All the things I wish I knew before I got my first ever puppy!
Puppy ‘biting’ or ‘mouthing’ isn’t a sign of aggression, although sometimes it does look and feel like it! Remember that for the first 8 weeks of it’s life, your puppy has been brought up with it’s litter mates, and how do dogs play? They bite and mouth each other. Hence, when they come to you, their new family, they assume it’s how they play with you as well.
As much as it’s not a sign of aggression, it does need to be addressed as soon as possible, because as anyone who has been on the end of a puppy bite will know- they have razor sharp teeth and it really does hurt!
I have written an article going into more detail on the difference between normal puppy behaviour and aggression and the reasons for both, if you want to read it click on the link below. But for now, here are 10 ways of dealing with puppy mouthing. Different techniques work with different dogs, training is not a one size fits all machine, so if one thing isn’t working, don’t be down heartened, move on and try something else. Although like any training- persistence is key!
1. YELP LOUDLY
If your puppy bites too hard, let them know about it! Let out a loud ‘ouch’ or ‘yelp’ or even a scream if your neighbours don’t mind! Then stop playing with them immediately. Puppy’s are still learning the thresholds of not only what they can bite, but how hard they can bite, so it’s vital that you let them know if they’re biting too hard. Their littermate’s would do exactly the same thing.
2. DISTRACTION
As soon as your puppy goes to bite you, immediately put the toy in their mouth to try and distract them and get them to play/bite on the toy instead. Show them that if they want to mouth something, it should be a toy, not you!
The first few weeks that I had Cooper I did not go anywhere without some kind of toy in my pocket. Golden Retriever puppies are often referred to as little land sharks, they are notorious for puppy mouthing and have a nice set of little needle sharp teeth to do it with!
3. INTERRUPT THE BEHAVIOUR
In our house we refer to this as the ‘God’ technique, but it does need the help of a second person for it to work for biting. You want to interrupt the behaviour, but you don’t want your puppy to think it was you who interrupted it.
This is often done with a loud noise such as rattling pasta or pennies in a water bottle, or alternatively if your dog doesn’t react much to loud noises, spray their bum with a water pistol. The idea of this is to make your puppy believe that when they bite too hard, it CAUSES the noise or it causes the water spray. The key to this though is making sure your puppy doesn’t find out who is spraying them, if they do it will lose its effect and the puppy will relate the spray or noise to the person rather than the action.
4. WALK AWAY
You are the most valuable thing to your puppy, especially if you’re playing with them, so if you walk away, that’s almost the worst punishment that they could get. Going back to the idea of ‘pack mentality’, dogs innately know that in order to survive, they need to be a in a pack. If they are separated or kicked out from the pack, then chances are, they won’t survive. Obviously in the case of domestic dogs they aren’t literally going to die from been alone…unless of course you also own a lot of wild predators! But your puppy won’t like losing your attention.
With Cooper I would walk out the room for anywhere between 30 seconds to a minute, then when I came back in, if the biting continued, I would go straight back out again. It didn’t take more than 2 goes out the room for him to connect the dots and realise that when he bit me, I left.
5. PUPPY TIME OUT
Like walking away, giving your puppy a time out leaves them on their own and removes them from your company- the one thing they really want! Our trainer advised us never to give a time out for more than a minute… not because it’s ‘cruel’ or anything like that, but after a minute the dog will forget what’s happened! For example, we used to put Cooper outside as a time out, for the first 30 seconds to a minute he would be at the door pining to get back in, but then after that he’d go off and start to dig or do something else he wasn’t supposed to do! It completely defeated the object of the time out. Now, having shortened it down to the maximum of a minute, he knows what has lead him to be put outside and that when he comes in he has the chance to either redeem himself or, be put outside for another minute!
6. DISTRACT WITH TRAINING AND TREATS
Always have treats either on you, or at strategic points around your house. When your puppy is getting really over excited, (especially with larger breeds), it sometimes becomes almost impossible to remove yourself or the pup from the situation.
Use the treat to firstly get your dogs attention, then do a bit of training with them, even if it’s just getting them to sit for the treat, it distracts them from biting. Dog’s do not have a good attention span and can, for the most part, only focus on one thing at a time. This means that if you switch your pup into ‘food’ mode, they’re going to forget all about the super fun game of ‘eating my mummy’s arm’ that they were previously playing!
7. REWARD GOOD BEHAVIOUR, PUNISHMENT WILL NOT HELP
There is a fine line between letting your dog know that it’s done something wrong and punishing them for it. There are a lot of old school ideas to ‘show your dog who’s boss’ by methods such as pinning them to the floor or giving them a quick tap on the nose as a way of saying that’s wrong and I’m in charge, but it’s now been heavily proven that this negative reinforcement has actually shown to WORSEN aggression, not improve it. On average, 80% of dogs that present behavioural problems for aggression have been trained through negative punishment methods, instead of positive reinforcement. Going back to a previous point, dogs are not trying to wind you up…as much as it feels like they are trying to sometimes! If it is doing something wrong, it’s because you’re allowing it to and it doesn’t know any better. The same way that if it is doing something right and they get no reward for it, they have no idea that what they are doing is the right thing.
If your puppy presents you with a positive behaviour, i.e. it bites a toy instead of you, or instead of coming up and mouthing your feet it licks you, REWARD IT. Let them know that that’s the right thing to do.
8. PROVIDE MENTAL STIMULATION
When dogs are bored they get destructive, or if they’re full of energy and want to play, they get bitey with excitement. Providing mental stimulation can be as physically tiring for your pup as taking them out on a half an hour walk! Kongs, puzzle toys and general training are great ways to wear your pup out and provide them with something fun to do other than mouthing you. Prevention is better than cure!
9. SOCIALISATION
Obviously taking into account any vaccinations that your dog needs to have, socialise them as much as possible with both humans and other dogs. Meeting other dogs- puppies and older dogs alike is great for your puppies development. Especially meeting older, calmer dogs, as your puppy can learn from them how they should be behaving.
10. IT'S TIME FOR BED
Puppy’s are like toddlers, when they get really tired, they go absolutely crazy hyper. If your pup is getting a bad case of the zoomies in the evening, running round like an absolute lunatic and lunging at everyone in sight, the chances are they over tired and ready for bed. Our trainer said one of the most common mistake dog owners make is mistaking a dog's hyperactivity for lack of exercise. If your puppy is going crazy in the evenings before bed, the odds are he’s not under exercised, he’s actually the complete opposite- over tired!
