Puppy Training Biting Pants
How to Stop Play Biting In Your Puppy
Playful puppies are a lot of fun, but a puppy that doesn’t understand how sharp and dangerous its teeth are is a problem. So teaching your puppy not to bite or “nip” is very important. Let’s go over some ground rules in regards to puppy’s playtime.
Use toys when you play with your puppy and do not use your hands. Using your hands to “bat” or shove your puppy around implies that your hands are toys and therefore fair game to puppy’s teeth. Puppy’s roughhouse naturally and their teeth (and biting) are a big part of that.
Have many toys for puppy to play with, ranging from stuffed to semi-soft to chew toys. Doggy toys aren’t very expensive and are definitely cheaper than a surgeon or a replacement couch… Make sure the toys don’t resemble things puppy isn’t allowed to chew on. Chew toys that look like your cat are bad, but chew toys that look like bones or fire hydrants are fine.
Use a deterrent like Bitter Apple Spray or similar substance to keep puppy’s mouth off things that aren’t for puppy to chew on. When puppy grabs at you with his mouth, shove a toy between yourself and the puppy to show puppy what is acceptable. Don’t say “no” or anything else to imply the toy is wrong, merely replace the unwanted behavior with the right behavior.
If your dog is prone to chewing, pulling or otherwise attacking your shoes, hands or even your pant legs, you might think that it’s cute when he’s a tiny pup but chances are that encouraging this behavior while he’s a puppy will result in this behavior continuing when he’s full grown. What might be ‘cute’ when they are pups could be downright dangerous when your dog is full grown.
One thing to be careful of. If you react in an excitable or startled manner to your puppy biting you, they are likely to think you’re playing a game – this of course makes them think that this is a fun thing to do. Replacing the inappropriate behavior with an appropriate chew toy is far more effective and soon your puppy will understand that toys are for biting and mouthing and not your hand or clothing.
If you are having difficulty training your dog avoid hitting him, scolding loudly and shaking. Remain calm, pick your dog up and place him in a quiet area such as his crate. Allow both you and your puppy to calm down. Then let him out and continue to play. Don’t be tempted to use the crate for punishment or your puppy will soon associate crating with punishment and will not want to be in the crate for any period of time.
Teach your puppy fun games like fetching, hide-and-seek, and the like. Just remember that if playtime abruptly ends every time puppy has bad behavior, he’ll stop being bad in order to extend playtime.
Having a puppy or new dog is very rewarding, but you must keep in mind that there are many dog training tools out there that will help you train your dog as well. Some of the most popular dog training collars include: SportDOG Fieldtrainer 400 and SportDOG 2400.
Learn why dog sniff, lick, chase his tail, circle and pant
1. Pants: Typically dogs pant to cool themselves off. Dogs don’t have sweat glands on their skin like humans so they regulate their body temperature by panting. Sometimes your dog will pan if he is anxious or afraid and occasionally when he is in pain.
2. Circles the bed before sleeping: When your dog circles his bed several times before lying down on it he is acting out on a behavior he would have used out in the wild. In the wild dogs would circle their sleeping spots to flatten the grass in that area to create a sleeping nest.
3. Licks you: This behavior is something your dog learned just after birth. Puppies learn to lick their mother’s mouth to encourage her to regurgitate food for them. This behavior continues as an attention seeking behavior. Dogs will continue to do it if they receive feedback as a result. Some dogs will like to establish dominance. Perhaps this is something to keep in mind next time you ask Poochie for a kiss?
4. Paws the ground after eliminating: Your dog is actually trying to mark his territory with his scent and a visual indicator that they were there. Dogs actually have sweat glands in the pads of their feet so they can leave their scent behind through the pawing or the ground.
5. Rolls around in stinky stuff: Dogs and other animals have a heightened sense of smell and can detect other animals from quite a distance. By rolling in excrement or carcasses of dead animals dogs are able to mask their own scents and make them less vulnerable to predators. Modern dogs don’t need this skill; however, it is an instinctual behavior left over from their days as wild packs.
6. Yawns: Dogs yawn for the same reasons that we do. For one, they are tired and for two, they are using a neutral and normal behavior to relieve a stressful situation. It is similar to what we do when we fidget with our hair or lick our lips and other nervous repetitive behaviors.
7. Runs in his sleep: If you have ever seen your dog pumping his legs back and forth while napping he is doing just what you might expect, dreaming. Dogs dream just like us and he very well might be dreaming about running through the park or treeing a squirrel.
8. Rubs his butt on the carpet: This can be a disturbing though, but your dog might be scooting because he has intestinal worms. The culprit might often be impacted or infected anal glands. If there are no health problems then your dog just might be sing the scent glands in his anal sacks to rub his scent on your floor.
9. Chases his tail: This can simply mean that your dog is bored and is in search for outside stimulus. Of course if your dog actually catches and begins biting his tail he might have skin or other allergies to consider.
10. Sniffs around looking for the perfect spot to urinate: Your dog is not alone in this, all dogs do it. Canines have a very keen sense of smell and they will sniff until they find the perfect spot. They are looking for olfactory communications from other dogs before they urinate to leave their scent behind. Some dogs are so selective that they will not eliminate where another dog has been. This can be a challenge to apartment dwellers so just be patient.
About the Author
Collin Walker writes for pet-super-store – enjoy savings on electric fences, petsafe radio fence and designer dog beds.
Man training labrador puppy, Levi
