DOGGIE DOG BLOG

Written by: David Harris

When dealing with the issue of a puppy’s play biting, the first thing to do is to decide what your goals are for that puppy.  What type of training you plan to use?  What type of dog do you want the puppy to mature to be?  And how long do you want the process to take?

If you want a quick fix to this problem then there are various ways to use negative reinforcement to create avoidance of the puppy putting its mouth on you.  Yelling, hitting, biting back, pinching their mouth with your hand, shaker cans or any other of the various punishment methods need not apply here.  They are not appropriate at any age and are most definitely out of line for a young puppy that doesn’t know right from wrong.  If you are determined to correct this behavior quickly then I suggest using a leash and collar correction.  Make sure the puppy is well socialized to the leash and is used to dragging it about.  Then hold the leash loosely in one hand while gently petting the puppy with your free hand.  When the puppy puts its mouth on you, resist the temptation to react and do not pull your hand away, rather keep that hand still and snap the leash sharply with the other hand at the same time giving a firm, not loud, verbal command of “Att Att”.  When the puppy releases your hand immediately go back to gently stroking the head and withers.  If/when the puppy starts biting again repeat your jerk and release correction and as before proceed that correction with a verbal correction.  Go back to petting until you can gently pet the puppy without getting bit.  This correction should start on a simple flat collar.  Do not start with any form of corrective collar.  Every puppy is different.  Each has its own level of drive and its own level of tolerance for corrections.  You can easily find the appropriate level of correction for your puppy by starting with a very mild correction and then adding just a little more zing to your correction each time the puppy forces you to repeat it.  Do not repeat the same correction over and over.  This will only build a tolerance to corrections and make your puppy harder to correct and less responsive to your verbal corrections.  Your goal here is simple.  To create avoidance of teeth on flesh.  Yelling and hitting will create avoidance of you, a mistrust of you and a diminishment of the bond you are building with your puppy.  Bad and slow timing will make it harder for the puppy to understand why it is being corrected.  So, to assure good timing you must be prepared, anticipate the behavior and know exactly what you are going to do in response to the puppy biting you.  Be firm, be consistent and follow up with lavish praise for the correct response and you will soon find that your puppy has lost interest in putting its mouth on you.

If you are raising a puppy that will be required to have a high level of confidence and drive as an adult then I suggest you take a slower, more measured response to this behavior.  Too harsh of a correction now will most definitely have a long term effect of the puppy’s confidence levels at maturity.  High performance adult dogs come from high drive puppies that think that are six foot tall and bullet proof.  If you teach the puppy now that it is vulnerable and easily dominated it will have a profound impact on its nerves and ability to handle adverse situations as an adult.

So, if your hoping for a couch potato that is sweet and compliant, then by all means get on with putting an end to puppy teeth-on-flesh.  But, if you’re taking a longer view towards a high level of competition, Search and Rescue (SAR) work, Drug Dog, Bomb Dog, Schutzhund or Agility Candidate or any type of performance dog you will need to explore more creative Positive Reinforcement methods to get rid of the puppy teeth-on-flesh behavior from your puppy.

Step One is control.  Make sure the puppy is on leash at all times so that you are not force to use your hands to correct it for biting you, but rather can simply hold the monster at bay with your leash.

At that point you have options.  You can divert the pup’s attention off you and onto a more appropriate medium for biting, such as a tug toy or play rag.  Anything beside you will do at this point.  I suggest you keep this toy on a rope so you can keep tension on it and keep the puppy engaged as well as keeping control over this game. If you’re in a hurry to go to work, tired or simple in no mood for puppy games, you are best off to put the puppy somewhere that its youthful energy isn’t going to cause you any trouble.  If you are in the mood to deal with your puppy’s natural energy and prey drive this is a good time for you to develop good behaviors to replace bad behaviors. When you are in the mood this game is fun!

Step Two is teaching.  Remember you should always take the time to teach your puppy what the right behavior is before even considering correcting it for the wrong behavior.  So, this is your change to teach the puppy the correct response to interacting with you.

The first step I take in teaching a puppy not to put their teeth on me is to Reinforce the Absence of the behavior.  To do this is simple. Take a hand full of food and close your hand around it.  Present the hand with food to your puppy.  Most puppies will proceed to grab your hand, bite your hand and generally try to force you to open your hand by whatever means comes to their mischievous little minds.  Do not react.  Hold your hand still, endure the biting.  Wait for the puppy to stop, be gentle, nuzzle your hand and then immediately verbally praise “That’s It” and open your hand allowing the puppy access to the food inside.  Repeat.  It will not take long for the puppy to get a clue.  Biting the hand that feeds you does not get you food!  Not biting the hand does.  Puppies are very quick learners when we get out of their way and allow them to train themselves by trial and error.  Biting=No response/no food.  Not Biting/Touching gently=Food & Kind Words.  Smart puppies learn fast.  Not so smart ones learn too and will be smarter from learning this lesson.

By paying special attention to the Nuzzling behavior and reinforcing that behavior you are now teaching your puppy a behavior that is incompatible to the bad behavior you want to go away.  Teaching an Incompatible Behavior is yet another wonderful positive reinforcement approach to eliminating an unwanted behavior from your puppy’s repertoire.

There are many other wonderful positive reinforcement approaches to getting rid of unwanted behaviors.  Always think about what the motivation is behind the behavior and you most like will find a simple way to get rid of the unwanted behavior by Changing the Motivation or you might devise a way to control the unwanted behavior by Putting the Behavior on Cue, but that would be a discussion for another day

As always, enjoy your puppy and feel free to ask questions.

David Harris