Babs
August 13th, 2004, 09:24 AM
When we first got Loki, one of the first things we wanted to teach her was not to bite.
I can't recall who gave me this tip, but I can say that so far 8 years later it has yielded results. She has never bitten anyone, or anything, during play or otherwise, including 2 times that she was actually bitten by another dog.
This is best taught when the dog is a puppy.
1) Sit with your puppy, and gently place your hand inside it's mouth. When your hand is inside it's mouth, cry out "YIPE" (like a dog).
2) The puppy will immediately dislodge your hand from it's mouth, look surprised, and a little bit startled.
3) Follow this with positive treat training, like "sit" or "shake a paw". Don't just leave the "Yipe" training as it is. We didn't give our puppy a treat when it let go, in case it associated having a hand in the mouth with a treat. But we didn't want to turn our puppy off of training either.
3) Repeat this exercise often. Eventually the puppy will not even let you put your hand in it's mouth.
The reason for "YIPE", rather than "No", is because this is a sound dogs will recognize as a negative cry out. "No", is foreign to a puppy. The only thing they understand is the volume of your voice, which could be easily mistaken as aggression towards it.
****IMPORTANT****
I do not recommend using this method on an mature dog who has already developed a tendancy for biting. The problem is, most dogs who bite do so out of fear or discomfort with a situation. This scenario could inspire the dog to do some serious damage. If your dog is already a biter, seek out a professional trainer for advice.
I can't recall who gave me this tip, but I can say that so far 8 years later it has yielded results. She has never bitten anyone, or anything, during play or otherwise, including 2 times that she was actually bitten by another dog.
This is best taught when the dog is a puppy.
1) Sit with your puppy, and gently place your hand inside it's mouth. When your hand is inside it's mouth, cry out "YIPE" (like a dog).
2) The puppy will immediately dislodge your hand from it's mouth, look surprised, and a little bit startled.
3) Follow this with positive treat training, like "sit" or "shake a paw". Don't just leave the "Yipe" training as it is. We didn't give our puppy a treat when it let go, in case it associated having a hand in the mouth with a treat. But we didn't want to turn our puppy off of training either.
3) Repeat this exercise often. Eventually the puppy will not even let you put your hand in it's mouth.
The reason for "YIPE", rather than "No", is because this is a sound dogs will recognize as a negative cry out. "No", is foreign to a puppy. The only thing they understand is the volume of your voice, which could be easily mistaken as aggression towards it.
****IMPORTANT****
I do not recommend using this method on an mature dog who has already developed a tendancy for biting. The problem is, most dogs who bite do so out of fear or discomfort with a situation. This scenario could inspire the dog to do some serious damage. If your dog is already a biter, seek out a professional trainer for advice.