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Puppy Biting If you watch a litter of puppies playing, you will notice that they spend much of their time biting and grabbing each other with their mouths. This is normal puppy behavior. When you take a puppy from the litter and into your home, the puppy will still want to bite and mouth you. This is normal behavior, but needs to be modified so you and the puppy will be happy. Do not let the puppy work himself into a frenzy biting and barking. Stop him, make him sit and be quiet, then a good-boy pat on the chest when he’s sitting quietly. The first thing to teach your new puppy is that human flesh is much more sensitive than other puppies and that it really hurts us when they bite. This is called bite inhibition. A puppy has very sharp teeth and a weak jaw. This means that the puppy can cause you to be uncomfortable when mouthing or puppy biting you, but cannot cause severe damage. An adult dog has duller teeth and a powerful jaw. This means that an adult dog can cause significant damage when biting. ANY DOG WILL BITE GIVEN THE RIGHT OR WRONG CIRCUMSTANCES! If a small child falls on your adult dog and sticks a finger in the dog's eye, you should not be surprised if the dog bites. If you do a good job teaching your puppy bite inhibition, you should get a grab and release without damage. If you don't, you may get a hard bite with significant damage. It is simple to teach a puppy bite inhibition. Every time the puppy touches you with its teeth, say "No" in a harsh tone of voice. Tell him to sit, push his little rump down, and then when he is quiet, pat him on the chest with a Good-boy… this patting is his reward for not biting. This should stop the grabbing with his mouth all together which is preferred. I don’t believe in letting them ever mouth you, or it becomes bigger and harder as they get older and excited and this can easily startle a child and lead to other unwanted behavior. On occasion as he gets bigger or if he is fighting you over and over and not complying, then add this step—When you say No, and put him in the sit position, one hand is holding him up by the collar or leash, use the free hand to add a cuff up under his chin. This is the pattern – No, Sit and cuff up under the chin. This cuff is with an open hand and what it does is make his chin close quickly and he bits his tongue slight. Then make sure he stays sitting, then good boy on the chest. You will use this correction many times even as an adult. It is used for over barking, over aggressiveness with people or other animals, etc. It is an easy form of correction for the owner to accomplish and very humane on the dog as well. He has no choice but to quit his unwanted behavior, sit and behave. When the dog is bigger, apply a little of the lifting up by the leash till his front feet are off the ground slight, then the No, cuff, sit and good boy. This can be done in a public place if needed without alerting or upsetting spectators. The commands necessary to teach a puppy NOT to mouth are easy and fun. Hold a small handful of the puppy's dry food, say "take it" in a sweet tone of voice, and give the puppy one piece of food. Then close the rest of the food in your hand and say "off" in that same sweet tone of voice. When the puppy has not touched your hand for 3 to 5 seconds, say, "take it" and give the puppy one piece of food. We are teaching the puppy that "off" means not to touch. You should do this with the puppy before every meal for at least 5 minutes. After a couple of weeks of the above training, here is how you are going to handle puppy biting or mouthing: Expected mouthing (you see the puppy getting ready to mouth you): You say "OFF" before the puppy can mouth you. The puppy is mouthing you because of a desire to play. You have to answer the question, "Do I have time to play with the puppy now?" If you do, then do "sit", "down", "stand" or other positive 'lure and reward' training. If the answer is "No, I don't have time for the puppy, right now." then you do the quick correction listed above which is…(Every time the puppy touches you with its teeth, say –No, off--in a harsh tone of voice. Tell him to sit, push his little rump down, and then when he is quiet, pat him on the chest with a Good-boy…this patting is his reward for not biting). This is the most asked question I get, how do I stop my puppy from mouthing me? Generally when most people take the puppy home they have allowed it to bite them, then as the newness of the puppy wears off they get annoyed at the biting and growling which generally accompanies the biting. They have already allowed the behavior to start now all of sudden they wanted it to stop. Puppies should never bite your hands, as you should never allow this behavior to start. “No Bite”
Your pup is still a baby and the biting is
very normal behavior for a puppy. Be assured that with proper training, it
will subside. Below are a few recommendations on how you can help control
this behavior and teach your pup a new command "NO BITE." Then you can have the pup sit, and say “good boy, good boy” with a pat on the chest. Or instead of sitting, give the pup something he can chew on (ie a toy, a chew bone, etc--remember – no rawhides!). Give the object a little toss so he is interested in it instead of you to bite. Typically, puppies HATE this correction. The lower jaw is hinged and you have control over them with this exercise. If the pup comes back again to bite, repeat the process only this time hold the lower jaw open a bit longer and again tell the pup in a firm voice "NO BITE". It takes time (and persistence) but soon the pup will start learning the NO BITE command and will stop biting when you issue it. Now, remember they are retrievers and retrievers do everything with their mouths... so this behavior is not uncommon. You just have to teach what is acceptable to mouth (or bite) and what is not. It will take time -- it won't be an overnight process and EVERY person in the family needs to pick one way of handling it and be consistent. The important thing is to get the puppy to understand that he can’t bite or mouth you, your hands, the kids’ hands, their coat sleeves, etc. Do not let this unwanted go on for more than a few weeks or it will become a very bad habit and lead to real nipping and more when uncontrolled. If the dog that you are teaching is bigger or older always along with the “No-Bite exercise put the dog into a sit position immediately after and reward when sitting still with a “good boy” and a pat on the chest. He has to know what neutral position he can go to in order to avoid the pressure on the mouth exercise.
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