Training tips?

[rharm]

Have a 9 week old beagle that seems to be biting a lot. It may just be the age? Any suggestions on how and when to train him not to do this? I don't want it to be a problem down the road.

[Ralph Wiggum]

It is imperative that you stop this now as who knows who he will bite down the road and how they will interpret the bite (I use the term bite loosely because what you see as play might be a bite to someone else). In my opinion, the safest thing to do is to allow no "mouth play" whatsoever.

Here is what I learned from our trainer. It's a little harsh, but if you are consistent, it will work in a hurry.

1. When the dog uses it's mouth, give it a firm NO command and firmly grab it by the scruff of the neck. This is how a mother dog would deal with a biter.

2. Chances are likely, when you let go, the dog's going to come back and snap at you again. Repeat step 1, and this time, take your free hand and give it a firm, open palmed smack under the chin. Use your judgement, but whack him pretty good.

A few times, and the dog will get the picture.

I'm not an advocate of hitting dogs, but this is a quick and effective technique, and I really feel it's that important to get them to stop nipping. Just be consistent--good luck!

[nofishfisherman]

All puppies at that age are going to want to chew on you a little. Thats how a puppy explores its world.

I've heard some people say you can let them mouth your hand up until 12 weeks or so and then you should start preventing the behavior but I am more of the mindset that I'd rather prevent it right from the start.

When my pup would go after my hands (or feet) I would grab him by the muzzle hand hold his mouth closed and give him a firm NO. It takes alot of repeating before they get the idea as they are in full on play mode at the time.

If you do decide to let your dog mouth on your hands for a little while before you cut off the behavior make sure to let the pup know when he bites too hard. When puppies are playing and one bites too hard the other pup will yelp letting the biting dog know they went to far. IF you watch pups play and you hear a yelp you'll probably see all play stop for a second to make sure everything is ok. If you pup is gently mouthing your hand and then gets a little too firm for your liking let out a high pitched yelp and I bet the dog will stop to see what happened. This is the time of the puppies life when they learn the strength of their bite so giving the pup feedback on what is too hard is important.

[lenny7]

I used the technique of pressing the upper lip around the upper teeth just hard enough to get a negative reaction from the dog, along with a stern "NO!", followed with ignoring the dog.

[nofishfisherman]

I've also gone with that trick. He doesn't like biting down if he thinks he's going to bite his own lip.

Another thing I've notice works is if you grab his lower jaw like you would if you were grabbing a bass by the lip. Man does my dog hate that and it gets him to stop.

[MuleShack]

Our doctor (vet) also suggested the lower jaw thing but went a step further to press on the back of the tounge which creates a slight gag reflex and the dog associates biting with a negative. have to be consistent with it too.