Stop Puppy Biting With These Proven Strategies
Biting is expected behavior from your puppy, especially because biting is how they discover and interact with their surroundings. Due to this, most puppy owners have experienced some form of puppy mouthing, nibbling, and biting before. However, if your puppy's biting habit has become frustrating for you, try these strategies to stop puppy biting today!
Exercise Your Puppy
A key factor to your puppy acting out and engaging in problematic habits such as biting would be a lack of physical and mental stimulation. Hence, your dog is less likely to lay its sharp little teeth on you if you provide it with enough opportunities to exert its energy. How much exercise your puppy should be having depends on its breed and age, however, a general rule of thumb would be two five-minute sessions of exercise per month of age. However, do ensure you're not overworking your dog as excessive exercise comes with its problems in the long run, such as joint problems.
Effective Dog Training
Puppies' biting can be a sign of them being in a playful mood. Hence, you can take this as an opportunity to train their mentality with a training session. For example, you should at least teach your dog to understand "yes" and "no". While it is useful to indicate your disapproval in cases of puppy biting, it also helps in various other interactions with your dog.
A powerful command you should invest time in teaching to your dog would be "leave it", which teaches your dog a great lesson on impulse control. To put it simply, place a treat on the floor with your hand covering it and follow up with the "leave it" cue. When your dog stops trying to grab the treat, you mark the moment. Rather than rewarding your puppy with the treat on the floor, reward it with a better treat that it likes more. This teaches your puppy that their discipline rather than following their desires immediately can lead to better rewards.
Equate Biting to Timeouts
During playtime, if your dog cannot control its biting habit, you can put them in a timeout for a few minutes upon the bite. After repeated use of this tactic, your puppy will gradually come to understand that when biting starts, playtime stops. By associating biting with deprivation from playing, your dog will be less likely to bite as often.
Keep a Positive Attitude
It won't be easy to rewrite your puppy's natural tendency to bite, so set your expectations low. While it may be frustrating at times, taking that frustration out on your pet during training sessions and such can only make things much worse. Puppies can have an acute sense of human emotions, so always assume that your puppy can discern your visible frustration. Your discouragement can discourage your pet dog as well, so take a break whenever you need one, and always reward your puppy when they show positive progress!
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