How to Stop Your Puppy From Play Biting
Writing by Admin on Friday, 29 of May , 2009 at 1:32 am
There are few experiences more fun than a brand new puppy. Usually, your puppy doesn’t understand just how sharp his teeth are and so you need to train your brand new puppy that nipping and biting are inappropriate behaviors.
Use toys when you play with your puppy and do not use your hands. Using your hands to “bat” or shove your puppy around implies that your hands are toys and therefore fair game to puppy’s teeth. Puppy’s roughhouse naturally and their teeth (and biting) are a big part of that.
Keep a variety of toys on hand for puppy to play with. There are many kinds of doggy toys ranging from soft to hard, all made with the same idea that puppies love to chew. And, they’re certainly less costly than a new couch or a trip to the emergency room! The only rule is that the toys should not resemble things that your dog is not allowed to chew on. Chew toys that look like sticks, bones or fire hydrants are fine. Chew toys that look like your cat – definitely not fine.
For items like furniture that you don’t want puppy to chew on, use a deterrent like Bitter Apple Spray or something similar. The unpleasant taste will soon teach puppy to keep his mouth off. When you’re playing with puppy, if he grabs at you with his mouth, shove a toy between you. This will show puppy what items are acceptable to mouth. Don’t yell “no” or any other words to make the puppy think the toy is wrong. Simply replace the unwanted behavior with the correct one. Another effective trick is to speak “puppy”. When puppies play with their littermates, they squeal in a very high pitch when the play gets too rough and they’re hurt. Puppies instinctively know to stop immediately when they hear it. It may feel ridiculous at first, but if you squeal then turn away every time he bites you, even if accidentally, he will learn to control himself.
Do not allow puppy to chew, pull, or otherwise “attack” things that are attached to you, including pants, shoes, hands, etc. It might be fun when puppy is small to hold his mouth and wrestle, but you’re teaching him the wrong thing and he’ll learn to attack your hand (in fun) when he’s a lot bigger too.
One thing to be careful of. If you react in an excitable or startled manner to your puppy biting you, they are likely to think you’re playing a game – this of course makes them think that this is a fun thing to do. Replacing the inappropriate behavior with an appropriate chew toy is far more effective and soon your puppy will understand that toys are for biting and mouthing and not your hand or clothing.
If you are having difficulty training your dog avoid hitting him, scolding loudly and shaking. Remain calm, pick your dog up and place him in a quiet area such as his crate. Allow both you and your puppy to calm down. Then let him out and continue to play. Don’t be tempted to use the crate for punishment or your puppy will soon associate crating with punishment and will not want to be in the crate for any period of time.
Remember, your puppy needs to play to be happy and healthy. Teaching your dog to fetch, play hide and go seek are all great games. If you stop playing any time your dog misbehaves then soon your dog is going to behave because he wants to continue playing. Consistency in training your puppy to have good behavior will mean a happy, well adjusted, well trained dog.
Having a puppy or new dog is very rewarding, but you must keep in mind that there are many dog training tools out there that will help you train your dog as well. Some of these tools come from the manufacturer Innotek such as the Innotek IUT300 dog training collar, the Innotek ADV-1000 dog collar, or if you have two dogs that need to be trained you might want to try the Innotek ADV-1000 dog training collar.
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Category: Pets
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