Puppy bites – How to break my puppy's biting habit!
New puppy owners often know the problem - the new dog already leaves painful marks on the hands of his humans with his small sharp and pointed teeth. These small biting attacks occur especially during play and are usually not meant maliciously, but still unpleasant. Learn now in this article why your puppy bites and what you can do about it.
My puppy bites - Why?
When romping and playing, the puppy bites not only the hands and legs, but also often tampers with the clothes or heels of their owners and peers. But why does the little puppy do this? To become aware of this question, take a look at playing young dogs and puppies.
You will usually quickly realize that romping around is not just a game for your little four-legged friend, but a vital social learning environment. Through play, your four-legged friend will practice rules and learn important physical skills. Snapping, nipping, biting and all other attempts at physical contact with the other person are normal.
Puppies look among themselves on such behavior? To hear the owners get a loud yowling and barking. With puppies, the rule is - "tit for tat". On a painful biter is therefore bitten back directly. The young puppies learn in this way what is allowed during romping and playing and what is rather inappropriate. In this learning phase the so-called Bite inhibition -we will report on this in more detail at a later date.
Unfortunately, the skin of a human is much more sensitive than the thick fur of a dog, so the puppies must quickly learn that caution is required here. Of course, the owners can not now act according to the above motto, and bite the puppy in a body part, because he has gone overboard with his behavior.
But what we can do is learn some important things from animal behavior among ourselves. There is always an immediate reaction to a particular behavior. This is of great importance for our dog training. No puppy howls only 5 minutes later after being bitten by another dog. Only in this way puppies learn rules and limits of the opposite.
What is bite inhibition and how do I train it?
Every little snapping of the puppy must be followed by a clear reaction of the owner. The wrong behavior should not be neglected under any circumstances, because the puppy can still hardly distinguish what kind of biting is okay and what is not. As soon as the puppy bites, you must act directly on it with a reaction. The most important goal for the future is to have a four-legged friend at his side who has learned extensively that the skin and clothing of humans are taboo for him.
Biting must not be accepted in puppies
A safe and effective way to help your puppy break the habit of biting is to leave him with his dog mom and siblings for a sufficiently long time. As a general rule, a puppy should never be separated from its mother and litter until it is at least eight to ten weeks old. Unfortunately, this time period cannot always be achieved for a variety of reasons, so puppies are often separated from their mother and littermates far too early.
From this point on, the owner is responsible for the positive social behavior of the puppy. The owner must ensure that the puppy learns all the important rules that he would ideally have learned from his dog mom.
One of the most important lessons a puppy must learn is to suppress the biting impulse. If a dog doesn't learn this in its younger years, you can assume 90 percent of the time that the four-legged friend will happily snap even as an adult. This habit is not only annoying, but also problematic - especially if he lives as a family dog with children. Therefore, it is immensely important that you get your puppy out of the habit of biting from the very beginning.
Especially small children can react unpredictably when a dog makes use of his sharp teeth. It is much worse, however, if strange children get to feel the sharp teeth of your four-legged friend while playing and romping. Of course you know what makes your dog tick and can judge him accordingly, but outsiders cannot.
What your puppy understands as exuberant playing and romping, strangers quickly and carelessly interpret as aggression. This situation can often end very sadly for the dog's owner and, in the worst case, your loved one will be taken away from you.
However, even a puppy that is well behaved by the dog mom, can develop an unconscious eagerness during play. In this case, the puppy bites and snaps uncontrollably at everything that moves. This problem should be addressed consistently so that you can break your puppy's habit of biting.
Tips and tricks - puppies to break the habit of biting
Most puppies respond amazingly well and effectively to the imitated sound of a bitten quadruped. You should not be shy here, just bark back. A little imitation yapping and growling can prevent future snapping. But this is not always the case, because in the worst case, it can happen that your puppy gets even more into his feelings as a result. The consequence of this is that your four-legged friend will only bite harder.
In this case, you should consider an alternative. At this point, we can recommend the replacement of a biting object. In this learning training, it is important that you do not let yourself be bitten, because the dog should bite into a carried object. Here you can use, for example, a small ball or a dog toy made of rubber. Thick sports socks with one or two knots in them are also optimal.
As soon as the puppy bites, answer with a strict and persistent "No". It does not matter whether your puppy bites you or an unauthorized object. Then you take away the forbidden object or the respective body part and offer him his exchange object. In this case it is for example the above mentioned ball. As soon as your puppy turns its full attention to this object, you must praise it extensively. With this praise you should not spare, exaggerate it with pleasure a little.
Furthermore, also the Clicker training can also help to break the puppy's habit of biting. Some learning methods can effectively correct the annoying behavior. However, for this, the puppy must first be accustomed to the fact that every click has positive consequences for him. For repeated clicking, give your puppy a treat. Next, you must acknowledge every positive behavior of your four-legged friend, no matter how small, with a click. This is the only way your pet will get the impression that he has done something good. Consequently, in order to receive further rewards, he must behave accordingly.
Once the dog understands that the click sound represents positive behavior, apply this method to biting behavior as well. Say "No" clearly and distinctly when your puppy bites. If he then responds appropriately, reward him with a click and a treat.
Basically, you can say that consistency and consistency, is all you need for a well behaved puppy. Every member of the family must use the same method to deal with the dog in order to break the puppy's biting habit. If everyone pulls together and stays consistent, the snapping and biting will end quickly. If your puppy bites, then just follow the above tips - you will see, biting will be a thing of the past within a short time.
