If you have a puppy or dog who is biting or nipping at you then you need to take immediate action to discourage him. In most cases puppies and young dogs who engage in this kind of activity have not learned proper bite inhibition behavior from their mother and littermates or from their owners. You can stop dogs biting fast with the following tips.
Stop Dogs Biting
1. Use a bitter agent. Before playing with your puppy or young dog rub a bitter agent on your hands to make them taste bad. You can find these cremes in most pet stores and online. When your puppy or young dog puts his mouth on your skin it will taste bad to him and he’ll quickly let go.
2. Don’t engage in rough play with your puppy or young dog. This is especially true if your puppy or young dog has not learned to control his biting impulses. Only play gently with your puppy. Praise and reward him when he’s being calm and quiet. Encourage gentle play and lots of gentle petting.
3. Give your puppy or young dog a refresher course in bite inhibition. This is easy to do. Whenever your puppy’s teeth touch your skin you should make a loud fuss. Over-act. Let your puppy know that he has hurt you. Then call a time-out. Don’t play with your puppy for at least 30 seconds. After this time-out you can resume your play, but only if your puppy is calm. If your puppy bites you again you should take a longer time-out of a minute. You can continue playing again when your puppy is calm. If your puppy bites again end the play session. Turn your back on him and ignore him. Do not play again for at least an hour.
If you follow this plan your puppy will learn that when he bites no one will play with him. He will learn to curb his biting. This is bite inhibition.
Your puppy should have learned bite inhibition from his mother and littermates at a young age. However, puppies don’t always make the connection between not biting their littermates too hard and not biting people. They have to be taught that it’s not appropriate to roughhouse with or bite people. It’s your job to teach your puppy or young dog this lesson.
4. If you have children who play with your puppy or young dog make sure that they are supervised. Puppies can often play too roughly with children and a small bite can become a big problem with a child. Children and other family members should be taught not to encourage rough play with puppies. Teach children not to run away from puppies or dogs. Dogs will chase them in a spirit of play but things can quickly get out of hand and a child can be injured. You should also teach children in your family how to properly handle puppies so your puppy isn’t injured.
Most bites from puppies and dogs occur as accidents but they can be prevented if you teach your puppy or young dog proper bite inhibition and you teach your children how to behave around puppies. Follow the suggestions offered here and you can stop dogs biting fast in many cases.
Of course, this article is only able to cover a small selection of the facts on how to stop dogs biting. There are many different facts to consider and it’s important to get them right. When possible, get a good solid guide to show you everything you need to know about how to stop dogs biting.
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