How to wean a puppy to bite?

When born, puppies very quickly begin to grow and develop, while one of the stages of their growing up is to study the world around them. Inquisitive four-legged babies can't wait to see everything, smell and even try a tooth - this is the only way the dog receives information about what is around her. For a puppy, the majority of cognitive processes occur during the game, and it does not matter if the dog plays with itself, with its brothers and sisters, or with a person. Often with excessive enthusiasm for the game, puppies begin to behave aggressively and bite their master.

If you encourage such actions of the dog, then her improper behavior will soon become a serious problem for all family members. And to prevent this, the pet needs to be accustomed to the necessary rules of behavior from an early age.

Despite the fact that domestic dogs look cute and kind, the genes of a predator and a hunter were originally laid in their nature, and this factor manifests itself in any dog ​​already in puppyhood.

Experts studying animal psychology identify the following main motive motivating a puppy at those moments when he bites:

• acquaintance of the dog with the environment;
• one of the forms of communication of a dog with people and other animals;
• inviting someone to the game and the game process itself;
• the puppy studying his strengths and capabilities;
• expression of discontent;
• forced, from the point of view of the dog, protective aggression;
• bite formation and the process of changing the milk formula of teeth to a permanent dentition;
• lack of proper behavior skills.

Experienced dog breeders know that puppies behave differently depending on the breed. As a rule, representatives of official types of dogs and large dogs most often behave with restraint and power, while a representative of a miniature breed plays and rages selflessly, from the heart.

In the same way, young dogs act with a person, perceiving him as a participant in their game. If the puppy is full and healthy, then he always has a lot of energy, and he needs games almost constantly. Do not forget the fact that the dog changes teeth in the first year of life, so the animal has a physiological need to nibble something to facilitate this process. In puppies, as in children, gums can hurt or itch, so biting and gnawing distracts them and alleviates the state of discomfort.

When puppies grow up, some of them have the habit of biting and grabbing with their teeth everything that moves remains. To properly educate your four-legged pet, you need to pay special attention to this problem.

Wean the puppy to bite as early as possible, ideally - until the moment of change of his teeth. The growing dog must clearly understand that the owner and any member of his family is higher in the hierarchy, and you cannot grab by the legs or hands, even if the dog really wants to do this. A month-old puppy, as a rule, is still next to his mother, feeds on her milk, and his teeth are just beginning to erupt. Two-month-old puppies can already be handed over to their new owners, and this time is just the most important moment to teach the pet the necessary rules of behavior.

The little dog should have already learned at 2 months old that he should not dominate the owner and other family members. The owner must show his dominance to the dog immediately and never give up his position. If during feeding the dog the owner will be the first to eat his food and even be able to take any piece he likes from the dog’s bowl, then according to the laws prevailing in the animal kingdom, this will mean that the owner is a leader and he must obey.

The dog must immediately be taught to sleep in a place specially designated for it. The owner’s bed is the leader’s territory, and if the dog tries to get in and settle there, it will mean the seizure of your territory. Animals clearly know that the one who takes the territory of the leader himself becomes the leader from that moment on and can begin to dominate. It is impossible to admit this state of affairs, since you cannot succeed in teaching the dog anything when it dominates, and you will only see aggression from the side of the dog.

Before you begin to educate your four-legged friend, you need to understand the basic principles of his education. First of all, you need to remember that during the fun a puppy can only play with his toys, while you should not let him play with your hands. As soon as the dog starts biting you by the arms or legs, or grabbing and pulling your clothes with your teeth, you need to give it the command "Fu!" or "You can’t!".

If the baby is very upset and does not respond to your commands, then you can calm him down by gently clicking on the face of a newspaper folded several times. But try to do this only in the most extreme cases, otherwise the dog will begin to be afraid of any of your sudden movements and waved hands.

In some cases, it is useful to take a crippled puppy by the scruff of the neck and gently press it to the floor or slightly raise it for a few seconds - this is how their mothers act in the wild with babies, whom young animals always instinctively obey.

If a 3-month-old puppy runs after you and actively bites your legs or grabs his teeth with clothes, this means that your dog has not learned the initial stages of training, and you will need to pay much more attention to this issue. Try to distract the pet’s attention with a toy, but best of all, after a bite, abruptly stop contact with the dog and leave the room for 15-20 minutesleaving her alone. So your pet will eventually realize and will get used to the fact that after a bite the owner will not continue to play with him.

At the age of 4 months, provided that you have paid due attention to the training of your four-legged friend, the puppy must learn to play correctly with people without causing them pain from being bitten by their teeth. At this age, the dog should clearly understand that the owner is not its prey and the manifestation of hunting instincts for him is unacceptable. In order for your four-legged friend to obey you, it is necessary to encourage all his correct actions and not support their violations.

Thus, you can lose contact with the pet and lose its trust.

In the process of training growing puppies, experienced dog breeders focus on some effective techniques:

• Do not provoke the puppy to aggression;
• Do not walk next to the dog with bare arms and legs, thereby causing the pet an increased interest in you;
• do not allow the puppy to tear your clothes, nibble shoes, spoil furniture;
• understand when the puppy bites for his own protection, and not punish him at this moment, but try to calm him down;
• always with a bite to show the dog their negative emotions, but do not beat her at the same time;
• constantly observe the hierarchy and not allow the puppy to break it;
• to be consistent in training and giving commands - to encourage good behavior, and not reinforce the bad actions of the dog;
• not to let the dog feel that you are annoyed or something has knocked you out of the rut, as the animals subtly feel your psychological mood, and sensing your weakness, they will immediately try to use this to “seize power”.

At 9 months old, the dog should already have mastered all the necessary skills and rules for dealing with people.

In this case, the animal may eventually begin to show unreasonable aggression to people. Do not naively think that the habit of biting people in a dog will go away by itself as it grows up.

This behavior is dangerous because not only you, but your child, other family members can suffer from pet bites, it is possible that the day will come when your dog will start to bite people on the street. An adult and mentally healthy dog ​​should not behave this way, so if you can’t cope with its upbringing in the first year of your life, in the future you will have to turn to experienced dog handlers for help.

It happens that inexperienced dog breeders, for their part, admit some inconsistent or incorrect actions when training a puppy, which reduce all their pedagogical efforts to zero. The most common mistakes when weaning a puppy to bite people by the arms and legs can be as follows.

• Trying to start training a puppy before establishing a trusting relationship with him and a hierarchy is built between the owner and the pet.
• Loud cry and the use of physical punishment. If you begin to give commands during the procedure for training a puppy with an excessively loud and strict voice, this will frighten the baby, and he will not understand from fear what you want from him. During classes, try to communicate with the dog confidently and calmly, and even if the pet does something wrong, you must learn that you can’t shout at him. In addition, during training, never punish the dog physically, so as not to lose its trust in you, which will be very difficult to restore.
• Lack of rewards for the puppy for his correct actions. When your pet carries out all your commands, you must definitely encourage him for the correct behavior: give a piece of goodies in the form of a granule of dog food, pet the dog, and kindly praise.
• Unreasonable encouragement for the behavior from which you want to wean the pet. Never encourage activities that your dog does wrong. On the contrary, for disobedience the puppy should be punished by your disregard.
• Dog domination over the owner. Sometimes large breeds of dogs feel its weaknesses in its owner - age, self-doubt, short stature and physique. To build relationships with such a pet, you need to behave correctly and maintain a certain distance in relations with the dog. Otherwise, the dog will begin to behave aggressively and may withdraw from obedience.
• During classes with the dog, you do not need to concentrate on staring into her eyes. In nature, this means one thing - by such an action you challenge the animal, and if at the next moment you look away, then you demonstrate to him the position of a weaker one, and the dog will see his prey in you. In this case, there is no question of any submission and training - the aggressive instinct of the hunter will wake up in the dog, it will start to bite you.
• Wrong behavior of the owner during the game with the dog or in the process of its training. When interacting with a dog, you need to use toys or special items, but not your arms or legs. In addition, during the game you need to try not to provoke your pet to bite you. If you see that your dog has pressed his ears to his head and began to show his grin, this means that she does not perceive everything that is happening around him as a game and begins to attack you aggressively. In this case, you must immediately stop the game or training and get out of contact with the animal.
• Never intentionally tease your dog and do not let other people do it. Trying to cause a growl, a grin and aggressive attacks on the puppy, you teach him to defend himself against you by transmitting him the image of the enemy in your face. Such associations between the owner and the pet are unacceptable, since friendly and trusting relationships should be established between you, and not hostile ones.

When purchasing a dog for your child, you need to understand that you can’t get rid of the process of raising an animal, as children see a companion for games in their puppies and cannot take on the role of an authoritative leader. The process of raising a dog must begin from the first days of getting it into your family. You need to do this regularly, methodically fixing one skill to another.

In order for your puppy to learn how to teach good manners to be the most effective, dog handlers advise dog breeders to study dog ​​psychology before training a pet.

Experienced dog breeders are advised to adhere to certain rules in the process of weaning a dog to bite.

• The moment the puppy grabs your hand and bites, try not to pull it sharply from the dog’s mouth, on the contrary, relax it as much as possible. Your limp and immobilized limb will no longer be of interest to the dog, and it will stop biting you. However, if at the time of the bite you start to make sharp movements and have fun laughing at the same time, the dog will perceive your actions as an encouragement to the game, continuing its attacks.
• Offer the dog games that will distract her from biting people. For example, you can teach a puppy a game of tug of war, or learn the “Aport!” Command with him, throwing a toy away from himself and encouraging the dog the moment he brings and gives this item to you. In such games, the dog satisfies its animal hunting instincts and learns to interact with the owner.
• Try to make sure that your four-legged friend always has a variety of toys that he needs to replace with new ones from time to time - such a variety is necessary for the baby for his full development.
• If your pet is very temperamental and at first it is difficult for him to cope with the desire to bite your hands, then in this case special tools can help you. For example, if you apply clove or tea tree essential oil, apple cider vinegar, rubbing balm for colds or other products that are not very pleasant for the dog by their smell, this will be a deterrent for the baby during the game, and he will not want bite you.
• To arouse the puppy’s interest in the toy and distract the baby from your hands, lubricate this item with the broth that you will find in the can with meat cans. As soon as the puppy begins to play and nibble the toy, praise him and give a piece of encouraging goodies.
• Do not try to protect your pet from the outside world, just like a person, he needs socialization. The puppy must be able to interact not only with you, but also with other people and animals. The sooner the dog learns the correct contact, the better it will be for its further development, so in the first year of life you need to try to help her learn all the basic skills.
• Teaching a dog the skills of proper interaction with people, it is necessary not to cross that line when the dog loses the skill of necessary protection with the use of teeth. An adult dog must have the ability to protect not only himself, but also his master.

It is necessary for all family members to maintain the rules of behavior established for the puppy, for this it is necessary that the household knows and applies the basic commands that you trained the dog: “To me!”, “Fu!”, “To the place!”. Raising a dog in the first year of life is a very crucial moment, it consists not only of weaning a puppy to grab you and bite you. The dog should know where its place for sleep and rest, understand that you can’t ask for food from the table when the whole family eats food, gradually get used to walking on a leash and so on.

See how to wean a puppy to bite.