How to Train a Puppy Not to Bite/Nip
1.) React consistently to bites. Every time your puppy bites, say "NO!" in a firm voice. Then just walk away and ignore the puppy. Social isolation and time outs can be an effective form of punishment for a pack animal.[1] You can also yelp when your puppy bites too hard. It might seem silly but puppies in a litter will cry out if a sibling accidentally bites too hard. Yelping when your puppy lays teeth on your will give feedback to very young puppies about what is acceptable playing and what isn't.[2]
2.) Use a taste deterrent to keep your puppy from biting. Before you start playing with your puppy, spray a taste deterrent on areas of your body and clothes that your puppy likes to play rough with. When your puppy starts biting you, stop moving and wait for him to react to the taste deterrent. Once your puppy stops biting, praise him and continue playing. Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water to get the material off your hands.[3]
3.) Redirect your puppy's attention using teething toys. When he has calmed down, gently talk to him and stroke him. Keep your hand away from his mouth. Start playing again and avoid getting the puppy excited. This time, use toys instead of your hands to get your puppy engaged. Start playing fetch, so that you are tossing toys away from you and using the puppy’s prey drive for positive fun. Playing with toys can be used as a training reward or break and keeps your hands away from the puppy's teeth.[5]
4.) Play safely while you supervise training. Never play roughly with a puppy that bites. Rough play will only encourage this behavior and strongly establish it in the puppy's mind. Never use your hands as toys. You should also closely watch children playing around or with the puppy. Kids are not equipped to train a puppy and injuries can happen.[8]
5.) Use a water spray bottle in severe cases. In cases where biting is exceptionally strong or persistent, keep a water spray bottle handy. Accompany your firm "NO!" with a squirt of water in puppy's face to interrupt the behavior. Take care to set the nozzle to spray and not jet. You just want to startle the puppy, not harm him.[9] Be aware that the puppy will associate the water spray with you, and this could make him wary of you at other times.
6.) Reward good behavior. Always praise good behavior with lots of gentle love and cuddles. Use rewards effectively to reinforce good behavior. For example, if your dog successfully responds to your request to drop a toy, say, "yes!," or "good boy!" Verbal rewards work well when you're playing and may have your hands full of toys.[10]
PART TWO: Puppies and playing with litter-mates
1.) Understand how puppies usually learn about biting. It's normal for puppies to bite as they develop and grow. Usually, they learn about not biting from other members of their pack, including adult dogs. Puppies learn by playing with other pack mates about when to avoid causing serious damaging through biting. If puppies don't learn to control or stop biting, the other dogs will punish the puppy more severely, possibly by biting the puppy to cause injury.[11]
2.) Realize the importance of teaching your dog not to bite. If you allow puppy biting, it may get out of control and your puppy will not learn to control his bite. This can lead to serious behavioral issues when your puppy reaches adulthood. If you suspect your puppy is biting out of fear or anger, talk with an animal behavioral therapist, who may be able to help.[12]
SOURCE: http://www.wikihow.com/Train-a-Puppy-Not-to-Bite
- Teach children not to shriek, run or flap their hands because this will engage the puppy’s natural prey instincts and add to the problem. Children should remain calm and keep their hands closed and close to their bodies.
2.) Use a taste deterrent to keep your puppy from biting. Before you start playing with your puppy, spray a taste deterrent on areas of your body and clothes that your puppy likes to play rough with. When your puppy starts biting you, stop moving and wait for him to react to the taste deterrent. Once your puppy stops biting, praise him and continue playing. Make sure you wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water to get the material off your hands.[3]
- Taste deterrents include: “Bitter Apple,” “Vick’s Vapor Rub,” or white vinegar. Use these on your hands to make them taste unpleasant. Contrary to a previous post, please note that tea tree oil can cause temporary paralysis in dogs; use products that are tested as safe for dogs/animals. [4]
3.) Redirect your puppy's attention using teething toys. When he has calmed down, gently talk to him and stroke him. Keep your hand away from his mouth. Start playing again and avoid getting the puppy excited. This time, use toys instead of your hands to get your puppy engaged. Start playing fetch, so that you are tossing toys away from you and using the puppy’s prey drive for positive fun. Playing with toys can be used as a training reward or break and keeps your hands away from the puppy's teeth.[5]
- Some trainers suggest playing tug-of-war with your puppy. The puppy learns that the game is fun, but is also controlled by you, the human at the other end of the toy. The fun will stop if the rules of the game aren't honored, keeping everyone safe.[6][7]
4.) Play safely while you supervise training. Never play roughly with a puppy that bites. Rough play will only encourage this behavior and strongly establish it in the puppy's mind. Never use your hands as toys. You should also closely watch children playing around or with the puppy. Kids are not equipped to train a puppy and injuries can happen.[8]
- Don't let children play tug with the puppy unless an adult is present, the puppy fully understands the rules, and only if the puppy’s size does not pose a risk to the child during the game.
5.) Use a water spray bottle in severe cases. In cases where biting is exceptionally strong or persistent, keep a water spray bottle handy. Accompany your firm "NO!" with a squirt of water in puppy's face to interrupt the behavior. Take care to set the nozzle to spray and not jet. You just want to startle the puppy, not harm him.[9] Be aware that the puppy will associate the water spray with you, and this could make him wary of you at other times.
- Never threaten the puppy with the squirt bottle or create fear. You also don’t want to create a situation where the puppy only behaves if the squirt bottle is in your hand.
6.) Reward good behavior. Always praise good behavior with lots of gentle love and cuddles. Use rewards effectively to reinforce good behavior. For example, if your dog successfully responds to your request to drop a toy, say, "yes!," or "good boy!" Verbal rewards work well when you're playing and may have your hands full of toys.[10]
- Remember, you are now the puppy's parent. It's your responsibility to encourage him to become a happy, healthy, well-adjusted family member.
PART TWO: Puppies and playing with litter-mates
1.) Understand how puppies usually learn about biting. It's normal for puppies to bite as they develop and grow. Usually, they learn about not biting from other members of their pack, including adult dogs. Puppies learn by playing with other pack mates about when to avoid causing serious damaging through biting. If puppies don't learn to control or stop biting, the other dogs will punish the puppy more severely, possibly by biting the puppy to cause injury.[11]
- If the puppy does learn easily from his pack mates, they'll become more forceful and clear about biting behavior until the puppy behaves in a manner acceptable to other members of its pack.
2.) Realize the importance of teaching your dog not to bite. If you allow puppy biting, it may get out of control and your puppy will not learn to control his bite. This can lead to serious behavioral issues when your puppy reaches adulthood. If you suspect your puppy is biting out of fear or anger, talk with an animal behavioral therapist, who may be able to help.[12]
- It is not acceptable for puppies to bite people, or other animals, unless they are in true physical danger and need to defend themselves.
SOURCE: http://www.wikihow.com/Train-a-Puppy-Not-to-Bite
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Children and Puppies Nipping/Biting AdviceWhen puppies play with each other, they use their mouths. Therefore, puppies usually want to bite or "mouth" hands during play or when being petted. With puppies, this is rarely aggressive behavior in which the intent is to do harm.
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Because puppies are highly motivated to exhibit this type of behavior, attempts to suppress it or stop it are unlikely to be successful unless you give your puppy an alternative behavior. The goals of working with this normal puppy behavior are to redirect your puppy's desire to put something in her mouth onto acceptable chew toys and to teach her to be gentle when a hand is in her mouth.
Encourage acceptable behavior:
Redirect your puppy's chewing onto acceptable objects by offering her a small rawhide chew bone or other type of chew toy whenever you pet her. Rawhide and other bones should only be given when you can monitor your puppy to prevent choking.
This technique can be especially effective when children want to pet her. As you or the child reach out to scratch her behind the ears (not over the head) with one hand, offer the chew bone with the other. This will not only help your puppy learn that people and petting are wonderful, but will also keep her mouth busy while she's being petted. Alternate which hand does the petting and which one has the chew bone. At first, you may need to pet or scratch your puppy for short periods of time, since the longer she's petted, the more likely she is to get excited and start to nip.
Discourage unacceptable behavior:
You must also teach your puppy to be gentle with hands, and that nipping results in unpleasant consequences for her. Teach your puppy that nipping turns off any attention and social interaction with you. After a nip, look your puppy right in the eye, and yell, "Ouch!" as though you've been mortally wounded, then ignore her. Leave the room if you must, but ignore her until she's calm, then try the chew bone and petting method again. It's even better if you can coax your puppy into a sitting position using food. It may take many repetitions for her to understand what's expected.
Nipping and mouthing hands can also be discouraged by loosely holding your puppy's lower jaw between your thumb and forefinger after she's taken your hand in her mouth. Don't hurt her by squeezing too hard, just gently hang on so that wherever her mouth goes, your hand hangs on. This will quickly become tiresome and she'll eventually pull away. After several seconds, release her jaw, but continue to offer her your hand. If she licks or ignores it, praise, pet and offer a tidbit. If she closes her mouth on your hand again, repeat the procedure.
A third alternative is to wear cotton gloves coated with a substance with an unpleasant taste such as Bitter Apple. In this way, your puppy will learn that "hands in mouth taste bad." For this method to work, every time she nips your hand she must experience this bad taste. The possible disadvantage to this method is that your puppy may learn hands with gloves taste bad and those without gloves don't.
Remember that any of these three methods will probably not be effective unless you work hard to teach your puppy the right behavior by offering her an acceptable chew toy.
Jumping up:
When your puppy jumps up on you, she/he wants attention. Whether you push her away, knee her in the chest or step on her hind legs, she's being rewarded for jumping up even though it's negative attention, she's still getting what she wants, your attention.
When your puppy jumps up:
Fold your arms in front of you, turn away from her and say, "off." Continue to turn away from him/her until all four of her/his feet are on the ground, then quietly praise her and give her a treat. If she knows the "sit" command, give the command when all four of her feet are on the ground, then quietly praise her and give her a treat her while she's in the sitting position.
When you begin to praise her, if she begins to jump up again, simply turn away and repeat step two, above. Remember to keep your praise low-key.
When your puppy realizes that she gets no attention from you while she's jumping up, but does get attention when she stops jumping up and sits, she'll stop jumping up. Remember, once you've taught her to come and sit quietly for attention, you must reward her behavior. Be careful not to ignore her when she comes and sits politely, waiting for your attention.
What not to do:
Attempts to tap, slap or hit your puppy in the face for nipping or jumping up are almost guaranteed to backfire. Several things may happen, depending on your puppy's temperament and the severity of the correction:
A note about children and puppies:
It's very difficult for children under eight or nine years old to practice the kind of behavior modification outlined here. Children's first reaction to being nipped or mouthed by a puppy is to push the puppy away with their hands and arms. This will be interpreted by the puppy as play and will probably cause the puppy to nip and mouth even more. Dogs/puppies should never be left alone with children under 10 and parents should monitor closely all interactions between their children and dogs.
http://www.paws.org/libra…/…/puppies/nipping-and-rough-play/
Encourage acceptable behavior:
Redirect your puppy's chewing onto acceptable objects by offering her a small rawhide chew bone or other type of chew toy whenever you pet her. Rawhide and other bones should only be given when you can monitor your puppy to prevent choking.
This technique can be especially effective when children want to pet her. As you or the child reach out to scratch her behind the ears (not over the head) with one hand, offer the chew bone with the other. This will not only help your puppy learn that people and petting are wonderful, but will also keep her mouth busy while she's being petted. Alternate which hand does the petting and which one has the chew bone. At first, you may need to pet or scratch your puppy for short periods of time, since the longer she's petted, the more likely she is to get excited and start to nip.
Discourage unacceptable behavior:
You must also teach your puppy to be gentle with hands, and that nipping results in unpleasant consequences for her. Teach your puppy that nipping turns off any attention and social interaction with you. After a nip, look your puppy right in the eye, and yell, "Ouch!" as though you've been mortally wounded, then ignore her. Leave the room if you must, but ignore her until she's calm, then try the chew bone and petting method again. It's even better if you can coax your puppy into a sitting position using food. It may take many repetitions for her to understand what's expected.
Nipping and mouthing hands can also be discouraged by loosely holding your puppy's lower jaw between your thumb and forefinger after she's taken your hand in her mouth. Don't hurt her by squeezing too hard, just gently hang on so that wherever her mouth goes, your hand hangs on. This will quickly become tiresome and she'll eventually pull away. After several seconds, release her jaw, but continue to offer her your hand. If she licks or ignores it, praise, pet and offer a tidbit. If she closes her mouth on your hand again, repeat the procedure.
A third alternative is to wear cotton gloves coated with a substance with an unpleasant taste such as Bitter Apple. In this way, your puppy will learn that "hands in mouth taste bad." For this method to work, every time she nips your hand she must experience this bad taste. The possible disadvantage to this method is that your puppy may learn hands with gloves taste bad and those without gloves don't.
Remember that any of these three methods will probably not be effective unless you work hard to teach your puppy the right behavior by offering her an acceptable chew toy.
Jumping up:
When your puppy jumps up on you, she/he wants attention. Whether you push her away, knee her in the chest or step on her hind legs, she's being rewarded for jumping up even though it's negative attention, she's still getting what she wants, your attention.
When your puppy jumps up:
Fold your arms in front of you, turn away from her and say, "off." Continue to turn away from him/her until all four of her/his feet are on the ground, then quietly praise her and give her a treat. If she knows the "sit" command, give the command when all four of her feet are on the ground, then quietly praise her and give her a treat her while she's in the sitting position.
When you begin to praise her, if she begins to jump up again, simply turn away and repeat step two, above. Remember to keep your praise low-key.
When your puppy realizes that she gets no attention from you while she's jumping up, but does get attention when she stops jumping up and sits, she'll stop jumping up. Remember, once you've taught her to come and sit quietly for attention, you must reward her behavior. Be careful not to ignore her when she comes and sits politely, waiting for your attention.
What not to do:
Attempts to tap, slap or hit your puppy in the face for nipping or jumping up are almost guaranteed to backfire. Several things may happen, depending on your puppy's temperament and the severity of the correction:
- She could become "hand-shy" and cringe or cower whenever a hand comes toward her face.
- She could become afraid of you and refuse to come to you or approach you at all.
- She could respond in a defensive manner and attempt to bite you to defend herself.
- She could interpret a mild slap as an invitation to play, causing her to become more excited and even more likely to nip.
- Never play tug-of-war or wrestling games with your puppy if you're having a nipping problem. These types of games encourage out-of-control behavior, grabbing, lunging and competition with you. These aren't behaviors you want her to learn.
A note about children and puppies:
It's very difficult for children under eight or nine years old to practice the kind of behavior modification outlined here. Children's first reaction to being nipped or mouthed by a puppy is to push the puppy away with their hands and arms. This will be interpreted by the puppy as play and will probably cause the puppy to nip and mouth even more. Dogs/puppies should never be left alone with children under 10 and parents should monitor closely all interactions between their children and dogs.
http://www.paws.org/libra…/…/puppies/nipping-and-rough-play/
