The puppy is chewing and biting. Tips for caring owners on how to wean a puppy from biting

When you get a dog, after a while you feel the pet's sharp claws and teeth. This is a manifestation of animal instinct, with the help of which the dog positions itself in an environment of its own kind. Every owner of a four-legged friend should have information on how to wean a dog from biting hands.

As puppies, dogs instinctively bite, testing the strength of their bite. Thus, relationships are established in the flock. If, after the baby closes his jaws, he hears a squeal or scream in response, then the next time the bite is likely to be weaker.

The owner feeds, takes care of the pet, but then it is not clear why the dog bites the owner's hands. The fact is that the dog considers him a member of the pack. She chooses this method in order to attract attention and make him play.

During the game, situations should not be allowed when the dog bites the owner. Any attempt should be stopped. During the game, the animal is excited, so it can bite even harder, but it cannot be repelled. The pet will regard this as part of the game. If you do not stop such a game, then the behavior can become aggressive.

As for the puppy, his permanent teeth simply grow, which are replaced by milk ones, so there is a constant desire to gnaw something. And if the hands of the owner come across, then why not use it. But here you should firmly show the pet that this is not a toy, and you can’t even bite your hands.

How to re-educate

puppy

The first rule is: don't provoke. Things have your scent. And if you allow your baby to chew on your socks or slippers, then it is not clear to him why the leg is not allowed. Therefore, the task of the owner is to make sure that the puppy has enough toys of his own to chew on. Change them and get new ones so that they do not bother the baby.

Children should be raised from an early age. The puppy should have a specially designated place, next to which toys are located. Teach your baby to order - toys after playing should be taken to their place.

If the baby bites you by accident, then stop the game and distract with a toy.

Do not hit the puppy, but grab the lower jaw with a full palm. This technique will not allow you to close your jaw. Hold until the dog starts to whine, then release and send to the sleeping bed.

From an early age, you should teach your puppy to bite properly. Weaning biting hands during the game and forbid defending are two different things. Bite is a way of protection. The animal needs to learn to defend itself and protect you. He will do it instinctively, but a service dog needs to be taught.

Cynologists simulate situations when a pet is taught to bite only when there is a command. At the moment when “Fu!” sounds, the victim should be released.

Note that a dog may bite when stressed or afraid for its life. This is an instinct, and you cannot forbid an animal to bite without teaching it to defend itself. If you punish all the time, then the pet will be in a state of fear all the time and this will develop cowardice in him.

If you are consistent in your requirements and patient, the dog will become your best friend, while being obedient and disciplined.

In order for a dog to grow obedient, they begin to train it from childhood. We will learn how to wean a puppy from biting hands and feet, because playful pets can hurt their owner. Consider what methods of education exist.

How to wean a puppy from biting hands with the help of games

Up to four months, dogs have milk teeth. During this period, they learn to regulate the force of the bite, so they bite painfully, not wanting it. So that such an innocent game does not become a habit in adulthood, it is necessary to deal with a puppy.

How to stop a puppy from biting its owner?

There are such ways of training:

1. If you see that the puppy wants to bite, hide your hands behind your back. When he closes his mouth, snap your fingers and give him something tasty. Repeat this several times. Then, before you hide your hands, tell the dog: "Shut your mouth."
2. If the puppy bites when you play with him, offer him to bite not on the hand, but on the toy.
3. When the pet is calm, substitute a fist to the muzzle. If he doesn't bite right away, snap your fingers and give him tasty food. Move your hand in front of the puppy's nose. If the dog doesn't grab it, reward it. When you try to bite, hide your hand and say, "No." Repeat the workout every day. Move your hand at different distances from the muzzle.

Game forms of education are suitable at the age of 1.5 to 4 months. Dogs with a strong character are more difficult to train.

How to wean a puppy from biting the owner in other ways

Even adult dogs can lightly bite the arms or legs of the dog owner. This pet shows that he wants to play, so you do not need to punish him. But if a puppy or an adult dog bites painfully with anger, then it is necessary to wean it.

• do not allow to play with hands, feet and clothes;
• if you are busy and can not pay attention to the puppy, put him in an aviary with toys;
• ignore biting if the dog is not doing it on purpose;
• offer a toy instead of an arm or leg;
• if the puppy is biting on purpose, say “Fu” and punish him;
• reward good behavior with food.

Only from the age of three months do they begin training and physical punishment. Never hit a puppy. When punishing, take the muzzle and look menacingly into the eyes, then 20 minutes. pay no attention to your pet.

Biting is a natural and indispensable behavior for growing puppies. Until now, among cynological "experts" there is an opinion that biting behavior should be punished.

This is the wrong decision, which in the end can lead to the fact that the dog never learns to control the force of the bite. And in a certain situation, it can strongly bite a person or another dog. This can be avoided by teaching your puppy to bite “softly” from early childhood.

Why does the puppy bite?

It's simple: this is how they get to know the world by the “tooth”, communicate with their brothers and sisters, relatives. This is their tactile and gustatory perception of the world, which contributes to the development of the child's brain.
For me personally, it’s not clear what kind of “wise guy” came up with the idea that you need to wean a puppy from biting once and for all - while hitting him on the muzzle or, even better, pressing the puppy’s tongue to his teeth or pinching it.

It turns out that if a human baby wants to touch his mother's body or clasp her finger in his fist, what do you need ..? Prick it with a needle or hit with a hammer on the fingers. Silly and absurd.

Yes, of course, puppy teeth are razor-sharp, and bites are extremely unpleasant and can even injure, cause serious wounds. Therefore, suppression of bite force or the so-called "soft" mouth should be taught to the puppy from a very early age.

Now it so happened that many breeders are trying to distribute puppies as early as possible. Apparently, they want to save on food and vaccinations, not realizing that it would be better for puppies to stay longer in the company of their mother, brothers and sisters. When puppies communicate with each other, they mostly do it with their mouths, biting each other. If one of them bites his “relative” painfully, then he signals this with a squeak or whimper, after which he licks the “wounds”. The bitten person realizes that he overdid it. And the next time he starts to control the pressure of his jaws. This is a great and natural biting school for puppies.

But we live in the real world, where a puppy usually appears in our family at the age of 1.5-2 months (plus more time for quarantine after vaccinations), deprived of the opportunity to learn to bite gently and communicate with his peers and relatives. Therefore, we, the members of his new family, should act as a moderator of the force of bites.

Teaching a soft mouth is, in my opinion, one of the most important steps in dog socialization. If your dog, even being poorly socialized, accidentally (from pain, an unexpected incident, etc.) bites a person / dog, then, having the “soft bite” skill, it will at least not cause physical harm to the bitten.

How to wean a puppy from biting and grabbing?

Teaching a puppy to suppress biting is a two-step process.
The first is the suppression of the force of the bite, the second is the reduction in the frequency of bites.

1. Bite force suppression

Remember: no swearing or punishment from the puppy for biting you painfully. Just let him know that his bites hurt you. How to do it?! You can squeak, yelp, or "whoop" with high notes in your voice. Move away from him for a while to “lick his wounds”, you can ask the puppy to sit or lie down (a hand gesture is enough). Then continue the game.

If the puppy does not respond to your "hiccups" and continues to bite hard, then you can leave the puppy for 1-2 minutes by itself in the room. Give him a chance to think and calm down a bit. Do not overdo it with time, but when returning, talk to him affectionately and gently stroke him, thus showing that you are unhappy only with the strength of his bite, and not with his existence in general. Continue the game.

When you are playing and the puppy nibbles on your hand without causing any sharp pain, then it is time to completely get rid of even such “bites”. At the moment of "gnawing" your hand, react as if you are in great pain, exclaim something like: "Ah-oh ... little bully, it hurts me a lot!". The puppy will think: “Well, sissies, these people. You have to be very careful when you touch their skin." This is exactly what will happen if you engage in biting games regularly.

Important: you should not start learning such games when the puppy is extremely active and excited (usually in the evening). For training, choose those moments when the puppy is calm.

2.Reducing the frequency of bites

When the puppy has already learned to use his teeth carefully, it is important to teach him to stop biting the moment he is asked to do so.

In order to distract the puppy from biting and reward the correct behavior, you can use the “No” signal or ask the puppy to sit or lie down.

Let's look at how you can use the "No" signal.

Take the treat in your hand, hold it in front of the puppy and say "No". If the puppy doesn't take the treat within just one second, say "Take it" and reward the puppy for holding back. Gradually increase the pause between "No" and "Take" up to 2.3..20 or more seconds.

If the puppy is impatient and reaches for the treat, then clench your hand into a fist and start the countdown again, then the puppy will understand that he will be rewarded when he is calm and has waited a certain time. Also during this exercise, the puppy learns to take the treat from your hand gently, without snatching the treat too hastily.

When the puppy understands and reinforces the meaning of the “No” signal, you can use it when the puppy has grabbed something with its teeth (a valuable thing, a hand, etc.) and it needs to be released. Use a treat as a reward for the puppy letting go of the object and sitting down after you told him "No".

This exercise allows you to train your puppy to stop biting when you need it. But this does not mean that the puppy should not bite at all. On the contrary, the best reward for non-biting behavior will be the opportunity to continue biting some object or your hands.

When you've made the decision to end play training, tell your puppy "No" or "Everything" (if he knows this signal) and treat him to a delicious bone or kong stuffed with treats. This will allow the puppy to relax, unwind after a training session. Remember that puppies are still very small to absorb a lot of information effectively, so don't overwhelm them with long sessions and watch for stress signals your student is showing.

By combining these two points - biting force suppression and biting frequency - you will be able to teach your puppy a "soft" mouth, which will avoid possible injuries and troubles with people and the puppy will be able to communicate delicately with his relatives. After all, most of the communication between puppies (and adult dogs) involves mutual biting, but none of the participants in the game is injured.

Quite often, owners of small puppies have the following problem: the puppy bites their hands, hunts for the owners' legs, grabs clothes, etc. People, especially inexperienced ones, are, of course, worried: what will grow out of this, how normal the behavior is, when it will stop and whether it will stop at all. The worries are justified: without proper upbringing, the puppy will eventually grow into a very unpleasant adult, which will show aggressive behavior towards people, even towards its own owners (the dog usually does not suspect that the owners are people, and feels great in the role of master of the situation .)

It should be noted that this behavior is absolutely normal for a 2-month-old baby, and it is at this age that it is better to buy a puppy. He just doesn't know how to play differently. That's right, with biting, littermates play with each other, also play with mom, and mom with them. With healthy curiosity, he learns the world by heart. In addition, his teeth change, so he is happy to chew not only toys, but also tries everything that comes into his field of vision.

Nevertheless, such behavior is absolutely unacceptable in relation to a person. Therefore, it must be stopped from the very first day the puppy appears in the house. The easiest (and most humane) way to switch a baby to a toy is to slip it in every time he tries to grab his hand. But not every puppy will be satisfied with such a replacement, many will try to grab exactly the hand.

There are many recommendations on how to behave in such a situation. A very popular way: to slap a puppy on the nose with a newspaper. Its use is fraught with the fact that the puppy may be afraid of objects, swings in the future. If in the future it is supposed to train the dog for protective guard duty, then it is better not to risk it.

It is also often recommended to squeal, imitating littermates. Indeed, puppies still do not know how to calculate the strength of the bite, and it is the reaction of the littermate that tells them that the bite was too strong. But for people, the recommendation is very dubious. Firstly, it is difficult for a person to imitate the squeal of puppies, as a rule, the puppy simply gives out an orienting reaction to a new unexpected sound, i.e. he stops, but does not draw conclusions about the force of the bite. But the main thing: if the imitation was successful, the person puts himself in the position of a weaker littermate, who can be bitten, although not very strongly. This is hardly the goal that a person sets for himself when he gets a dog.

The puppy likes to hunt for the hand. Therefore, you need to make it uninteresting as an object of hunting. A person should not withdraw his hand, scream like prey. When the puppy grabs his hand, you need to stop the game, look at the puppy sternly and firmly say “no”. The voice should be lowered. At the same time, you can try to make it unpleasant to find your hand in your mouth. To do this, the fingers can be slightly pushed deeper so that the puppy himself spit them out. Pre-treatment of the hand with something tasteless will also help solve the problem. To prevent sharp teeth from scratching your hand, you can put on gloves before going to play with the puppy.

It is important not to start the problem, otherwise after a few months it will be difficult to explain to an adult dog why it is impossible to grab hands. In addition, of course, a puppy of any breed needs to be educated from the first day of being at home. The impeccable obedience of an adult dog is laid in puppyhood.

Many pet owners have to look for the answer to the question of how to wean a dog from biting. The reasons for the anger or aggression of the animal are explained by a genetic predisposition or lack of education. If puppy bites do not yet cause serious trouble, then an adult animal may well inflict serious injuries. Teeth and claws are given to the beast by nature. Therefore, measures should be taken in accordance with its laws.

Even as babies, dogs begin to test the strength of their bite. In adult life, in this way, you will have to establish hierarchical relationships. When, in response to his action, the puppy hears an unpleasant screech, scream, he will subsequently bite weaker.

Considering the owner a member of the pack, the animal tries to involve him in the game - he runs up, lightly bites his hand. When playing with a puppy, bites should not be allowed, stopping them immediately. You can't push the dog away. Being in an excited, playful state, she takes this behavior for the continuation of the game, biting even harder. If the pet is not stopped immediately, playful behavior can turn into aggressive. Therefore, it is important to learn the techniques of how to wean a dog from biting its owner, and put them into practice in time.

How to wean a dog from biting from an early age

Up to 4.5 months, until the puppy's milk teeth have changed, this is quite simple to do. When a puppy bites during a game, do not spank or scold him. The best thing to do in this case is to squeal in an unpleasant voice and step aside. After a few times like this, the puppy realizes that he hurt you, so the game has stopped. Next time he won't bite, or he won't bite so hard.

After changing teeth to permanent bite, the puppy acquires a different character. The desire to bite is a sign of dominance, an attempt to show its dominant position in the home pack. You need to immediately put the pet in place. To do this, firmly grasping the withers, press him to the floor and, looking into his eyes, utter the command “fu” or “no” in a strict voice. Then they let go and for 15-20 minutes they pretend not to notice the puppy, ignoring his presence. This behavior of the leader is natural in the pack. Loud shouting, waving his hand only inflame the fighting spirit. The method is also used when the question arises of how to wean an adult dog from biting. Do not expect that the expected result will be achieved the first time. A dog with a developed intellect will understand what is required of it from 2-3 times. For others, it may take much longer.

If the dog bites while playing

Dog handlers are advised to organize the game with the pet in such a way as to exclude situations that provoke bites. If this happens, you should definitely signal the animal about the inadmissibility of such behavior, making a sharp unpleasant sound.

Another method to wean a dog from biting while playing is suitable for owners of small breeds or puppies. Noticing that aggressive notes begin to be traced in the behavior of the pet, you need to firmly squeeze his jaw with the palm of your hand, preventing a bite.

• Raise your voice.
• Punish your pet physically.

Such actions only increase the dog's desire to bite. If the animal does not perceive the owner as a leader, more serious training will be required to eliminate this gap in education. Until the pet understands that the main thing is the person, he will continue to attack both during the game and outside it. Then you have to turn to an experienced cynologist.

Learning to bite correctly

The owner of a representative of a guard breed, whose desire to protect the master's property is laid down at the genetic level, needs to take care of passing a course of protective guard service with his pet.

A trained dog knows how to use its potential correctly, knows that it is possible to grab a victim only on command, and release it on command “fu”. This will help to avoid unforeseen situations like famous stories when a dog crippled people.

How to wean a dog from biting strangers

Raising a pet is a responsibility. Causing injury by a dog to another animal or person may face administrative penalties. The following tips will help reduce aggression and ensure the safety of others:

• It is necessary to accustom your pet to the outside world from early childhood. He must feel like a full-fledged member of society with all the ensuing requirements and rules of conduct.
• Wearing a muzzle is a prerequisite when going out with a dog in society.
• You can not let your pet off the leash, even if you are sure that there are no people nearby.
• For restrained behavior at the sight of a stranger, you need to praise the dog, gently stroking it.
• Aggression should not be encouraged. Any impulse of anger must be immediately extinguished by switching the attention of the pet.

Teaching the rules of behavior begins from the first days of the appearance of a puppy in the house. An owner who is having difficulty in raising his pet is best to seek the advice of an experienced dog handler.