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YEAOUUUCH!! Sharky Puppy Teeth HURT! How do we stop them?
????Oh, those little sharky puppy teeth! Little nippers need to learn exactly how much damage they can do -and that our thin skin is not the same as their thick littermates’ coats!
We were chatting about helping puppy owners work on bite inhibition with their pups at our HoundTable event on Monday – and here’s a clip from that chat. ????
Thanks, @Lis @Joye334 @Abbie for chiming in with these great tips!
Please jump into the conversation now and drop your best ideas for helping puppies learn to reduce their biting pressure AND keep their teeth off human skin and clothing!
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9 Replies
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Puppy biting – yikes, this brings up all sorts sorts of reactions and suggestions! Reminding puppy owners that their dogs don’t mean to hurt them can be a good opener, so people don’t get angry when they get a bit hurt.
But what about those pups that get way over-aroused? @Catherine I think you were touching on that when you mentioned that second, more over the top pup who you would choose to walk away from from a longer timeout.
I start teaching the pup’s people to become Doggie Detectives and learn to notice their pups’ signals and body language that happen just before their puppy gets over-aroused and turns into a bitey monster. Pausing play then, in the proactive way and reinforcing a moment or three of even semi-calm is what we are looking to build on. That practice, paired with Tug by the Rules, can go a long way in helping the pups learn to moderate their play style.
I like to make this a family game by having people play reporter and say what body language they are seeing from their pup.
How might you describe those signals that a puppy displays when they are getting close going over their threshold of self control? To quote Family Paws, “Eyes, Ears, Tail, Muzzle – collect the clues and solve the puzzle”.
Thank you @Lis @Joye334 @Abbie for getting us started!
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Great tips, @jenwalker , for keeping excitable pups from getting too aroused. And, I think the distinction here is that we are actively working on teaching puppies that their teeth can hurt us… so I usually set them up with a lesson that will teach that. Do you see what I mean? By letting the puppy “fail” (teeth on skin), they learn to “Play Nice” and keep their teeth from touching us even when highly aroused. What do you think?
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Great ideas!!!!!
@jenwalker s take on detecting when the pup get over aroused and changing the play is a great one. I love all the ideas shared here.
I like to follow @david hand block method. And as @programdev mentioned – tug of war with rules.
Some other ideas I like to use is teaching the pup touch and playing with it. We are teaching the pup to close the mouth and touch rather than they coming at us with open mouth.
And then another ideas would be teaching them a attention noise – something novel noise paired with a treat. So that whenever they get into this frenzy mode do the attention sound – they will pause and look up for a treat or whatever reward that is and this can help the pup from going into intense mode and we can avoid the behavior all together.
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Thank you for the distinction @Catherine ; keeping in mind what we are seeking to teach is critical in what our dogs will learn! I think that both lessons are important (to Play Nice and to be able to calm down during play) but what might differ is which lesson needs more focus in different puppies.
I find myself wondering what makes that difference between these sets of puppies (those who simply need to be taught to Play Nice with people and those who also seem to lose control and go over their thresholds during play).
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@RADS – I missed the full group discussion, and was only able to enjoy the gems that @Catherine collected and shared on this post, so I’m not sure what the “hand block” method that @David offered is. Maybe I know it by another name? Might one of you explain that method in a reply? “Hand block” might well be a new tool for me to introduce and put into use!
Having a wide variety of different approaches to the same challenge can allow better problem solving. I’m finding myself thinking of ways that we can teach “Down” to a puppy. That one seems to be a very difficult cue for many.
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@jenwalker Hand block is part of the CATCH curriculum – David generously posted a video here this morning! Check it out 🙂
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AHHA – thank you for the link @Catherine!
After reading the instructions and watching the video, I’m wondering if keeping the toy in-front of the handler’s body (but covered by hands) might help puppies think through how to get the toy back better than in the version I know where the handler puts the toy behind their back (and out of sight altogether) during the pause in play.
I’ve seen pup’s frustration be a road block with this sometimes. Which of the methods do you think would cause less frustration, or do you think is it more a matter of carefully setting the pup up for success with either method?
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I wanted to share some handouts from The Virtual Puppy Raising Summit seminar I took a while back.
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Prevention of undesired behaviors is so important in a puppy’s learning process! What we practice – we get better at, and what gets practiced enough, becomes a default behavior.
There are so many different situations for a puppy owner to have to think through. Having a clear visual like the second chart could be a game-changer for a family who is overwhelmed with a puppy’s sharky actions.
Jumping up to greet is another one of these “normal” puppy behaviors that can lead to stressful situations as pups grow into juveniles. I’m thinking that a flow chart for jumping up on people would be another good one for families. What details might we put on a chart like that?
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