Stop Your Puppy From Biting You

If you have a new puppy in your household you are probably noticing that your new puppy is biting everything he can get his little mouth around. This not only hurts, if it is you he is biting, but is also hazardous for any loose items and even the furniture inside your house.

Below I have listed some good ideas for helping you deal with your puppy’s biting stage.

* One of the first things to do is provide some chew toys to your puppy. He’s teething, so he’s going to have to bite something, and these chew toys are the perfect substitutes for your hands and feet. As you start playing with your puppy and he gets too rough, stop him by placing your hand over his mouth to hold it shut. Hold his mouth closed with your hand until he stops resisting your grip. He may squirm around because he won’t like his mouth being held shut-so soothe him with a calm voice and hold him still with your other hand. Without raising your voice firmly tell him “no biting”. Get him to take the chew toy in his mouth, and then give him lots of praise and affection. Repeat this each time you play with the puppy and he will associate the positive reinforcement with chewing on the toy instead of you.

* A good way to prevent household damage when you can’t supervise your puppy’s activities directly, is to keep him in his crate. By not either watching or confining your puppy to his crate, he most likely will be found chewing various items around the house. Always be sure to have some chew toys inside his crate for him to bite on while there.

* Use common sense to stop your puppy from biting easily findable items. For instance, it is a simple and easy idea to keep all your shoes behind a closed door. Keep the puppy in just one area of the house (if not in his crate), and the doors to anywhere else should remain closed.

* Use another tip from Mama dog to stop your puppy from biting by letting your puppy know that his biting is hurting you is to yelp in a high pitched voice. If you watch a Mama dog, you’ll see she does this when a puppy is biting too hard-to let him know he is hurting her.

* I have found that if I put my hand over the puppy’s mouth and also give the puppy a snarl while staring directly into his eyes sends a strong enough message to stop biting that he is likely to begin biting as soon as I let go. Remember, don’t stop the correction until the puppy is clearly submissive, and demonstrates that he knows you are in control.

* In order to discourage your puppy from biting, don’t play rough house games (such as tug of war and wrestling) with him. I, for one, was always guilty of playing rough with my young puppies, and I had the scarred and scabbed hands and forearms to show for it. At the time I didn’t know better and was unaware that this was potentially a way to increase my puppy’s level of aggression.

Another good way to stop the biting is grab your puppy by the scruff of the neck-just like Mama dog does-and give the puppy a shake. This won’t hurt him, but it copies Mama’s style, so it is effective. Remember to use your hand for this correction method-not your mouth like Mama. You don’t want to copy it that closely.

I bet if you try out these tips, your puppy will get the message, and transfer his biting and chewing to the approved chew toys. The best of these is the Kong. You can put some peanut butter inside the Kong, and your puppy will chew on his Kong and not on you or your stuff.

Hopefully, these simple tips to save your skin and your household from your puppy’s inquisitive and busy teeth, will prove helpful. Your puppy may need to chew to comfort his teeth for up to 2 years old in some cases, so be sure to correct the problem when he is a pup, to get it under control early on.