| Puppies bite. This is not a form of
aggression, but a form of play and communication.
It's important to train a puppy not to bite in play
or to communicate, as this behavior can become
unacceptable and even dangerous in an adult dog.
This is a very important lesson for a puppy to
learn.
For many puppies, all it takes is the owner "Yiping"
when puppy teeth touch human skin for them to stop
this behavior. Give a "Yipe!" and stop the game for
about 15 minutes after you've had to yipe to get pup
to take teeth off you.
That's what another puppy would do, and it helps
the puppy understand. This sound needs to be what a
puppy would do when the idea is "Ouch! That hurts! I
don't like it! Stop it right now!"
In the litter, that offended puppy would then
retaliate in some way, or refuse to play with the
rough puppy for awhile. Some puppies have strong
predatory instincts that are over stimulated when a
person yipes, and for these puppies this would then
not be an appropriate method.
Also, make sure no one is playing "mouth games"
with the puppy, encouraging it to put teeth on
humans for any reason. You need to react with your "yipe"
or other intervention every time teeth touch a
human, whether it hurts or not, so the puppy will
understand this vital concept: no teeth on people.
Even a gentle touch could get someone hurt if they
jerk their hand away, and people will do that,
especially kids.
My favorite intervention for a dog putting teeth
on people in play is not a quick fix, but it has
nice benefits and is very safe to do with most dogs.
I simply hold the mouth closed for 15 seconds (work
up to this time--at first it might frighten the dog
to hold for more than about 5 seconds), while
praising the dog. I say "[Dog's name], Close Your
Mouth. GOOD Close Your Mouth!"
This teaches the dog the words for the behavior I
want--and eventually you can remind the dog about
the mouth by just saying those words. But that stage
won't last long, because if you are very consistent
about doing this intervention every time the puppy
puts teeth on people, eventually the puppy will
never do so at all.
By handling the mouthing from a positive point of
view with praise--although it's still a correction:
done every time the dog mouths a person's skin, it
shows the dog the correct behavior of keeping teeth
off people and praises the dog for doing it--you
gain other benefits, such as accustoming your dog to
being comfortable having someone control its mouth.
You do have to be consistent and stay with this
over a period of time to get really solid results.
Dogs not taught about teeth on people do not
automatically outgrow it, so this is time very well
spent training your dog. This method works on adult
dogs as well as puppies, and is much safer for both
you and the dog than harsh corrections.
Teaching a dog never to put teeth on humans is
for family dogs. For some types of work dogs might
do, the trainer may not want to create this strong
inhibition against putting teeth on human skin. In
those cases, the trainer may manage the puppy
mouthing behavior by simply putting a toy in the
dog's mouth. We can definitely take a cue from these
trainers by redirecting our dogs' mouthing behavior
into their toys, after we have carefully shown the
dog not to mouth us. I also find it useful to teach
the dog the word "Kiss" for licking. When the dog is
highly stimulated in play and seems to need to touch
me in some manner, I can remind the dog "Kiss" and
then praise the dog for licking me.
In the early stages of working on mouthing
behavior with a puppy or new dog, keep in mind that
you want to teach any new behavior/command in a
quiet situation with minimal distractions. So start
teaching "Close Your Mouth" with the praise at times
when the dog is quiet. Soon you can do it quickly
and smoothly whenever mouthing occurs, even if the
dog is excited. But you will in the process be
bringing the dog's excitement level down and helping
your dog develop self-control.
The praise is important to helping the puppy
or dog learn to have no fear of a human taking
control of its mouth. You are praising the puppy for
accepting the restraint at that instant, not for the
mouthing done 3 seconds ago.
Be sure you don't cause your dog to bite its lips
or tongue when you restrain the mouth--it should be
comfortable for the dog, as it should be any time
you require your dog to obey any command of yours. |
