One of the cutest things about having a puppy for a pet is when it does puppy biting. It may seem like a puppy biting its toys, other dogs, or even you is awww-inducing due to playfulness. However, it should be something that concerns a dog owner and be put to a stop immediately.
It may not be so obvious in this early stage of a dog’s life, but a pup that is allowed to get away with puppy biting can actually have serious aggression and dominance issues when it grows up. Even if it is such a cute thing to witness, you need to muster up enough courage to put a stop to it – for your sake and the puppy’s.
What’s great about this behavioral concern though is that puppies can easily stop biting at a young age – provided that they receive the right training to help them get over the habit. On their own, too, they realize that biting may not have some good results.
As a puppy is born to a litter and is surrounded by lots of brothers and sisters all within biting distance, it will come to realize that demonstrating that biting behavior on a sibling will have that sibling retaliating in the same manner – and so the puppy learns just exactly how it feels to be bitten.
When a puppy turns eight weeks old, there is a good chance that it has already learned that biting is not a good thing. The problem arises, however, when the mother dog is not able to curb this puppy biting habits in that critical eight weeks.
Biting in the Puppy’s Early Days
When you bring home a puppy that is younger than eight weeks of age or it has not learned to avoid nipping or biting your fingers prior to you getting it, you immediately have to address the biting behavior before it gets worse.
The puppyhood stage is the best time to address and curb this, while the nipping and biting is not as painful as compared to when the pup is bigger and has had the chance to develop big, sharp, and strong teeth.
The first thing you need to remember is that you must not hit your puppy if it bites you. This may be the retaliation reaction of its siblings, but when you do it they will think that you are out to hurt them and then they will be afraid of you. This fear can in turn develop some serious phobias and anxiety issues in the pup, which has a high chance of developing into aggression as it grows up.
Stopping the puppy biting behavior the right way will always be about addressing the root cause of the behavior. In order to do this, make it a point to encourage and emphasize any good behaviors that the pup displays. At the same time, you should also discourage whatever negative behaviors they will also demonstrate.
If you play games with the puppy that has some form of aggression, it may get confused and think that such actions are playful and okay to do. Thus, it is best if you avoid playing tug of war, wrestling, and chase games with the puppy – especially if the end result will have you being nipped by your furry, four-legged friend.
What really works in puppy training to work out the biting issues is consistency. If you are deadest on curbing this behavior, you need to do the same responses each and every time the situation calls for it. Do not let yourself grow soft, nor should you become lax and allow to puppy to get away with it – not even once! Remember, in the long run you are doing it a whole world of good.
Puppy Training 101
When the time is right for your pup to engage in training, you may consider enrolling it in an obedience or even socialization class. There are also more specialized classes these days, with one that focuses on bite inhibition for dogs that are really stubborn and refuse to comply with the no-biting command.
Here, the trainer mimics the puppy’s mom. He will display the behaviors of the mother and this includes teaching it that biting is not a socially acceptable practice – not with other dogs nor with people.
In the puppy stage, socialization has many benefits apart from teaching your dog that it is not good to bite. For one thing, socialization gives your dog the opportunity to give a good response to other dogs that they encounter on the streets, reducing whatever aggression they may have thought to express to the other dogs.
When working on stopping puppy biting in the earlier days, you can also try redirecting the puppy’s behavior and make it focus on something that is more constructive in nature. Instead of zeroing on the biting behavior an ordering the dog to stop, you can instead give it its favorite chew toy or a nice bone to bite on instead.
When doing this, you can say “No!” to the dog before handing it the toy, and it will learn that biting fingers is not good and they should settle for biting their toy instead.
Another good strategy to try in order to address puppy biting is to elicit a hurt noise if the puppy bites you. This response is a replication of the sound a dog makes as it bites any other member of the litter.
When you make a yip or a soft whine, this tells the puppy that you are in pain – and wouldn’t you know, this is something that it really does not want to do! Startle the dog with the whining sound just enough for it to let go.
Emphasis should be made on training your puppy to curb the biting behavior at a young age so this will not be a recurring or even a bigger problem as it ages. Try to target your puppy being 10 weeks old and knowing that biting is not a good habit, and you should be set on having more relaxes years ahead of you!
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I subscribed to you for my Havanese puppy obedience. It helped me a lot in training my Bella. Although, she’s a smart, affectionate dog, she’s also very needy & wants my attention all the time. She loves to lick & I hate it. How can I help her reduce the licking & asking for soo much attention. Once in a while, she would nip on the door frames & sides of the carpeting. I got her toys that she can play by herself & stimulate her eager mind, walk her every now & then, but, her energy is too much. I don’t have all the time to spend with her. I need my ME time too. She is very energetic.
Also, is it okay to give her the antler horn for her to nibble & keep her busy.
Pls help. Thanks