neck until the puppy calms down. She may also turn her back and ignore the offending puppy and she will sometimes bare her teeth and growl (a sure warning in dog language that even a young puppy clearly understands); she may grab the puppy by the scruff of the neck and shake him; or she may put her paw over the puppy and hold him down until he is submissive. You can’t just stop your puppy from biting and chewing, but you can stop the damage from the biting and chewing by offering your puppy an alternative to your skin-a fun chew toy. Use your understanding of Mama Dog’s body language to make your point to stop your puppy from biting inappropriately.
Here are a few practical tips to help stop your puppy from biting and to make his chewing less of a problem.
1. One of the first things to do is provide some chew toys to your puppy. Since your puppy is teething and definitely needs to bite something, these toys are great alternatives to your skin. When you begin a play session with the puppy, it is wise to already have his chew toys within reach. When your puppy begins to play rough and starts biting your hands you should stop your puppy from biting you by holding his mouth closed with your hand. Hold his mouth closed with your hand until he stops resisting your grip. He will probably not be happy about this, but keep him calm with your voice and hold him still. Using a firm but calm voice, tell your puppy “no biting”. Be sure to keep your voice calm so he doesn’t become nervous and resist even longer. The more relaxed he remains, the sooner he will submit. Don’t remove your hand until the puppy has become submissive. After be calms down and becomes submissive you should offer him a chew toy. Give him praise as soon as he starts to chew on the toy.Because you are positively reinforcing chewing on the toy instead of you-consistently-the puppy will learn that the toy is the better alterntive. You are using communication methods dogs understand to teach him he only gets a positive response for listening to you. The repeated positive reinforcement of this technique is what gets the pup to stop biting you eventually. It probably will take some time to sink in, but meanwhile stay patient and don’t ever hit or yell at the puppy for play biting during the interim it takes to get your pup to stop biting. If you use negative reinforcement you end up hurting your relationship with your puppy, and ultimately make training him harder. Everyone in your household needs to understand this, so you everyone treats the puppy’s behavior problems (such as how to stop your puppy from biting) with positive reinforcement. When someone around the puppy yells or hits him for playing rough, it serves to confuse and hurt your training efforts in the long run.
2. To stop a lot of unwanted biting and chewing buy your puppy, keep him in his crate when you can’t supervise him directly. If the puppy is allowed to wander the house without anyone watching he will surely attack his favorite targets. Always be sure to have some chew toys inside his crate for him to bite on while there.
3. Use your common sense, and you can easily figure out how to limit access to many biteables. For example, try keeping your shoes and slippers, etc. in a closed closet. Be sure to close bedroom doors, and doors to any of the other rooms you don’t want to find puppy damage in.
4. The Mama dog uses a voca trick to let the puppy know it is playing too rough. The way to do this is by yelping in a high pitched voice when he bites you. You might feel sort of silly, but this is one way Mama Dog gets a puppy’s attention and stops the puppy from biting her. It is likely the puppy will start his rough biting again shortly thereafter, so get ready to yelp some more. I have that when he is really biting hard, that combining the hand over the mouth with a snarl and staring into his eyes. sends a strong enough message that he will stop. Mama dogs will do this in order to get the message across very vividly to their puppies. Of course you probably won’t want to exactly imitate the Mama dog and get hair in your mouth, but use your hand to grab the scruff of his neck as a substitute. Don’t stop the correction until he has really shown you he understands that you are the boss, by becoming submissive.
5. In order to discourage your puppy from biting, don’t play rough house games (such as tug of war and wrestling) with him. I always used to do both those rough games with my puppies, and consequently always used to have bloody hands and wrists and forearms. I didn’t realize at the time the rough playing was not a good idea because it could increase his aggression level.
I hope you find these tips useful to avoid losing shoes, pieces of your flesh, and various other things you would prefer to remain outside the busy mouth of your puppy. The teething stage will last throughout puppy hood and sometimes even as long as 2 years while your dog’s teeth are setting- but if you have learned to stop your puppy from biting you and your household items, you won’t be bothered too much with this problem .