Preventing biting and mouthing

Biting and mouthing is a common activity for many young puppies and dogs. Puppies naturally bite and mouth each other when playing with siblings, and they extend this behavior to their human companions. While other puppies have thick skin, however, humans do not, so it is important to teach your puppy what is appropriate, and what is not, when it comes to using those sharp teeth.

The first part of training the puppy is to inhibit the biting reflex. Biting might be cute and harmless with a 5 pound puppy, but it is neither cute nor harmless when that dog has grown to adulthood. Therefore, puppies should be taught to control their bit before they reach the age of four months. Puppies normally learn to inhibit their bite from their mothers and their litter-mates, but since they are taken away from their mothers so young, many never learn this important lesson. It is therefore up to the humans in the puppy’s life to teach this lesson.

One great way to inhibit the biting reflex is to allow the puppy to play and socialize with other puppies and socialized older dogs. Puppies love to tumble, roll and play with each other, and when puppies play they bite each other constantly. This is the best way for puppies to learn to control themselves when they bite. If one puppy becomes too rough when playing, the rest of the group will punish him for that inappropriate behavior. Through this type of socialization, the puppy will learn to control his biting reflex.

Proper socialization has other benefits as well, including teaching the dog to not be fearful of other dogs, and to work off their excess energy. Puppies that are allowed to play with other puppies learn important socialization skills generally learn to become better members of their human family. Puppies that get less socialization can be more destructive, more hyperactive and exhibit other problem behaviors.

In addition, lack of socialization in puppies often causes fearful and aggressive behaviors to develop. Dogs often react aggressively to new situations, especially if they are not properly socialized. In order for a dog to become a member of the community as well as the household, it should be socialized to other people, especially children. Dogs make a distinction between their owners and other people, and between children and adults. It is important, therefore, to introduce the puppy to both children and adults.

The best time to socialize a puppy to young children is when it is still very young, generally when it is four months old or younger. One reason for this is that mothers of young children may be understandably reluctant to allow their children to approach large dogs or older puppies. This is especially true with large breed dogs, or with breeds of dogs that have a reputation for aggressive behavior.

Using trust to prevent biting

Teaching your puppy to trust and respect you is a very effective way to prevent biting. Gaining the trust and respect of your dog is the basis for all dog training, and for correcting problem behaviors.

It is important to never hit or slap the puppy, either during training or any other time. Physical punishment is the surest way to erode the trust and respect that must form the basis of an effective training program. Reprimanding a dog will not stop him from biting – it will simply scare and confuse him.

Training a puppy not to bite is a vital part of any puppy training program. Biting behaviors that are not corrected will only get worse, and what seemed like harmless behavior in a puppy can quickly escalate to dangerous, destructive behavior in an adult dog.

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Give your dog the command to heel and begin walking, remembering to start out on your left foot, in a straight line. Make a few right-about turns as necessary to make sure that you have his full attention. Then, as you prepare to come to a stop, shorten your hold on the leash just a bit. As you stop, not after and not before, pull up the leash with your right hand and press gently on the dog’s rear as you say the command “Sit”!

As soon as he sits, praise him and give him a pat on the head. Remember, dogs learn by associating their actions with a pleasing or displeasing result.

You do not have to push down heavily on your dog’s rear. You need to simply press lightly to help guide him into the proper sit position. It is more the right hand pulling the leash upward than the amount of pressure on the dog’s rear that will place him easily and quickly in the proper sitting position. Putting heavy pressure on your dog’s rear may stimulate him to resist, which is an unwanted action.

Always follow a correct behavioral response by your dog with praise, even if you caused the behavioral response. Even though you are placing your dog in the sitting position, this should still be followed by warm praise.|In these learning steps, the less resistance you have, the better off it will be, both for you and your dog. Also keep in mind the importance of a positive attitude.

This will be the pattern throughout the course. You will show your dog what he needs to do and follow it with praise. After the learning process has taken place within the mind of the dog, then will you correct for disobedience.

Your training program at this stage should still be limited to fifteen minutes per day and consist only of the commands “Heel” and “Sit”. Give the command to heel, walk about ten feet, do a right turn, then come to a stop, placing the dog in the sitting position while giving the command to sit. Follow each sit-placing with warm praise.

You have spent one full week showing him exactly what sit means, and it only takes four days for the average house dog to learn the average thing. Now, it’s time to show your dog in Dog Obedience Training that he must do it for himself and that you will not be leading him by the hand all of the time.

When I see the puppy, I will know his or her name.

I went to the kennel and picked out a Red male Doberman pinscher. I fell in love with that dog, but really the struggle was yet to come. People insisted that I send him to dog training classes. Different scenario’s just kept popping up like obedience training, dog training collars, dog behavior training and potty training. I realize that this is where money starts to add up. It’s like having a child!

I live in Manhattan, in other words, “dog heaven”. It looks like there are just as many dogs as there are people, with these dogs walking around with their masters. Dog training still wasn’t in the price range I was looking for. “Dobee” was a 5 months and growing fast so I opted for real positive dog training. I was shocked to see over 216,228 dog owners worldwide have been successful with their obedience training, and solved their dog’s behavior problems.

The best decision I could of made, honestly.

You do not want this to happen. “He steals food from the plate.” “he won’t come back when he is called.” “He destroyed the living room furniture.” “He barks all night.” “He’s a great dog, but I wish he wouldn’t . . . ”

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Everything starts with beginning dog training. Dogs are naturally pack animals, comfortable in groups. There are leaders and followers. This is the nature of the pet. Quicky establishing yourself as the pack leader makes your pet happy because that’s what he expects. The only thing you need is some simple dog training tips.

The bond between you and your pet will become stronger the more time you spend together. You begin to enjoy being around the dog the more often you play with him and a better understanding between you and your pet will develop.

Playing with your dog is not only fun, but a learning experience for him. He learns discpline and fun tricks. Your dog will learn better if you use games to train him instead of the more routine methods.

“Follow the leader”, an activity for a group, is one of these fun games. It is best played with a group of owners and dogs. Place light objects like cones or cans on the ground and let the group go around the objects and the dog will follow. In the next stage, the position of leader is switched, and the game begins again.

‘Hide and seek’ is also an engaging game. Usually, children play this. One kid stays with the dog, while the others hide. After that the dog is instructed to locate a person once he hears his name. The dog learns discipline from this ritual.

Another version of the game is to hide your dog’s food and let him go search for it. This is how he can begin to utilize his keen sense of smell to locate things.

Spend some quality time with your pooch by going for a walk or jog together. This also allows you to exercise. Dogs enjoy playing games with their humans such as fetch, ball, or frisbee. Try these exercises to stimulate your dog’s mental and physical development.

Establish your dog as a tremendous pet and enjoyable friend by spending quality time around him. Your house will be amorous and joyful with this fantastic experience.

- Puppy training can be a lot of hard work, but it can also be fun. Learn the basics, such as potty training puppies by reading this puppy training guide, along with basic dog training tips at DogTrainTips.com