Trainer's Tip of the Month
February 2012
Tips for Play Biting
Most Important Tip:
The best thing to do when your puppy mouths you is to ignore it. If the puppy is mouthing your hand just take your hand away. If they are jumping and mouthing you, simply get up and walk away. Don’t make an event of the mouthing. If you ignore it and don’t reinforce it the puppy will get rid of the behavior at the proper age which is around 5 months old.Because puppies mouth you during times of excitement, you need to help them to stay calm enough not to default to mouthing, here’s how: Tip 1: Biting during playtime:
Avoid vigorous petting, play wrestling or play slapping. Make sure that all of your playtimes have rules, I.E. Tug-of-war: Take the rope on command and Drop-it on command, Fetch: Trade between two rotating toys. Tip 2: Mouthing during greeting:
When you come home and take them out of their crate don’t greet them right away. Ignore them and go through the motions of taking them out to go potty with very little talking. When the puppy is calm and you can pet them calmly, then you may greet them.Click Pug for training Tip of the Month
