Call it a Bite, or Nip, or Snip, or Chewing, or Teething, or Mouthing, or Playing, or any other cute name you can give it. If the dog's teeth are on a person or another animal, the dog, puppy, that is, the dog needs to be corrected....each and every time. Letting this go on, all this "Chewing", "Teething", "oh it was just a Nip", is going to teach your puppy or dog, it is ok for them to BITE! A bite is any time the dog has it's teeth on someone or some other living animal, including but not limited to, your cat. This is not a good thing. Even if you will be training the dog for Schutzhund Training, NEVER, EVER, let your puppy even start putting it's teeth on you.

Puppies do not know any better than to chew on a person's hand or arms or leg or foot or clothing.... However, the owner of the dog should know better and correct the puppy each and every time it happens.

When a puppy, of any breed, puts it's teeth on you, playing or not, it will need a gentle correction. But follow that correction with telling/asking the puppy "Where is your toy?", or "Get your toy." or "Find your toy." You should have several dog safe toys all around, so that you can reach quickly and get one for the puppy right at that moment. Teach the dog it is NOT ok to chew on you, but it IS a good thing to play with or chew on a DOG TOY. The same is true if the puppy is chewing on your stuff, from clothing to furniture. Make a gentle correction with a "No!", followed by "Where is your toy?" then quickly go and get a toy for the puppy.

If you are unfamiliar with training your puppy or do not know where to start when it comes to teaching your dog manners, PLEASE take your dog to a Basic Obedience Class and learn with your dog. Every Dog Should Have Manners! It is up to the owner to start teaching their own dog from the very beginning.

DO NOT PLAY TUG O WAR WITH PUPPIES OR DOGS. All dogs, any breed or mix thereof, they see this game as a Dominance Challenge. Tug O War is how they play in their canine families to see who is winning the prize.

Fetch is a good thing, but make the puppy/dog drop the item in front of you or hand it to you, that is, teach the pup to release it when you reach for it.....never play Tug O War with a dog unless you are training for Schutzhund or, dare I say, <shakes head in disgust> Dog Fighting. That is how they start puppies for these sports.

All puppies bite....that's how they play and learn. If your puppy is bad and getting worse about biting your hand, quickly fold over his lip between your hand and his teeth. When we do this here, we often say nothing to the dog, but continue to do it each time the mouth comes....at first they think it is an accident, but catch on quickly to the pain.

If your pup is still biting your hand badly and it goes to put your hand in his mouth again....push your hand down his throat.....NOT like a punch, like, as he comes forward, so do you. Do this with fingers open and headed toward his throat. Say, "NO!" firmly. Shout when necessary. Then ignore him for a few minutes.

The Dominance Roll is especially important for the pup that continues to hurt your hands when playing. This is DOG TALK TO THEM! When your pup is being raughty, and or out of control, or even biting again after you just corrected him, you pull his feet out from under him (like another dog would do to it) and hold the pup down on his back....staring at it's eyes until he looks away and relaxes it's body. This is how the top canines teach the pack canines who is in charge. Every human family member should do this with the pup. Never let the pup back up from this hold UNTIL YOU DECIDE WHEN (you do not hold them long, what I am saying is, NOT when the pup decides). Stare at your pup as he walks away after it gets up from this position.

However, if you have other dogs watch them, they may want to 'get in on the correction' and start a fight. Keep them back when you roll the pup. This is good training, a dominance lesson, for each of them.

I actually hold all our puppies like this, over on their backs on my lap, while watching TV. Subliminal Training. I do NOT let them decide when they want to get down. I decide how long they will be there. Dogs and puppies OF ALL BREEDS understand this because they are taught this from birth. Their mothers hold them down like this to groom them from the day they are born. As they grow they try the same move on all the other puppies in the litter so they can find their own, 'standing in the pack'.

When my dogs struggle the Dominance Hold (on the floor or on my lap) I say, in a very firm voice, ever increasing, as necessary, in volume, "STOP!". When our dogs hear the word, "STOP!" they usually stop whatever they are doing and settle down right away....even from another room or from distances outdoors.

This should work for that pup that just loves to use it's mouth on you, if the whole family is constant with it. KEEP IN MIND, THAT THIS IS NORMAL PLAY FOR A PUP, BUT, play is where dogs learn who is strongest and in charge.

Dogs have respect for those above them. It is a very good idea to have the each human family member hold (with any dog of any breed you have) down in the dominance hold. Have you ever seen dogs that respect one family member but not another? (this is usually seen in small spoiled dogs) What you are seeing there is that the dog sees that other person, the one they do not respect, as an 'equal' or 'below' them in the pack.

-- The Working German Shepherd Dogs Team
Tue, 30 Jul 2013 14:20:53 -0400