5 Ways You Are Making The Puppy Biting Worse

Well, we need to have a conversation about

puppy

biting

, why it happens, and why the hell you allow it. But the good news is that we can solve this problem. You can actually fix this. It will take a lot of hard work and consistency, but let's talk about how to do it right now. You are with me? I'm Kayl McCann. Welcome back to McCann Dogs. People constantly ask us how they can fix their

puppy

's

biting

problem, and I could give you all kinds of examples on how to correct this behavior. But what people don't realize is that they are actually doing things at home every day that promote puppy biting and biting.

So today I'm going to talk to you about all those things so you can make sure you don't make the same mistakes. All right, let's start nice and simple, and talk a little bit about tone of voice. Now I'm going to let little Stevie go crazy because I want to show you that using our voice can encourage our pups to be wilder and crazier. When we see cute puppies, it's very easy for us to say, oh, what a cute little puppy. You're so cute. Oh yeah. And we have that high, squeaky voice, and then it just encourages the puppy.

Or we'll have other people who will say, don't bite. It does not bite. And they will point at you and say: don't bite. Now, puppies don't come to you knowing what it means not to bite. That is why it is better that you use calm and more assertive tones. Now, we don't need to yell or be drill sergeants with our puppies, but we do need to talk to them in a calm tone. That's how I could say, settle, yes. Good girl. Good agreement. Good seat. And then I'm going to see if I can get him to relax for a second.

Get comfortable and sit down. Yes. Good agreement. Good seat. So I'm still positive, but no. Sit, sit, sit. Good girl. This just brings it back up. So how you talk... Okay, calm down. Good. The way I talk to the dog can really help promote the calmness my pup has. Yes ok. And that will prevent her from being more prone to biting. Yes ok. Now you might be thinking, well, that's all great, but what do I say if my puppy bites and bites me? Now, we suggest you stay away from the word no. It is such a common word that we use every day among ourselves.

You are two-legged family members in the house. Instead, we will ask you to choose a word that will be more specific to the puppy when he makes a mistake. It could be a kind of low growl, ah, sound with your voice. It could be a phrase like enough is enough or enough is enough. Something you don't normally use in everyday life with your children or your husband or your wife. That will be puppy specific. And then proper discipline will follow. Now, there's something I've been doing during this last segment that you may not have noticed and that brings us to our next point.

Handling is probably one of the most important things we need to focus on with puppies, and unfortunately, it's one of the things that many pet owners make a lot of mistakes with. Now, when it comes to handling, there are a couple of things to think about. When most people think about it, they think about when we want to touch our puppy's paws or look at his mouth. And there is certainly a way to do it. If I put my hands on his head like this a lot or just grab his paw, you can see that I'm already starting to pinch right away.

But I could do this much more differently to teach him to behave when I do these things. And I could start by putting some food on her nose, and while she licks and nibbles on the treat, I could hold his paw in my hand. Good girl. Yeah, I could teach him from the beginning that when I need to hold your paws or when I need to hold your ears or do something like that, you just have to be calm. Just a little candy association. And obviously as she gets more comfortable, I can reduce the use of food and I can actually move on.

But what I don't want to do is just go in there and handle her in a way that causes her to bite her. That's another thing. A lot of people get a puppy and the first thing they want to do is get on the floor, which immediately makes me look a little more like a littermate. And they love to be very handy and play with the puppy, they like to crouch and fight. And yes, this is very fun. But if I have problems with my puppy's biting, all I do is basically treat her like her brothers and sisters would.

And look at all the biting and biting I can have now, when she's a little older and she learns to bite inhibit, she learns what she can use her teeth on and what she can't. I could absolutely play hard and have a lot of fun with her because she could really learn how to do it without needing to put my teeth in. But right now, as a puppy, I'm giving him mixed messages. In a sense I'm saying, don't bite me, and that makes me angry at her. And then two seconds later I'm on the floor encouraging her to bite and bite.

And that's not fair. Therefore, we must be very careful not to put our puppy in a situation where he is going to bite and bite. Now, something you may not know about puppies is that there are certain situations where biting and biting is more common. So if I have a puppy that bites and bites, I'm not going to pick up a puppy that bites and bite and hold him up to my face. Many people like to have puppies like this. This is a great way to lose the tip of your nose. And again, this puppy has no malice whatsoever.

She's a wild, crazy puppy who doesn't have much leadership discipline yet. She's coming, my friend, but having her near my face like this is not a good idea. Now can you see what I'm doing here? Because I don't want you to bite my face while I'm talking to you. In fact, I have my hand slipped on her neck, and this is a control technique. I'm holding her in a way that she can't turn around and bite my face. What I don't want to do is open myself up to have my face pinched or my ponytail grabbed.

That has happened many times before with young puppies, but I am holding her in a slightly more controlled manner. I have her curled up next to me. I have my hand on her neck to have a little more control. And you see how much calmer she is in my hands because she feels safe. And I'm going to add one more thing to the mix, and that's couches, beds, and elevated things. Wait wait wait. Wait, calm down, calm down. Here we go. There it goes. Going back to that voice thing I talked about. Good girl. If I have my puppy on the couch or in bed, she's another good girl.

That is easy. Thanks love. That's another easy place for the puppy to be close to my face and be too high. So if he has a lot of nipping and biting problems, I would advise against having them near his face for the time being, on the couch, in bed, set a time for all of those things. I'm not saying it's forever, but for now, try not to put your puppy in a situation where it's too easy for him to make mistakes. Next, I want to talk to you about the rules and regulations that come from family members at home.

You've probably heard this before, but dogs and puppies crave consistency. And one thing that can be really challenging is when we have some people in the home trying to reinforce rules that they try to be consistent and follow. And then there are other family members who don't do the same. I just talked about lying on the ground and fighting with the dog. If you are someone in the house who is really trying to get the puppy to listen and then your husband or your kids or whoever comes home and crouches down and starts wrestling with the puppy, it can be very difficult for your puppy to understand what you are doing. happening. good and what not.

Right now, since they are young, this is really the most impressionable time. It is important that everyone agrees to the rules and consistency of the puppy, which will make this entire process much faster. Puppies love it when things are black and white. They don't like gray areas. They don't like "sometimes" or "maybe" rules. They want to know what they are supposed to do and what they are not supposed to do. That's why it's so important that as a family you sit down, talk about what your expectations of the puppy will be, and work together to make sure everyone delivers.

Your training session is only as good as your training tool. So today I'm going to pick a few items that will make my life a little easier. The first is this house line so that I have good control in the house while I do my training session. The second thing I'm going to grab is a bag of candy. This will ensure that I can get my treats out quickly and efficiently and also keep all those slimy treats out of my pocket. Well, nobody likes that. And then the last thing will be a toy to throw. Today we're going to talk about biting and biting, and I'm going to show you how something like this can help you bite and bite.

Now you can get any of these items in our online store or come see us in person. Come in, take a tour of the facility, and see all the wonderful things we have. In my 20+ years of dog training, I have really learned over the years that there are two camps in terms of playing with toys and how that relates to puppy biting. So there's the first camp that says when puppies are chewing, give them a toy, let them release on a toy instead of your skin. And the problem I have with that is that many puppies find tugging on toys rewarding.

So if she bites my arm and right after I end up giving her a toy, she's like, oh, that works well! I'm on mom's arm. Or I grab a pant leg and immediately the toys come to me and I have fun. So there's a certain moment that needs to happen if we're going to use toys in that process, and I can expand on that. The second camp is that people think that if they play with toys and make the dog pull and go crazy with the toys, that will actually make them go crazy or bite and bite some more.

But what if I told you that you can use the tug game to establish leadership and teach your dog how to use his mouth in a really polite way? So if I want to play with it with the tug, I can start by having a little bit of control. So I'm going to wait until he relaxes a little. Okay, get it. Good girl. So start with a little more controlled start. I tell him when it's okay to jump up and bite him. Now the other thing is you see how close my hand is to his mouth.

I want her to understand that if my hand is there, she looks, my hands are on either side of where she is pulling, she needs to stay attached to the toy and never move towards my hand. Now, if for some reason she was being careless and she reached for my hand and bit me, even if it was accidental, she would simply grab her collar and stop the game immediately and not allow her to have the toy. Then she would take off the collar, take the toy away, and stop her for a second. Nice try. Biting the skin means the game stops.

Okay, let's try it again. And then I can offer her her toy and then play one more time. Now, the other thing I like to do is teach her some leadership by teaching her to give me things when I want too. With young puppies, I love to teach them through trades. So I have a couple of treats in my pocket while she pulls, I'm going to offer her a trade. I'm going to tell him or leave him or whatever word you want to use. And I'm going to exchange it for a couple of sweets. So I put the treats right up to her nose.

Once she smelled them, she let go of the toy and I can teach her that when I ask her to give up things, she should. Oops, I don't want him to grab it without me saying anything. Okay, get it. Good. Again, I'm establishing some leadership, which leads me to teach her not to bite or pinch, but I can do it while playing with the tug toy so she has a great time here. But at the same time, she is learning to use her mouth properly. In fact, Stevie is about to start our life skills program, which is the class being held here behind me.

We now have a local facility in Flamborough, Ontario. We are actually Canadians. So if you are near us, come visit the facility and find out what classes would be good for you and your pup. If you're not local to us, we actually offer this exact same program online. It is also called Life Skills. Now, Life Skills offers incredible support from our instructors. It also gives you access to a community of dog owners facing the exact same issues as you. So if you want to learn about our programs, be sure to check out the link in the description below.

If you have a puppy that jumps at you a lot, if you have a puppy that grabs your slippers or your coat while you're walking down the hall and you need to turn around and grab them, or maybe you're under the couch trying to grab something or they're chewing on a shoe and then You go to grab it and they run away. Many people say this is all fine and dandy, but how can I communicate with my puppy to prevent him from biting and biting? Now, you may have noticed the moment I took Stevie out of her box, I put in this little line ofhome.

Now this is a little different than a strap because it is very lightweight. It does not have a handle at the end. And this is designed specifically to put on our pups when they are at home, hence the house line. And the beautiful thing about this is that it can help me prevent my puppy from biting and biting because it is much easier for me to control a line than to have a puppy on my hands that is biting, biting and jumping crazy. So if she decides to grab my coat as we walk down the hall, I can just put my foot on the house line and stop her from doing so, and then I can address her.

If I try, she grabs a sock, or if she grabs your remote and they leave, I don't have to chase the puppy around the house and lower my leadership and control status. I can stop at the line and then I can go take it from there. So this will be able to stop a lot of problems before they become something big, huge. I can take my hand and slide it down the line to her neck to work on that control to get her to stop and calm down from there. But biting and biting is very, very difficult to stop if you have no control over your pup.

And this will be a way that allows you to eliminate a lot of the situations where the puppies reach a higher state of mind and it's really difficult to control them. After watching today's video, you may have recognized some of the common mistakes you are

making

that are actually causing your puppy to bite and bite more. Now, to make sure you don't make the biggest mistake new puppy owners make, be sure to watch that video here. In that sense, I'm Kayl. This is Stevie. Happy training.