Transcription
Tamil, hi. Today's video is sponsored by Petflow. Puppy biting is an inevitable part of having a puppy, but it can also be one of the most frustrating and painful. Flurry is just under four months old now, and he's going through a pretty significant puppy biting stage.
At the windscreen, yeah, I don't need to windscreen anyway. Today, we'll show you how to teach your puppy to stop biting you. Yeah, this is the right dog for this video. Click thumbs up for Flurry, and trust me, if you've got a puppy, you're definitely going to want to subscribe to my channel. Pick up a copy of my book too for the complete guide to raising the perfect dog.
If you're new to my videos, understand that I strongly discourage the use of training collars like choke, prong, and electric collars. That's because those types of collars are specifically designed to train with pain, and that does nothing to promote a bond between a person and a dog. That's the single most important factor when teaching any dog. I want to encourage you to get your pet supplies and your dog food from a company that feels the same way.
By getting your food automatically shipped to you from Petflow at any time interval you prefer, you're making your life easier and making a statement that you support companies that put our dogs' well-being first. I'll have a link and a fantastic discount code to get you all set up in the description below.
But have you ever heard that when your puppy is biting you like this, that you should say "ouch" and walk away from them? "Ouch." And we can definitely say [that] now. What we thought that this was a bit of a shallow way to address this because you're addressing the symptom, the biting, and not the cause, your dog's desire to interact with you.
There are two main reasons that [puppies] bite like this: because they're teething or because they're trying to engage the world. This is how they grab things. If your puppy is teething, you'll definitely want to make sure they have regular access to safe chew toys of lots of different textures. Now, it's going to take a few weeks to really resolve puppy biting, and dogs can be really nippy until they're about five months old, or even longer if it goes unchecked.
You must commit to being very patient with them. Right now, you and your dog don't yet have really crystal clear communication together, and every interaction you have with them needs to be focused on building that communication. Addressing puppy biting is one of the best opportunities to do that. In addition to the exercises I'm about to cover, make sure you have a strong focus on desensitizing your dog to being touched firmly by a person. I think he's enjoying the massage. So the more they're used to this, the less likely they are to nip at you.
You know, I've even heard some dog trainers recommend biting your dog back so they know how it feels, but those are really silly ways to teach it. On if your puppy play bites really excessively, then you've probably got a high-energy dog. If that's the case, then exercise early in the morning and throughout the day is mandatory if you want relief sooner rather than later.
Chances are, if you've got a puppy biter on your hands, you're probably getting pretty good at predicting when they're about to be bitey. For example, in Flurry's case, it's all the time. Simply hoping for the best and reacting negatively when your puppy bites you is not going to resolve this efficiently. Fast success comes when you're one step ahead of your dog. Now, I know you can do this. You're a person, they're a dog. Most of you are smarter than your dog, I hope.
First, let's talk about how you need to get good at using a toy to curb puppy biting. Since I know that Flurry is likely to bite me when I go to greet him, I want to be one step ahead of him by having a toy that I know he likes already with me. He likes that snake, so look, this is okay to bite. My flesh is not. So we want to continually divert our dog's attention to the toy, the thing that is acceptable to bite. Over time, your dog is going to start to realize, "Alright, so there's some things I'm allowed to bite, some other things I'm not." Just they're not born knowing this, so you have to take the time to teach [them]. It's not reasonable to expect a dog to just be calm all the time. Your goal should be to get them to release energy and play when we ask them to, rather than waiting for them to ask out on their own.
So now let's talk about how to use treats to curb puppy biting. I mean, your dog has to know the proper conduct when encountering a person. Remember, when your dog is biting you, like we've been seeing Flurry do, they're just trying to engage [you]. We just have [to] show them and teach them that we prefer a different kind of engagement, a more civilized form of engagement.
Since I know that Flurry is very likely to start biting me when I engage him, I've got to be one step ahead of him. So I've got a treat right here. Now, we've done some basic training with him, and he knows how to sit and a couple of other things. I'm going to encourage him to sit for a treat. Like that. It's worth noting that many puppy biters don't know how to take a treat gently, and they really bite your hands while trying to get that treat. So if that's your dog, just simply treat them open palm. It's a good idea to have treats easily accessible at all times. If you've got a new dog, let's take all of that exuberant energy and turn it into learning power.
Now, right off the bat, when you're using treats, that's likely to subdue your dog's desire to bite, just because they get in food mode. When a dog is in the mood to eat, they tend to be a little less bitey. Since I know Flurry is likely to bite, I'm going to ask him to sit. Nice work. Now, you might be wondering, "Hey, am I rewarding my dog for biting in this situation?" No, you're not, because we asked him to sit first. There ya go, good job, bud. So ideally, you asked your dog to do something else. Maybe it's "sit." Maybe it's "lie down." Maybe it's "come." That's a good roll over, buddy, and reward for the thing you DO like.
So you can see by training like [this], we're satisfying his urge to want to interact with us and our desire to have a well-behaved dog at the same time. Initiating a 30-second to two-minute training session like this teaches your dog to respond to you, rather than simply behaving impulsively. This is why it's important to make great effort to understand why your dog is acting a certain way, rather than simply focusing on correcting unwanted behaviors after they occur.
Imagine it if you were really consistent about asking your dog to sit every time you greeted them, a thousand times in a row. Your dog would quickly get into the habit of sitting to greet you instead of biting you. How great would that be? Use both of these approaches that we've gone over so far and use them often when encountering any dog going through the puppy biting phase. Now, when you notice instances of licking where your puppy used to bite, you'll know you're on the right track! And you should notice that becomes a bit more frequent with time.
Puppy biting can take anywhere between a couple of days and a couple of months with extreme biters, so it's really important to keep your expectations in line. So what do you do if you're just hanging out and you're caught off guard by the puppy biting? Well, number one, promptly initiate one of the training sessions that we did today. Exercise [your] dog or place them in a boring environment for a few minutes until they calm down a bit.
Parents of young kids, understand that it's your responsibility to teach your puppy not to bite, not your kids. But you can make it Petflow's responsibility to get your pet's food to you. I'll have a link in the description where you can get your dog's food automatically shipped. You want more great dog training videos, and I really want to make them. Make a voluntary contribution to The Dog Training Revolution on Patreon. That link will be in the description. Give Flurry a thumbs up, subscribe to my channel, and pick up a copy of my book, Dog Training Revolution. We'll see you guys in the next video.