subject: How To Teach Your Puppies Not To Bite [print this page] Teaching your puppy how to control it's biting problem doesn't have to be an abusive situation where you slap your pup in the face as soon as he gives you a little bite. This form of behavior on your part is just plain cruel and does not solve the biting problem anyway.
It is normal for small puppies to desire to nip or bite at things when they are teething. It is also significant to learn that puppies and dogs bite and nip in the normal process of playing.
This is part of the pack mentality that has been given by ancestors of the dog species. In a pack, puppies will nip and bite one another and they really don't realize how hard they are biting until a bitten puppy or dog yelps.
Training dogs not to bite is essential due to the fact that they now have to conform to good behavior in a home condition. They must abandon the wild pack behavior that was prevalent before man domesticated dogs a millennia ago.
One method for teaching puppies not to bite is to have a spray bottle filled with water that can sprayed in their face when they begin to bite or nip at you. This doens't hurt the pup but startles them and starts a procedure of bad reinforcement. They begin to associate biting with getting a face full of water and soon their little brain realizes that to avoid the water they must not bite.
Another method for teaching puppies not to bite is to fill an empty can with coins and when the puppy begins to bite say "No!" in a firm voice and begin to shake the can vigorously. Puppies seem to hate the rattling noise that this produces and will back off rather quickly. Again, the puppy is startled by the noise but not hurt in any way.
If you start the negative reinforcement with either the spray bottle or coin filled can as soon as the biting begins, the biting should not last very long. However, If you wait around until the biting issue gets too bad, correcting the behavior will take a lot longer.
