How to Teach Your Puppy Not to Jump or Bite

Your adorable, cute new puppy has arrived.  You are very pleased to have him and he is happy to have a family like yours.  But before long you see that there are 2 dog behaviors you need to deal with almost immediately – jumping on people and biting.

As for jumping on people this is a problem that you or others might tend to overlook at the beginning.  After all he is so little and cute, that little tail is wagging and, besides, isn’t socialization and getting used to people important? 

Of course socialization and getting used to people is necessary but just allowing him to jump on people is not the best way to do it. Imagine your cute, little puppy as a grown up 80 – 100 pound adult dog.  Will he be so cute then when he jumps on people?  No andit could potentially be dangerous if he should jump on children or small adults because he could easily knock them down.

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The best time to do puppy training, when while he is still a puppy.  When your young puppy starts to jump up on you or someone else, gently place the puppy’s feet back on the floor. While he remains standing there, make sure to praise him extensively. 

Give him an alternative to jumping up on someone. 

The reason why puppies jump up on people is to express their enthusiasm, and so this makes it important to redirect this energy in a more socially acceptable direction.  Try teaching the puppy to give someone his paw instead of jumping up on them. 

When teaching the puppy to not jump up on people, you must make sure to be consistent.  Consistency is important in any training program, and all members of the family as well as friends must understand that the puppy is not permitted to jump on them – ever.

Biting is one of those things that almost every puppy seems to do, and they must be taught not to do it.  Like many dog behaviors, such as jumping up on people, biting and nipping might appear cute when your puppy is small, but certainly not when he getsolder, larger and stronger.  Many times, most puppies learn to control their biting reflex from their mothers and from their littermates. When the puppy becomes overenthusiastic, like during nursing or playing, the mother dog, will be sure to quickly issue a correction.

Of course, sometimes this type of natural correction can be lacking, especially when many puppies are removed from their mothers when they are still quite young.  It is therefore up to you to take over this important process.

Socializing the puppy with other dogs and puppies is one of the best and most effective ways to teach the puppy the appropriate, and non appropriate way to bite,and to curb the biting response.

You will find that some communities and many pet stores sponsor puppy playtime and puppy kindergarten classes, which can be greatplaces for puppies to be able to socialize with each other, and with other humans and animals too. 

While the puppies play with each other, and they will naturally bite and nip each other.  If one puppy starts to become too rough or bites too hard, theother puppies will quickly respond by correcting him.

When the puppy is young is the best time for his socialization to take place.  It is important that every dog be properlysocialized, since a poorly socialized dog, or one that has not been socialized at all, has the potential to become dangerous and even neurotic. 

Many experts agree that puppies should be socialized before they have reached the age of 12 weeks, or threemonths.

Another reason for early socializing of the puppy is that many times mothers of young children may be somewhat reluctant to allow their young children to play with older or larger dogs.  Since socializing the dog with other people is just as important as socializing it with other dogs, it is best to do it when the puppy is still young enough to be non threatening to everyone.

It is important that the puppy be exposed to a wide variety of different stimuli during the socialization process.  This process should include letting the puppy be more exposed to a wide variety of other animals, including other puppies, adult dogs, cats and other domestic animals. 

Also you should make sure that the puppy be introduced to as wide a cross section of people as possible, including young children, and older people.  While this is very important in providing the puppy with life lessons and preventing him from biting, you can also give the puppy appropriate things to play with and bite. This is another good way to control inappropriatebiting. 

Providing a variety of chew toys, ropes and other things the puppy can chew is important to preventing boredom, keeping his teeth polished and keeping him from chewing things that he is not supposed to chew.

So it is important to be consistent when teaching your puppy not to bite.  You need to encourage each member of the family, as well as close friends who may visit, to try to discourage the puppy from biting.  If only one person permits the puppy to chew on them while everyone else does not, the puppy can become confused, thus making the training process that much more difficult.

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