Dog Training Tips and News

Chewing and Nipping and Biting: Training Your Puppy Not To Bite

We all love our puppies, especially when they are cute and well behaved. We adore them even when they are acting out and displaying annoying habits.

However, bad habits are a relative issue, based on our standards of how we think they should act.

As puppies, they are only acting on instinct! They are dogs afterall! To maintain a safe and peaceful household, puppies must learn to interact successfully in our world. As such, it is our responsibility to make that happen.

With proper training, any puppy can learn to change bad habits like these:

Nipping: Nipping during play is natural for puppies, especially when excited. Irregardless of how cute your puppy is or how harmless playful biting appears, nipping is a bad habit that should be corrected as soon as possible. Your puppy needs to understand that his teeth should never touch a human. Changing this type of behavior reduce the chances that your puppy grows up and bites someone.

When your puppy starts to nip, focus his biting onto toys instead of your hands. Use toys that are inviting to his mouth like chewy, rubber toys, especially those that come with treats inside, and soft, colorful plush toys that will peak his interest.

Do not wait to start to train your puppy. Even puppies as young as 8 weeks can learn that nipping is not allowed. When he starts to bite during play, say OUCH and back away for a few seconds. If he bites again, walk away, go to a different room and close the door, but do not leave him alone for any longer than one minute.

This separation technique teaches the puppy that biting hard makes the fun go away. He will eventually learn to control the pressure of his nipping. Once he learns to nip gently, raise the bar and say OUCH to even gentle bites until it completely stops.

Chewing: Another annoying habit that frustrates dog owners is when these cute little creatures chew on our stuff (especially those brand new shoes). Puppies have an insatiable urge to chew, mainly to soothe their aching gums as they go through their teething stage. It would be cruel to stop your puppy from trying to soothe his pain, but you can redirect his chewing to his toys instead of your shoes, clothes, books, etc.

Always have plenty of toys available for him to chew on. Get him used to chewing on these toys by having them around with him at all times while he’s still young. Make sure to place these items in a confined area with your puppy so that he doesn’t focus his attention on other stuff around the house. If you see him chewing on something improper, say NO CHEW and quickly replace the item with his chew toy. Make sure to praise him when he starts to chew on his toy.

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