Why Your Puppy Nips - And 5 Ways To Get Him To Stop by Adam G. Katz

Why Your Puppy Nips - And 5 Ways To Get Him To Stop by Adam G. Katz

Heres a news flashpuppies nip!
Okay, I guess you already knew that. But heres the surpriseyou may actually be encouraging your puppy to nip. Lets talk about how to stop this behaviour before it grows up to be an adult-sized dog problem.
Puppies are a lot like babiesthey use their mouths in part to explore their world. Little kids are forever sticking things in their mouthfrom your favourite house plant to the bar of soap in the tub. Thats one of the ways they experience taste and texture, and figure out whats good and whats not. Its all about experimentation.
Puppies are the same. They want to see just how soft your finger is, or what that leash tastes like. In addition, biting or nipping is an important part of learning social skills in their wolf packthe social structure that makes up your dogs life.
And with some breeds, such as Border Collies, biting or nipping is even more instinctive because of the nature of the breedtheyre born and bred to herd livestock, and thats how a 50 or 60 pound dog will control a 1,000 pound cowby biting at the heels or nose.
If your dog was allowed to remain with mom and his littermates for an appropriate amount of time (until at least 8 weeks of age), then mom should have taught him the beginnings of bite inhibition. As the pups began to grow and develop those needle-sharp little puppy teeth, mom would have disciplined him for being too rough, either with her or his littermates. Junior soon learns that all play will stop and hell get smacked down by mom if he gets carried away.
But when you get that puppy home, and he becomes part of the family, you may be encouraging him to nip by letting the kids run away from him, squealing and giggling in an effort to play chase games. While this is cute at the beginning, it can soon turn into a full-fledged problem when hes no longer such a small, cute puppy, and views any child running away as fair game.
You can also encourage this kind of bad behaviour by teasing him with toysholding them just above his head and yanking them out of range when he jumps for the toy or nips at it. (This also encourages another bad habit: jumping.)

Heres 5 things you can do to stop your puppy from nipping.

1. When your puppy does nipstop all play
If your puppy nips too hard, say Ouch! in a loud-enough voice to surprise him (dont start off by screaming!) and stop all play. Turn your back on him, and refuse to continue the game. He should come around to face you and find out whats wrongtell him bad dogno bite in a firm tone of voice. Do this every time he nips until he gets the idea that nipping means no more fun.

2. Replace your flesh with a toy
When youve resumed play, and if your puppy tries to nip again, try replacing your hand or arm (or whatevers being nipped) with a toy. Teach your puppy that youre not the toy. Put a toy in between you and those needle-sharp teeth!

3. The Nose Tap
If your puppy nips turn to him immediately and give him the sit command. Take your forefinger and hold it up in front of his nose, then tap him on the nose and say no bite in a stern tone of voice. Its important to note two things here: 1) the nose tap isnt designed as a dire punishmentyoure not trying to hurt him, but rather startle him into stopping the behaviour; and 2) your tone of voice is just as important as the nose tap. Dont scream at himyour voice should be stern and give a clear warningthink of it as a verbal growlsomething that he can understand as a dog.
An interesting result of this manner of breaking this habit is that down the road, when your puppy has learned to recognize the raised fingerhell usually stop whatever behaviour hes engaging in just because he knows whats coming. You wont even have to raise your voicejust lift that finger.

4. Dont encourage biting or nipping in the first place
Dont let the kids start chase gamesthat encourages dogs to think that the kids are prey. Dont play games that involve waving your hands in front of your dog and encouraging him to jump or nip.
Dont play tug-of-war with your dogit will not only encourage him to think hes your equal, it can promote nipping if you use a rope toy, for example, because hell try to bite at your hands to make you lose your grip on the toy.
Play games of fetch and retrieval, but be sure that your dog knows the drop or release command so youre not fighting over the toy.

5. Be consistent
Stop the nipping behaviour as soon as it starts, and be consistent about disciplining your puppy for it. Dont let him get away with nipping on one day, and then discipline for the same behaviour the next. Dogs dont understand sometimes its ok, or maybe its ok it you dont nip too hard and Im in a good mood. They understand Dont ever do that, and No more treats if you do that.

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About the Author
Author, Secrets of a Professional Dog Trainer! which you can read more about at:
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