The biting of a puppy can be difficult to manage, yet it is perfectly normal. The puppy discovers the world through its mouth! This is called oral exploration. The puppy will naturally tend to nibble on furniture, objects, clothes, and your hands. This biting action will relieve him during the growth of his permanent teeth around 4 months old, but it will also allow him to interact with you and attract your attention.
The dog is an opportunist and has no awareness that he is doing something inappropriate. Your role will be to teach him with kindness by diverting his attention and offering him other interactions.
Instructions:
Step 1: From the first bite, you will stop all contact with him, so stop playing, talking to him, and looking at him. You will ignore him for 1 to 2 minutes.
Step 2 : You then return to him by offering him another activity, a bone, a stuffed animal, while avoiding getting him too excited too quickly.
Step 3 : You praise him with a stroke or a treat; of course, it won't work the first time, but it is important to continue by staying on the same directive line, and that all members of the household act in the same way.
This learning phase may contain an accentuation phase of the behavior. The puppy will then try harder to see if it is more conclusive to get what he wants. It is important to stay the course and act in the same way: firstly, ignoring and then offering another activity.
After this phase, the behavior will gradually decrease until it completely disappears.
Note:
Note: If a behavior is accentuated, it is reinforced, and therefore, the puppy's expectations are being positively met. The behavior will be repeated. If the behavior causes him discomfort, he will decrease it and then stop.
The dog is an opportunist, so he will always look for what will bring him the most satisfaction with the least energy.
Conclusion
If my puppy's biting behavior is accentuated, it means that my actions to stop it (example: shouting at him) are perceived by him as something positive (example: I have attention), and therefore, he will continue! Conversely, if my puppy bites me and I ignore him and end the play session, this will be perceived as discomfort, and he will therefore stop biting in favor of another action that will bring him treats and caresses.
To learn more about puppy biting, you can watch this video: How to prevent your puppy from biting you? - Bing video.
