Puppy Biting

Puppy Biting

Puppies explore the world around them using their mouth. This can lead to your puppy mouthing or biting you. It’s really important that your puppy learns to keep their teeth away from human skin.

To help your puppy to learn this you are going to start by instigating a toy play session with your puppy.

All the time that your puppy is making good choices - keeping their paws on the ground, and grabbing or pulling on the toy - you are going to praise them lots, pet them, and continue playing. You can even reward your puppy with treats for playing nicely.

If at any point your puppy catches your hands or jumps up to pull at your clothes you’re going to disengage from your puppy a little. Start by sitting back a bit and folding your arms. If your puppy persists, stand up and turn away from your puppy. You can walk further away or go beyond a baby gate to prevent your puppy from continuing to practice unwanted behaviour.

Try to avoid yelping or making a sudden sound, as this often backfires when your puppy thinks you have become a human squeaky toy, and gets very excited!!

As soon as your puppy makes an alternative choice - for example putting their paws on the ground, or letting go of your clothes, you are going to praise and reward them generously.

If you find that your puppy is getting a bit stuck and continues to bite, jump and grab your clothes, it’s likely that your puppy needs to get some more sleep and have a nap. Settle them down with a calm enrichment activity to help them relax before they fall asleep.

Always remember to reward everything good your puppy does as this will help your puppy to make better choices in the future too.

thank you for reading this...and if you would like to learn more on how I can help you with your puppy training you can book a discovery call.

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Sylvia Koczerzuk, www.walkaboutcanineconsulting.org