Puppies, like
children, explore their world by putting things in their mouth. They
use their mouth to play with littermates, toys and their surroundings.
Unfortunately, when you are playing with or petting your new puppy he
will assume that he can do the same to your fingers. This is normal
and not generally a sign of aggressive behavior. Puppies are teething
until around six months of age and this contributes to their need to
chew. Chewing facilitates teething and makes their gums feel better.
Puppies are highly motivated by instinct to chew on anything and
everything around. Your puppy won’t magically "outgrow" this behavior.
In order to suppress it or stop it, you must try to interest your
puppy in a more acceptable, alternate behavior. Your goal is to
redirect your puppy's need to “mouth” objects onto the appropriate
chew toys.
You should
provide your puppy with a number of appropriate toys. Knotted rope
bones, Nylabones, Kong toys, toys that make noise or dispense treats
when rolled are all good choices. Some plush and/or squeaky toys are
appropriate if your dog is not a hard chewer. Rotate your puppy’s toys
every 3 or 4 days so that he does not get bored. Experiment with
different types of toys to see what your puppy likes best. Watch your
puppy closely when you give him a new toy to make sure he can’t tear
it up into small pieces, which he might eat.
Try freezing a
wet washcloth for your puppy to chew on when he’s teething. If you
should happen to catch your puppy in the act of chewing on an
inappropriate object, interrupt him with a loud noise (not something
that will scare him) and immediately replace the item with an
acceptable chew toy. Praise him profusely when he takes the chew toy
in his mouth.
To minimize your
puppy’s chewing opportunities you should puppy-proof your house. Pick
up the trash or tuck it inside a cabinet. Try keeping it outside on
the porch or buy locking containers. Be sure the kids pick up all toys
and don’t leave dirty clothes (especially socks and underwear!),
shoes, magazines, remote controls or other small items lying around
where your puppy can reach them. Use a commercial product like "Bitter
Apple" to coat furniture and other items that may be tempting for your
puppy to chew on. Don’t confuse your puppy by giving him your old
shoes or articles of clothing to chew on. He cannot distinguish one
shoe or article of clothing from another. If you do this, you should
just open your closet and let him choose because as far as he’s
concerned anything that smells like you should be fair game!
Above all, use
your crate to confine the puppy when there is no one available to
supervise his time in the house. If you are busy but want him with
you, tether him to a door or to yourself with a six-foot lead attached
to his adjustable harness. Don’t tether him by a collar as puppies can
get excited or scared and hurt themselves by pulling against the
confinement or by taking off running only to be jerked up short by the
end of the lead. Close doors or use baby gates to limit the puppy’s
access to other areas of the house. Never give your puppy the
opportunity to sneak off and get into mischief. An ounce of prevention
is worth a pound of cure!
You want to teach
your puppy that should he happen to have a hand or fingers in his
mouth, he must be gentle. Every time your puppy puts his mouth on any
part of your anatomy you must immediately redirect his chewing onto an
acceptable object. You can minimize your puppy’s offenses and keep him
from intimidating small children by offering him a knotted rope bone
or a nylabone (specifically designed for teething puppies) every time
you want to pet him. You need to remember to keep these items readily
available when it’s the puppy’s playtime.
Offer the chew
toy with one hand as you reach out to pet him behind the ears or down
the back. Don’t go over the puppy’s head when you reach to pet him as
this will distract him from the chew toy. This exercise will help your
puppy learn that attention from people is fun and rewarding. At the
same time it will keep his mouth busy so that he doesn’t learn to chew
on humans when he’s being petted. Be sure you alternate hands while
doing this exercise and remember that you will have to start with
short sessions to keep your puppy from getting excited and starting to
nip.
Sometimes
providing alternate chew items is not enough and you will have to
teach your puppy that nipping results in punishment (unpleasant
consequences). Punishment can include walking away and ignoring him
after letting him know that he went too far or it can extend to
physically unpleasant consequences. To show him that nipping stops his
fun and results in the halt of petting and social interaction with
you, look him in the eye and yell "OUCH!" (You want him to think you
have been severely injured!), immediately turn your back and ignore
him. If you have to, put him in his crate for a time out.
You must ignore
him until he is calm. At that point you can try the chew bone/petting
exercise again. If the chew toy and ignoring him are not sufficient,
you can use your thumb and forefinger to loosely grasp the puppy’s
lower jaw when he mouths you. You don’t want to hurt him, just hang on
enough that he realizes he is no longer in control and can’t get his
mouth away. After a few seconds, release him. Offer your hand again.
Praise and reward him if he doesn’t mouth you or repeat holding his
jaw if he does. Remember that you are not going to solve this problem
overnight. It will take many repetitions and your puppy is going to
backslide for what seems like forever, but with consistency and
patience, you will win the war.
Your puppy is
sometimes going to demand attention. Remember that you are supposed to
be the one in charge and that he must learn that you set the rules and
make the decisions. It is your responsibility, however, to make sure
that your puppy is getting adequate physical exercise. Putting the
puppy out in the yard by himself to play is not adequate. Most puppies
will do their business, explore a little bit and then sit by the door
waiting to join the pack again. Your puppy needs to go for walks as
often as possible and he needs to interact with humans by playing a
game of fetch or what ever game you both enjoy. Your puppy needs lots
of "people time." He cannot learn the rules of your house if he’s
outside or locked in a crate all the time. He can only become
trustworthy by spending time loose (figuratively speaking) in the
house while you are there to teach him how to behave.
One of the ways
puppies demand attention is by jumping up on you. Jumping up is not
necessarily a bad thing if you instigate the behavior, but a dog that
indiscriminately jumps on people is a nuisance and this behavior can
be a stepping- stone to acting out aggressively with strangers and
family members. A dog with a dominant personality or a problem with
aggression can view jumping up on humans, especially children, as a
sign of his dominance over those individuals. You should never allow
your dog to jump on anyone until his place as the lowest member of the
pack is firmly established. Don’t forget that getting bad attention by
jumping up (being pushed away, kneed in the chest or someone stepping
on the back toes) is a reward in itself. To teach your puppy not to
jump up you are going to use one of the same principles as with
chewing.
When the puppy
jumps up, cross your arms over your chest and turn your back to him as
you say ”Off!” Stay turned away until all of his feet are on the
ground. Once his feet are on the ground, praise and pet him and give
him a treat. If he should try to jump up again as you praise him,
repeat the exercise. Try to keep your praise low-key so that you are
not encouraging him to get excited, which can lead to him wanting to
jump up. A trick to this is to teach your puppy from the beginning
that he must “sit pretty” for attention. Basically this just means
that he must sit quietly for attention. Once your puppy realizes that
he gets no attention for jumping up, he’ll stop jumping. Once you’ve
taught him that he must come to you and “sit pretty” for attention, be
sure that he doesn’t get ignored when he is waiting politely to be
petted.
I do not
recommend playing "tug-of-war" or wrestling games with your puppy as
this behavior encourages your puppy to challenge you. Grabbing,
growling, lunging and refusing to release an object you have your
hands on are inappropriate behaviors and can lead to serious problems
down the road. Think about the types of games you play with your puppy
and never encourage out-of-control behavior or games that make you
adversaries.
You should not
expect children below 10 years of age to be able to contribute
significantly to the training of your new puppy. Kids can help feed,
water and take the puppy for walks, but they tend to lose interest
quickly if the TV is on or they have friends over. The puppy can be
long gone and destroying the house before the children even realize he
left the room. Children also are not usually capable of disciplining a
puppy consistently. They may do really well the first couple of times
the puppy does the wrong thing, but after the twentieth time they tend
to give up and either let the puppy get away with the behavior or they
get frustrated and punish the puppy incorrectly. You should never
leave children under ten and a young puppy alone. Parents should
supervise all interactions between their children and dogs. Simple
situations between a child and a small puppy can quickly escalate into
serious conflicts.
A child who is
nipped by a puppy may try to push the puppy away with their hands and
the puppy will interpret this as playing. The puppy will be encouraged
to nip, chew and jump on the child again and before you know it the
child is knocked down, injured, traumatized and forever scared of
dogs. On the puppy’s side, he is now afraid of small children because
the parents rushed into save the child, who was screaming
hysterically, they immediately blamed the puppy, yelled and
intimidated him and possibly even resorted to physical punishment. The
entire family now has a terrible experience to overcome and it could
have been prevented if the puppy had been properly supervised by
adults.
To finish up,
never discipline or punish a dog or puppy unless you catch them “in
the act.” Animals will associate punishment with whatever they were
doing at the moment they were punished. A puppy cannot connect the
punishment to the act of chewing on the dining room chair 20 minutes
ago. A puppy is not thinking about what he did 20 minutes ago when he
has that "guilty look." He is merely showing submissive postures
because he senses your anger and he feels threatened. Your body
posture, facial expression and tone of voice combine to make the puppy
feel threatened so he runs away or cowers. Punishment never works when
delivered after-the-fact and may actually encourage other undesirable
behaviors.
