Jan 26 2010

Stop Your Puppy From Biting – 7 Golden Rules

One of the first things you will want to do with your new puppy is to teach it not to bite This behaviour if not stopped can become an act of aggression in your adult dog, possibly leading to a situation where he would seriously injure a child, even if unintentionally.

Stay Consistent

It is important that everyone trains the puppy in the same way. Teach your children to treat your puppy exactly as you do. Biting is a natural act in a puppy. It is natural for them to bite their litter mates as an act of playing and so they will want to do exactly the same with you or you children.

Act Just Like A Puppy

It is easy to stop them when you understand how they behave with their brothers and sisters. They stop if one of their litter mates yelps, so any time he nibbles on your fingers all you have to do is yelp just like him. He will stop and you can move your hand away. Don’t play with him for a while after he bit you. When you playing with him and he doesn’t bite, reward him with a few treats.

Keep Your Training Sessions Short

Keep your training sessions with the puppy short. Puppies don’t have a long attention span. It is important for the training to be positive and it also helps if you talk to your puppy in a happy voice. Give lots of praise. Pet the puppy when he pays attention to what you are saying.

Plenty Of Toys

When you happen to be working on the way to educate a new puppy not to bite make certain the puppy is provided with toys to bite and chew on. In case your dog bites your hand say ouch or yelp. Keep consistent in this. Should your puppy backs off it is important to let him know that this pleases you.

Love And Attention

Your puppy naturally requires lots of love and attention. Loads of play time with the right toys is also important. Puppies like texture. It’s a good idea therefore to keep plenty of different types of toys on hand. He will pick his favourite one. Use that one when you are teaching him not to bite.

Don’t Give Your Puppy Old Shoes And Clothes

Nevertheless, do not provide your old boots and shoes or clothes to your puppy to play with. He has absolutely no idea what may be new and what is not. He could believe this implies it is Acceptable to munch up all your clothing and footwear. Puppies will become confused easily. He has to recognize that your things are definitely not his playthings.

Stick With The Routine

Ensure everyone sticks to the program. You should never have the children let your puppy nip or bite them during play, this will certainly confuse the puppy. Train them to yelp and finish playing too. Make sure your puppy is provided treats for good behaviour and not for bad.

Bear in mind, it is a natural thing for puppies to bite as well as nip at their playmates so it usually takes a little time to unlearn the behaviour. No one wants a dog that is aggressive towards anyone therefore it is really worth putting into practice all these tips on how to teach a puppy not to bite.

Hannah Clapham is a keen writerwith a particular interest in the area of dog training. Her latest website discusses the benefits of using a Citronella Anti Bark Collar to prevent nuisance barking. For more information, visit the Citronella Anti Bark Collar website