Does your puppy bite your hands and fingers? Are you desperate trying to figure out how to train your puppy to stop biting? I can truly say that I feel your pain, or rather, I used to, but not anymore.
There was a time when my hands were scarred and marked with the bites of tiny puppy teeth. To be honest, I read a lot of the conventional wisdom on training puppies, but couldn’t really connect with it.
There seemed to be a school of thought that said you should think like a puppy. That might work for some people, but for me that seemed to confuse my pet. Other techniques advised scolding the puppy, and I really couldn’t understand the logic of mistreating my pet. After all, it’s natural for a young pup to bite, I just didn’t know how to humanely let him know my hands were off limits. Other techniques suggested shaking the pup. Now, I know there are extortion techniques for adult dogs, but again, I couldn’t follow the logic of doing this with my pup. She didn’t want to terrify him, just channel his own natural actions.
Well, to make a long story short, I started researching this issue and trying techniques that would be humane and not scare or physically abuse my pet. My reasoning here is that puppy training techniques are an opportunity to establish a strong bond of affection between myself and my pet. Therefore, I wanted an effective technique that would work for any pup and not scare or hurt him.
I feel confident saying that I cracked the code on how to get your pup to stop biting! This is so simple and so effective that if you haven’t thought of it yet, you’ll slap yourself in the face.
Here it is: Anytime your pup starts to nip and bite your fingers, hold it closed very gently but firmly. You won’t keep it closed for long because the pup will start whining after 5-10 seconds. Also, you hold the muzzle very gently. Firmly enough to prevent the pup from opening up. As soon as he starts to whine, you can let him go and give him a chew toy if you have one handy. Giving your pup a toy is a nice touch, but it’s not essential for this puppy training technique to work. Do this each and every time your pup “attacks” your fingers.
Give it a try and I think you will see very positive results in the first few days, possibly even in the first 24 hours!