Puppy Biting

One client, Zach*, had a 9 week old puppy that constantly bit and he wanted to make sure it wasn’t viscous. Zach’s friends were telling him that he wasn’t being tough enough with this little ball of fur and he needed to roll him on his back when he bit, or slap him, or pinch him, or use a more firm tone and yell at the puppy.

At the same time Zach was very concerned about bonding with this rescued puppy. Why wasn’t this puppy coming to him? When would he view Zach as the source of “all that is?”

There were other basic puppy issues, but these questions kept coming up over and over as the puppy obviously was biting and nipping as a 9 week old often does, and was pulling away from Zach the full length of his leash and not coming when Zach said, “Tabor! Come! Tabor!”

I showed Zach how easy it was to get Tabor to stop biting. “First of all, your puppy is not viscous. Secondly, you are his teacher and every time you are with him is time to shape his behavior. Instead of chasing away the things we don’t want, let’s focus on the things we do want.” I find this approach much more rewarding for the dog and the human.

Humans who spend all their time and energy, whether with dogs or otherwise, chasing bad behavior are searching out bad behavior, are frustrated because of the way the bad behavior makes them feel and frustrated with how discipline makes them feel. Instead, the flip side is chasing good behavior.

 

“Look,” I said pointing at the puppy, “Tabor kept his paws on the ground and didn’t bite for 3 whole seconds,” so I gave him a little morsel of hot dog. This excited Tabor and he then chewed on my finger. “Eh-eh!” I said.

I explained that “Eh-eh” isn’t a magic word, I use it because it replaces, “No,” and it also replaces, “No! Stop, Tabor, sit, stop biting, quit. Get over here…” The word, “No!” by the time I get to my clients has quite a negative charge to it that dogs shut down to. They fight or flight or avoid when they hear it. Or on the flip side and more the usual, I hear a monologue of what they don’t want their dog to do and then what they want their dog to do and they use their dog’s name while angry. How confusing!

 

By simply saying, “Eh-eh,” the person has a neutral feeling about the word, so the dog and human can start over with proper communication. Just the basics: Yes I want this: “Good.” No I don’t want you to do that: “Eh-eh.” It’s THAT easy---on the training side.

Zach watched as Tabor learned within 10 minutes what, “Eh-eh” and “Good” meant. Tabor also learned, “Sit.” When he bit my fingers he didn’t get a treat. He didn’t get hit or rolled or even an angry human. He quickly learned that it was much better for him to not bite because he got more attention when he didn’t bite. It wasn’t all about hotdogs. I also gave Tabor praise and pets and attention.

 

I asked Zach to give it a go and he was very commanding. “Tabor, come!” He pulled at the leash and instantly Tabor started looking away from Zach and pulling.

“I don’t think it’s your lack of toughness with your puppy that’s the problem, I think it might be your lack of playfulness. If you can’t access that naturally, you raise your voice and speed it up a bit. Try it.” At this point Tabor had yet to come to Zach, look at him or interact when it wasn’t forced upon him.

Zach did as instructed, raising his voice and I’m guessing he felt a little silly. However, Tabor instantly turned around, looked at Zach and as fast as a lil 9 week old puppy can run, ran over to his shocked owner. Zach was thrilled.

“I’m just so happy! It just didn’t feel right to hit my puppy or roll him over or yell at him. This feels so much better. I just can’t believe that it’s this easy!”

*Client's name has been changed for his privacy