The arrival of a puppy is a moment of great emotion for any family that has just adopted a pet, it seems that the atmosphere is full of tenderness, you give a lot of affection, you direct all attention to the dog to feel welcomed and protected within the new human family.
Puppies need a lot of care and it is extremely important to meet these needs, since we must not forget that they reach a totally new and strange environment for them at first sight and, on several occasions, have been abruptly separated from their mother. brothers. In turn, the puppy will also try to reinforce this sense of belonging to a “herd”, and will do so mainly through physical interaction, with very tender bites, which can eventually become a problem.
Continue reading this article by Animal Expert and discover: puppy that bites and growls: what to do?
If you are wondering how to prevent the dog from biting, you should first understand why the puppy is doing this.
Puppies bite a lot and tend to bite everything, this behavior is quite normal and necessary for the development of the dog. It is also important to learn how to control the strength of the bite, that is, they have the ability to bite without injury in adulthood. If you inhibit this learning process, the puppy may experience behavioral problems that will negatively affect him in the future.
Dog bite is a way to get to know and explore the environment around them, as they also exercise the sense of touch through the mouth. In addition, due to the high energy of dogs, this need to explore the environment is even greater and the bite is the main way to satisfy curiosity. Another important factor to consider is that dogs have baby teeth that are replaced by permanent teeth and, until this process is complete, they experience discomfort that can be relieved with the bite.
As we said earlier, having a puppy bites a lot is quite normal, even until the 3rd week of life you have to let the puppy bite whatever it wants. This is not to say that you should leave shoes or valuables by hand, on the contrary, you should offer toys adapted to the bite and specific for puppies. You should also let the puppy bite you because it gets to know you and that’s a positive thing for him.
Remember that although your puppy is used to biting, at first you don’t have to worry, after all, biting is something much needed for a puppy, as much as sleeping and eating. Just worry if your dog bites a family member too hard or aggressively, whether it’s a human or another pet.
In other cases, although this is normal behavior, it is important to put limits so that as the dog grows does not have behavioral problems as we will explain later.
The puppy will see the human family as their new herd and therefore try to interact with it, thus reinforcing their sense of belonging to the group. How does it interact? Especially with dog bites on hands, feet, etc. He’ll do it as a joke, rarely causing major damage.
Yes, every time the sting doesn’t hurt. You must allow this behavior because, for the puppy, it is not only a game, but a valuable tool that allows learning, determines the emotional bond with the human family and also helps the puppy to stay in good condition. health care.
But what if the puppy starts biting too hard and plays suddenly? This is the behavior that cannot be allowed, mainly for the following reasons:
As your dog grows, it may start to bite more and more, especially during the game, this is due to the approach of youth when the baby teeth begin to fall and the dental arch develops.
No form of violence is adequate to correct undesirable behaviors in dogs. Many of the recommendations that are usually made to correct a bite that is too strong can be considered subtle (but harmful) forms of violence, such as:
The application of these correction methods can be very harmful in the medium and long term, reinforcing even aggressive behaviors and resulting in an unbalanced dog.
Generally, the first learning about inhibition of the bite is given by the mother of the puppy, growling and not playing when the bite is very strong, but this learning must continue and be given by the human family.
Proper socialization from an early age is essential to avoid unwanted behavior from the beginning. When interacting with other dogs, the dog will learn more about canine language and will also learn that it is rejected when it has this type of attitude. However, in addition to socializing and your relationship with other dogs, it is also very important that you start setting the rules of this social game:
If your puppy does not show any improvement in its behavior despite the implementation of these rules, we recommend that you consult a specialist in canine ethology to correct this behavior as soon as possible.
If you want to know how to prevent the dog from biting when he is an adult, also read this article by Animal Expert.
If you want to read articles similar to, we recommend that you go to our Basic Training section.