TEACHING NOT TO BITE
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 behaviour. When you take a puppy from the
litter and into your home, the puppy will play bite and mouth you. This is
normal behaviour, but needs to be modified so you and the puppy will be happy.
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 “OFF!” in a harsh tone of voice. This will stop the puppy
from mouthing.
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:
Unexpected mouthing (you don’t know the puppy is going to
mouth, until you feel the puppy’s teeth):
Use the command -
“OFF!”
Expected mouthing
(you see the puppy getting ready to mouth you):
Use the command – “OFF!” before the puppy can
mouth you.
HUDDS K9 SAY -
“NEVER” allow your dog to play tug with
your sleeves and clothing as a puppy. This will only develop into a problem
later in life .The dog will gradually get stronger and it will become more painful
for you as well.
DON’T START A PROBLEM YOU
WILL HAVE TO CORRECT LATER IN LIFE.
DO NOT BUY A
“TUGGER “ TYPE TOY AS THIS WILL ALSO CAUSE A SIMILAR PROBLEM AND MAY ACTIVELY ENCOURAGES AGGRESSION IN DOG’S .
UNATTENDED DOG’S AND CHILDREN NEVER MIX….PLEASE ENSURE YOU NEVER LEAVE THEM TOGETHER.CHILDREN MARK AND SCAR VERY EASY AND HAVE TO LIVE WITH IT FOR THEIR WHOLE LIVES.
UNDER CURRENT LEGISLATION (DANGEROUS DOG ACT) YOUR DOG DOES NOT HAVE TO PHYSICALY BITE ANOTHER PERSON OR ANIMAL. IF ANOTHER PERSON “FEARS” FOR THEIR SAFETY THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO TAKE ACTION. THIS INCLUDES A DOG RUNNING UP AND BARKING AT THEM OR MERELY JUMPING UP AT THEM. STOP THE DOG’S BEHAVIOUR NOW BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.
MANY DOG’S ARE DESTROYED DUE TO AVOIDABLE ACTIONS.
