Puppies who jump up and bite / nip can be the cause of some rather unpleasant experiences for you, your guests and your family.
Puppies jump up.
Puppies bite and nip.
Some puppies love to jump up and bite.
So how do we go about fixing such a problems, for it is absolutely imperative that fix it we should!
In our 'Cure Puppy Biting' eBook, there is a lot of focus on the need to teach puppies correct bite inhibition protocols and this is certainly the first place to start when we approach the problem of a puppy jumping and biting.
Stage 1: Stop Puppy Jumping and Biting
Puppies reward themselves when they jump up. They are greeting you in a way that is totally natural to them and any form of contact, a pat on the head or even getting you to jump back will be a self fulfilling reward. We respond to this by simply turning our back and waiting for the pup to stop jumping. As soon as he does, we reward. If he jumps again, we turn our back again. We are seeking to 'punish' the jumping up with a form of non reward. As soon as the puppy displays the desired behaviour (not jumping up), we reward.
We ignore the unwanted behaviour and reward the desired. (The basic principles of all good dog training).
Stage 2: Focus on Stopping Puppy Biting
Biting. Puppies love to explore with their mouth. We can generate a desirable response by alerting the puppy to the fact that a nip on the hand hurts us. So we yelp, we turn our back and we remain perfectly still. We are trying to impart on our puppy the fact that nipping is unpleasant for us.
All together: Curing Puppy Jumping Up and Biting Us
When puppy jumps up, we turn our back and we ignore the behaviour until they stop jumping, at which point we reward. If the puppy jumps up again, we repeat the process.
When the puppy nips, we react by emitting a loud yelp and turning our back. We wait until the puppy is in a calm state where he is not jumping and biting and we reward him quietly and calmly.
Other techniques to stop our puppy from jumping and biting can include:
– Distraction
– Redirection
– Clicker training Each one is worthy of topic in its own right and we will cover them all shortly.
– Redirection
– Clicker training Each one is worthy of topic in its own right and we will cover them all shortly.