Stop puppy biting is one of the more popular obedience related terms that is searched for on Google, as exasperated owners of pets pull their hair out in an ongoing attempt to stop their new pups from nipping. Together with the 2 main certainties in life, those being death and taxes, I would like to add a 3rd one: disappointment which has at a previous time or another boiled over and ended in you doing something to your little dog that you right away regretted doing.
So why the hey do puppies love to nip so much? Mouthing as it is also referred too , is very ordinary for young puppies, and really is a key behaviour in their social development. Puppies will take part in mouthing with their litter mates, and may sometimes nip their mamma in an effort to suckle, but because dogs have thicker skin than us humans, a playful nip from a puppy to another puppy won’t hurt them the way in which it would hurt a human.
If left with their mamma and litter mates longer, puppies that nip learn very quickly the behavior will not be tolerated. Puppies that play too rough with siblings are put in their place, either by their littermates or by the mother, thus they learn that nipping isn’t socially accepted. The difficulty is however that frequently young puppies are removed from their litter before they have had this small life lesson, thus they go to their new homes, and continue to exhibit this unwanted behaviour.
How can we stop puppies from nipping? There are 1 or 2 methods of doing this, and I have listed them below. It is crucial to remember when working on stopping your young dog from biting that you can not let your disappointment get the best of you. You need to be light but firm in your approach, never, ever resorting to rough treatment of your small monster.
1. The instant your little puppy nips you, react vocally showing that it hurts and start ignoring your dog. Dogs do not like being ignored and some will learn very quickly that biting is not a behaviour that will end in them getting attention.
2. When your dog bites you, another option is to mimic the natural method of punishment by the mamma pup. Softly but firmly place one hand over the pup’s muzzle and the other on the back of the neck and gently shake him, letting out a low growling noise as you do this. This, obviously is an exceedingly uncomfortable situation for Mr. Puppy and he’s going to learn quickly that nipping/biting you is not acceptable.
3. My fave method of teaching a young dog to stop biting, is also probably the fastest method of stopping the behavior as it puts the dog in a uncomfortable situation. When your puppy bites you, push your finger or fingers, back in its mouth and hold them there till your baby dog gags, at which time, remove them. Although not painful, this resulting bodily reply will frighten your baby dog and he’ll learn extremely quickly that biting you ends up in a frightful result.
If you are consistent in the approach you take to stopping your baby dog from biting, you should see progress relatively swiftly. Keep under consideration that if you’ve got a family, then it is up to all of you, to be on the same page when it comes to the strategy you use to stop puppy biting.
Read plenty more articles from Dylann K Mirty coping with dog obedience training for smart dog breeds.
