BITING OR NIPPING

Almost all puppies want to bite, chew or nip at their owners hands
while they re being handled. This would be a normal behavior if
still with his litter mates because this is part of the process of
determining the pack leader within the litter. It is now up to you as
the puppy’s new master to become the pack leader in his eyes. This
will not happen by accident. You must begin at a very early age to
establish the order of the pack within your own household. When
your puppy growls at you or grabs your hands or fingers,
immediately give him a scruff of the neck correction and a very
stern growling command, “NO”. The scruff of neck correction is
taking the back of the pups neck in your hand, give a stern shake
and suspend the puppy 1 or 2 inches off his front feet for a few
seconds, then gently easing him back to 4 feet on to the floor.

Calmly praise him as the nasty behavior subsides. This method
imitates what the mother would do to her puppy to settle a bratty
behavior. Her reward would be to lick the puppy’s face sweetly as
the behavior settled. Do not allow anyone to play aggressively in a
Roughhouse manner. This only reinforces aggressive behavior
towards people. Also, blowing in a pup s face will produce a
snappy biter. Instead, teach the pup to play with toys such as balls,
rawhide toys and other puppy articles.

Often puppies will resort to biting or mouthing during a playtime.
This is not to be tolerated as it too becomes part of the play. The
scruff of neck correction works well on most puppies, although
very persistent pups may need a slightly stronger type of
discipline. Using your fingertips, apply slight pressure to the top of
the muzzle with a strong growl NO. This again is a mothers

correction, therefore communicating clearly to the pup the error of
his behavior. Some high-energy pups respond very well to a high
pitched OUCH sound. Its the shocking sound of the squeal type of
voice that makes the pup take notice. They initially learn these
sounds with their liter mates and mother and what they mean.
Biting, mouthing and nipping all take time to stop completely. This
is a learning process your pup needs to work through and it will
take repetitions before he catches on. One of the above methods
may work or you may have to apply all of them. It depends on
your pup and his response. Be patient but remember, persistence
removes resistance.

If you were really fortunate, you picked up your puppy at an age of
10 weeks old directly from the mother’s home or kennel. And, if
the pups mother was a good mother like most, she would have
taught the pup that pressing hard with it’s teeth hurts. Usually, this
kind of puppy, will mouth your hands gently in play knowing
through it’s liter mates that mouthing hard hurts. Now if you have
a puppy that you purchased at a pet store and it’s 6 weeks old,
chances are that the puppy may have been 4 weeks old once it left
it’s mother so your job is a little more important because you have
to replace some of those “mother nature” instincts normally taught
to a puppy...naturally. We try to emphasis on this mother nature
method everywhere we can throughout this publication. Even if
your puppy arrived at your home over 10 weeks old this only
means that your training job will be a little easier.