Posts Tagged ‘stop your puppy from biting’
Stop Puppy Biting
It’s amazing how much it hurts when those puppies get a hold of you with those sharp teeth. You need to try to prevent your puppy from forming this habit of biting. To stop puppy biting you may have to use a little trial and error. Any little annoying or bad habits should not receive a reward. If you want your pup to mature into that wonderful family pet, you will need to take responsibility for helping him. Dog behavior is never “good” or “bad” it’s just behavior. Stopping habits like biting needs to be done no matter how difficult the task.
The playing behavior for a litter of puppies involves lots of nipping and biting. It is probably the first problem every new owner will have to overcome because it is so common for puppies to nip and bite. 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 habit of biting will only be encouraged if the tap on the nose is done to softly. A puppy who becomes a little bit more aggressive could be the result of to timid corrections. 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. Once your little bundle of joy understands what is going on, when you say “NO” he should stop. You will be grateful later on down the line that you taught him what the word NO means, especially when he starts testing his teeth on your new pair of shoes.
Doggy bones and chew toys have been used successfully in helping keep the pup from chewing up your stuff. 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. Choose the right kind of toys that can hang in there for a long time under the intense gnawing pressure of your puppies 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.
Stop Your Puppy from 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. From my own experience I have learned that there is hardly anything a puppy won’t try to bite. You will need to find a way to curtail your puppy’s rough play biting. 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? Even if it doesn’t taste good, they may get a kick out of playing with it. Hes thinking even if he can’t actually eat it, maybe it’ll still be fun to destroy. Puppies in nature grow up playing quite roughly with each other, growling and barking and biting vigorously. 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. This is taught naturally in the litters, through the interactions with the other puppies and with Mom. One way the Mama dog makes sure to keep her puppies from getting too crazy is by grabbing them by the scruff of the neck. Among the various was the Mama dog will stop her puppy from biting too much would be putting her paw over the pup and holding him still; she might growl and bare her teeth to the pup; she may just turn her back to show annoyance by ignoring him; or she may actually grab him by the scruff of the neck, and give him a good shake. Offer your puppy a chew toy to play with as a favorable option to your flesh. By utilizing a few common sense ideas based on the behavior of the Mama Dog you can find ways to curtail the problems caused by your puppy’s avid chewing.
Below are some common sense tips that will help you stop your puppy from biting you, and making sure his chewing is not as much of an issue.
1. One of the first things to do is provide some chew toys to your puppy. He’s teething, so he’s going to have to bite something, and these chew toys are the perfect substitutes for your hands and feet. 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. As soon as he starts to bite you, stop him by holding his mouth shut with your hand. 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”. You want to se the calm but firm voice so he doesn’t become nervous and continue resisting longer. The sooner he relaxes, the sooner he will submit. Wait until the puppy submits before removing your hand from his mouth. 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. This training helps him understand that rewards only come when he does what you want him to do. This is the positive reinforcement technique for getting your puppy to stop biting you. 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.Make sure the entire household is on the same page, for the training to be effective. Try to make sure noone else who is around the puppy slows down the trainng by not followin the positive training method.
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 you let the puppy have a free run of the house, he will very likely find something tasty to put in his mouth-your slippers, furniture-pretty much anything he finds. Put some chew toys inside his crate with him, so he can chew to his heart’s content safely.
3. Just use common sense to stop your puppy from biting easily findable items. For instance, it is a simple and easy idea to keep all your shoes ibehind a closed door. Keep the puppy in just one area of the house (if not in his crate), and the doors to anywhere else should remain shut.
4. The Mama dog uses a voca trick to let the puppy know it is playing too rough. You can imitate her, by yelping with a very high pitched voice to let the puppy know he is biting too hard. Even if you feel funny doing this, it is a very effective communication to your puppy. It is likely the puppy will start his rough biting again shortly thereafter, so get ready to yelp some more. I have found that a very good way to stop my puppy from biting me is that while holding my hand over his mouth, I also stare him in the eyes and bare my teeth in a snarl and perhaps even make a low growl to show a threat to him. This is one of the ways Mama dogs send a very clear message to the pup. You might not want to get fur in your mouth like a Mama dog does to make your point, but you can certainly hold him with your hand over his mouth until he is submissive again to let him know that you are the boss. Remember, don’t stop the correction until the puppy is clearly submissive, and demonstrates that he knows you are in control.
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, for one, was always guilty of playing rough with my young puppies, and I had the scarred and scabbed hands and forearms to show for it. I didn’t realize at the time the rough playing was not a good idea because it could increase his aggression level.
I think these simple tips will help save some of your shoes and skin and other things around the house-don’t let your puppy victimize you. Your puppy may need to chew to comfort his teeth for up to 2 years old in some cases, so be sure to correct the problem when he is a pup, to get it under control early on.