Episode #180 Understanding Puppy Biting: Will My Dog Outgrow It?

Are puppy teeth making playtime a little too adventurous? It's a phase that every fur parent faces, and just like tiny tots, puppies use their mouths to explore every nook and cranny of their world. This episode isn't just about discussing the whys; it's packed with actionable advice on guiding your pup with positive reinforcement through this teething time. I'll be your ally in translating human responses into canine-friendly cues, showing you how to communicate that when teeth come out, playtime checks out. Let's navigate these choppy waters together and turn your land-shark into a well-behaved buddy, creating a safer space for everyone involved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Puppy Biting Behavior and Training
• 10:17 Dog Training Support Program

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This is the Puppy Training Podcast, episode 180, understanding Puppy Biting. Will my dog outgrow it? This podcast is designed to help you on your journey of becoming best friends through love and learning, as you train your own dog from home, and I'm here to help you every step of the way. This is the Puppy Training Podcast and I'm your host, amy Jensen. Hello everyone, thanks for being here today.

Speaker 1: 0:31

I know a lot of my podcasts start out as I often get asked. Today we are having another one, so I often get asked will my dog outgrow this or won't my dog outgrow this? Or when will my dog outgrow this or won't my dog outgrow this? Or when will my dog outgrow this? Typically, this is referring to biting and mouthing. So today let's talk about it.

Speaker 1: 0:50

Let's explore why puppies bite when they grow teeth, how dogs learn behavior and positive methods to teach them better manners. Will they just outgrow the biting? Why, or why not? Now, puppies, we know, have boundless energy and curious nature. They often engage in behaviors like biting and mouthing. These behaviors, while natural for young dogs, can be concerning for pet families as these dogs get older.

Speaker 1: 1:15

Now puppies bite and mouth for a variety of reasons. First, it's a means of exploration and communication. Just like our human babies, puppies use their mouths to interact with the world around them. It's a way for them to investigate objects, play with their littermates and even communicate with humans. Additionally, puppies may also bite as a form of teething relief as they go through the process of growing their adult teeth. Chewing and mouthing can alleviate discomfort. Their gums may be sore and they'll have a natural inclination to chew on objects to ease the discomfort. This phase can contribute to increased mouthing and biting behavior. Now think of it your young puppy, in the first four to six months of life, will have grown a baby set of teeth, lost those teeth and grown an entire set of adult teeth. That's incredible. Lots is happening in those tiny mouths and it can be quite uncomfortable. So there will be lots of biting and mouthing, chewing, in those first few months.

Speaker 1: 2:17

I also want you to understand how dogs learn behavior, because it's crucial in addressing and modifying their actions. Because it's crucial in addressing and modifying their actions, dogs, like all animals, operate on a principle of reinforcement. So, simply put, they do what works for them. That's it. It's not really more complicated than that. If a behavior results in a positive outcome or reward, they're more likely to repeat it. Now I might be in charge of that positive outcome or reward. Nature or external factors might be in charge of that outcome or reward, but whatever the case, if a dog is doing a behavior and they're repeating the behavior, something is working for them.

Speaker 1: 2:55

In the case of mouthing and biting, if a puppy receives attention or playtime when they engage in these behaviors, they'll continue the biting and mouthing because it's reinforcing for them. If you ever watched dogs play together, they use their mouths a lot. Now dogs do develop bite inhibition, meaning they know to be soft with their jaws and not bite too hard, because they learn if they bite too hard the other dog yelps or lets them know hey, that was too rough, right. So they learn by inhibition. But they still use their mouths to to bite and mouth and play.

Speaker 1: 3:28

So how can we positively teach our puppies better behavior to minimize or eliminate biting and mouthing? One effective approach is through redirection and positive reinforcement. When a puppy starts to bite or mouth, we can gently redirect their attention to an appropriate chew toy or object. This encourages them to chew on the toy instead, and when they do, we want to praise and reward them with treats, food, rewards or just verbal praise Good girl, good boy, that kind of thing. Consistency is key in reinforcing the desired behavior and discouraging unwanted biting. Now keep in mind we want to reward our dogs with something they love and view as a reward. Make sure what we're rewarding them with is in fact something they like. Now another helpful tip is to stop the fun when your puppy mouths or bites. You Teach them that the fun stops as soon as the teeth come out. Right, if I feel teeth fun ends, and we need to be very consistent with this the more consistent we are, the faster the puppy learns that pattern that, oh, biting and mouthing always stops the fun. With this person I should probably not bite or mouth them.

Speaker 1: 4:31

A couple suggestions would be to set up an exercise pen or a barrier. Use a baby gate. You are on one side, your puppy's on the other side and you can play together through the barrier. So you can toss food rewards. You could pay them for good behavior like sit down, spin, high five, shake, stay. There's a lot of things you can practice with that barrier in place. You could even toss toys for them to retrieve.

Speaker 1: 4:54

If they start to get mouthy with you, simply walk away. They can't follow you. There's a barrier there preventing them from doing so and we can now wait for them to offer you a downshift in behavior, meaning they lay down or they settle on their own. Offer you a sit, some kind of calm behavior to say, hey, let's try this again. Then you can go back to resume playing with them and then just repeat walking away as often as needed. Be very consistent and teach them. The pattern is if you bring out your teeth, I walk away. The fun stops. Now is the barrier too tall or tricky?

Speaker 1: 5:27

Use a tether, attach your puppy's leash to the inside of a doorknob and close the door. Repeat the previous steps. Only now we're just tethering our puppy instead of using the barrier. But again, you can play with them, interact with them. If they start to bite her mouth you, you simply walk away. The tether prevents them from following you and we're consistently walking away if they're biting or mouthing. So they'll see that the pattern of oh, I bite my mouth, she walks away. I don't want that. I want her to come play with me. Therefore, they will change their behavior.

Speaker 1: 5:57

Now. Notice, this works in this scenario because the puppy is wanting you to stay with them to play. As long as they're wanting you to be with them, then walking away from them when they get too rough will be an effective consequence where they will learn oh, she doesn't like that. So make sure you have some. You understand your dog's motivation behind the behavior as well. If they really are trying to get you to leave them alone, that's a different scenario, right? If we have a puppy that's biting or snapping at you to get them, to get you to go away, they want some space, then walking away will reinforce that biting action. So we want to understand what the puppy's motivation is in the first place to help know what is an effective method to proceed with. Additionally, it's essential to provide our puppies appropriate outlets for their chewing so they have this natural chewing instinct and the teething that we talked about. So offer a variety of chew toys in different textures and shapes to keep them engaged and satisfied. Also, regular exercise and mental stimulation are really important just for overall wellbeing and can help reduce excess energy that may contribute to the biting behavior.

Speaker 1: 7:08

Pay attention to your puppy's nap schedules, their sleep schedules. If you have a puppy that's getting really bitey and mouthy and is hard to redirect, guess what? They are a tired puppy. They need sleep, so giving them a nap will greatly reduce the biting and mouthing is hard to redirect. Guess what? They are a tired puppy. They need sleep, so giving them a nap will greatly reduce the biting and mouthing because they are getting the rest they need. When they wake up, they're a much happier pup and able to focus on appropriate behavior. So always have something on hand as well to redirect them to whenever there are people around Hand people a toy to hold if they want to interact with your puppy, or they can feed your puppy food rewards while they pet the puppy. We're keeping the puppy's mouth busy on something that's appropriate while the people are petting them. So just make sure that there's some management in play there where we're offering appropriate chew toys to our puppy when people want to interact with them.

Speaker 1: 7:57

Now, doing this, we'll teach our puppy what is appropriate to chew on, what they can bite and mouth. And it's really important that we show our dogs what we're wanting them to do. We can't just expect them to know how to behave around humans. They are dogs and they know how to behave around dogs, or at least they're learning that, and we need to also teach them. Hey, humans are a little different than dogs. We interact with humans a little differently than you do with your litter mates, so make sure you're showing them what to do. Here's a toy you can chew on. Here's a chew you can mouth not my arm or my hand. Right Consistency, as mentioned, is key as dogs learn through repetition.

Speaker 1: 8:35

So unfortunately, it's not going to be a one and done where we teach them don't bite her mouth and then they never try it again. It's going to be consistently redirecting them to something that is appropriate, also trying to get out in front of that behavior. Anticipating my puppy will probably try to bite or mouth me and rather than wait for them to do that, I'm going to show them what I want them to do instead. Practice that pattern over and over again, rather than waiting for the biting to be part of the pattern and then you're reacting to it. Get out in front of it and prevent it. Show the puppy what you want them to do, pay them for that. That then gets repeated and the biting's not even part of the equation.

Speaker 1: 9:13

In conclusion, while puppy biting is a common behavior, with patience, consistency and positive reinforcement, most dogs will outgrow it because they've been taught to do other behaviors that are better. Instead, their adult teeth will be in the need to chew and gnaw on something because of the discomfort in their mouths. They do outgrow that part of it and we're just teaching them, along the way, good house training behavior as well. As far as we don't chew furniture, we chew this toy instead. So it's just being consistent with redirecting them to appropriate chews and showing them what they can chew on, versus just letting them do whatever they want. Right Understanding why puppies bite, the stages of teething, how dogs learn behavior and employing positive training methods are all essential in guiding our puppies towards better manners. Overall, by creating a supportive and nurturing environment, we can help our puppies develop into well-behaved adult dogs. Remember, dogs do what works for them, so it's up to us to show them what behaviors are rewarded and encouraged, recognizing that those will get repeated.

Speaker 1: 10:17

You can do this, you guys. Let us know if you need help. We built an entire online program to help you successfully raise your dog to live with you in a human home. There's a lot to learn. We've got you covered. Happy training, have a great week. If you have a question about anything you heard on this podcast or any other puppy training question. Visit my site Baxter and Bellacom, to contact me.