Puppy Classes in Sydney – Eazy Dog Training Sydney – Puppy Biting

Puppy Classes in Sydney – Eazy Dog Training Sydney – How to Stop Puppy Biting

First of all, biting and nipping is completely natural puppy behaviour.

A puppy uses his mouths just like we use our hands and especially young puppies are curious and playful and will explore the world around them – using those sharp puppy teeth! However, there should be boundaries. My number one rule is that a dog should never ever put their teeth on a human skin. People are not to be played with in the wrong way such as trough biting or chasing and nipping. It can be cute at the beginning, but a puppy’s teeth are very sharp and they don’t know how hard they’re biting, so this kind of behaviour usually escalates and gets out of hands easily. Needless to say, this is not a behaviour we humans want to continue, especially not into adulthood.

Prevent the Biting

When puppies play, they mouth each other, which is totally normal. However, the mouthing can turn into a bite. When it does, the puppy on the receiving end will yelp out loud, and this sound startles the puppy doing the biting, making them release. We can exploit this behaviour to teach a puppy to inhibit the bite. When a puppy tries their teeth onto your hand or finger, imitate that high pitched yelping sound and move your hand away from the puppy. Ignore him for ten to twenty seconds, then resume play. Don’t repeat the yelp process more than twice — if a puppy continues to bite, it’s time for a puppy time out.

With some puppies yelping and moving away can trigger their chase instinct and make the problem worse. If the yelp doesn’t work, use a ‘game over’ technique. Everything fun stops when he bites: you leave the room, puppy get’s removed (time out), toy is taken away, treat goes away etc. The goal here is to teach the puppy that gentle play continues; rough play stops.

Redirect

To teach your puppy that his mouth on human skin is never okay, use redirection. When the puppy even tries to mouth you, pull your hand away before contact, and provide a treat for sitting or wave around a chewy toy until he bites that. Rope toys are great for this!You can satisfy your puppy’s urge to mouth things with non-contact games, like fetch or tug-of-war. However, remember to never let the tugging either become too excited or aggressive. Teach your puppy “let go” or “leave it” command first, so that you can always remove something from his mouth without an aggressive response.

Ankle Biters

Many dogs become fascinated with nipping at people’s feet or ankles when they walk. This is particularly true of herding breeds like border collies and kelpies. To stop your puppy from nipping at your heels, keep a toy in your pocket. When he does bite, stop moving completely, wait for him to stop and then wave the toy around to distract him until he latches onto it.If you don’t happen to have the toy handy, stop moving when he bites and then, when he releases on his own, praise him and offer a treat. The idea is to teach your dog that good things happen when bad behaviour stops.

Mouthing and nipping are natural behaviors for puppies but unwanted in dogs. Remember, a large majority of dogs surrendered to shelters by their owners are between eighteen months and two years of age — this is the time at which “cute” puppy behaviour becomes frustrating to the owner. A puppy needs to be raised to understand what behaviours are wanted and what are not. This can prevent a lot of stress!

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