Nipping the Biting Puppy Behavior in the Bud!

While dogs are known as man's best friend, you, as the dog owner, are responsible for the training of your dog, if you want him to live up to that lofty moniker. When you bring that cute puppy home, he's a rambunctious and loving character. What he lacks is discipline and that's where you come in. You need to fulfill your end of the bargain.

Dogs are generally the most lovable of creatures, inherently loyal, fun loving, comforting and amusing. However, you've got to face the fact that dogs are permanent three year olds, in terms of discipline. That's why an early program of training is essential. Dogs absolutely love to please their owner. It's up to you to let your puppy know what's expected of him in the behavior department. From his point of view, he's in a constant state of having fun. He doesn't know good from bad behavior unless you make the distinction. One of the most common dog behaviors you'll want to curb is the biting puppy syndrome.

Puppies enjoy chewing on everything, as any dog owner can affirm. The biting puppy may have an enjoyable session with your favorite slippers, a book or a tasty bone. He should certainly be able to enjoy his bone, but you've got to provide behavioral guidance that steers him away from your slippers or your current reading material. He doesn't realize there's a difference, unless you let him know. If you just let him do his thing, he may soon be an irreverent biting puppy, with the whole world on his approved list of biting behavior. If you're an irresponsible dog owner, you have no one to blame but yourself when he graduates to biting you, your children or your next door neighbor whenever it pleases him. The biting puppy, unchecked, will become a biting dog, landing you and him in a whole mess of trouble.

Just like kids, dogs need behavioral guidance. Getting a biting puppy to understand the limitations is really quite simple. Where do you draw the line? Biting food items and bones is a good rule of thumb. Anything else is a deal breaker. If you allow him to bite an old, worn out pair of slippers, you're giving him a license to bite and chew up a variety of household items. He cannot distinguish between things which are okay to bite and those which are not.

Puppies, while teething, are prone to be biting puppies. However cute you might think his decimation of yesterday's paper, you've got to put your foot down. Dogs only understand rules in terms of the absolute. It's either okay or not okay. The punishment must also fit the crime. In the case of inanimate objects, a rolled up newspaper, with a sharp noise report, will get your message across.

You must hold in reserve the most serious punishment for infractions which involve your puppy biting a human. No matter how fun loving, lacking in malice or whatever, a puppy must be dissuaded from the idea that biting a human is acceptable. Let's say your daughter decides to share some fat scraps from her dinner plate with her puppy. He's certainly eager to share in this largess, inadvertently biting her in his haste. While he means no harm, if you let this pass unpunished, you're giving him a green light for behavior that spells trouble down the road.

In order to promptly and unequivocally nip the biting puppy behavior in the bud, you've got to come down on him hard. A sharp smack on a hard surface in his vicinity (dogs don't like loud noises), removal of the food and the dog version of a time out is what you need to impose. Never hit a dog. There are other ways to get your message across. Slip his leash on and give him a taste of isolation out on the porch, along with a firm "bad dog". Tone of voice goes a long way in communicating your feelings to your dog. This is language and action he can understand. He'll know that his behavior resulted in a displeased master, loss of the desired item and isolation from his family. Dogs want to please, but sometimes they just don't know how.

Using this strategy, you can quickly and easily train your biting puppy right out of his bad habit. By the time he's six months old, you'll have a permanent toddler dog who knows his limitations!