CAPITAL HUMANE SOCIETY
2320
Dealing With
Nipping And Rough Play
Copyright Denver Dumb Friends League and
Humane Society of the
When
puppies play with each other, they use their mouths. Therefore, puppies usually
want to bite or "mouth" hands during play or when being petted. With
puppies, this is rarely aggressive behavior in which the intent is to do harm.
Because puppies are highly motivated to exhibit this type of behavior, attempts
to suppress it or stop it are unlikely to be successful unless you give your
puppy an alternative behavior. The goals of working with this normal puppy
behavior are to redirect your puppy's desire to put something in her mouth onto
acceptable chew toys and to teach her to be gentle when a hand is in her mouth.
Encourage
Acceptable Behavior
Redirect
your puppy’s chewing onto acceptable objects by offering her a small rawhide
chew bone or other type of chew toy whenever you pet her. This technique can be
especially effective when children want to pet her. As you or the child reach
out to scratch her behind the ears (not over the head) with one hand, offer the
chew bone with the other. This will not only help your puppy learn that people
and petting are wonderful, but will also keep her mouth busy while she’s being
petted. Alternate which hand does the petting and which one has the chew bone.
At first, you may need to pet or scratch your puppy for short periods of time,
since the longer she’s petted, the more likely she is to get excited and start
to nip.
Discourage
Unacceptable Behavior
You
must also teach your puppy to be gentle with hands, and that nipping results in
unpleasant consequences for her. Teach your puppy that nipping "turns
off" any attention and social interaction with you. After a nip, look your
puppy right in the eye, and yell “OUCH” as though you’ve been mortally wounded,
then ignore her. Leave the room if you must, but ignore her until she’s calm,
then try the chew bone and petting method again. It’s even better if you can
coax your puppy into a sitting position using food. It may take many
repetitions for her to understand what’s expected.
Nipping
and mouthing hands can also be discouraged by loosely holding your puppy's
lower jaw between your thumb and forefinger after she’s taken your hand in her
mouth. Don't hurt her by squeezing too hard, just gently hang on so that
wherever her mouth goes, your hand hangs on. This will quickly become tiresome
and she’ll eventually pull away. After several seconds, release her jaw, but
continue to offer her your hand. If she licks or ignores it, praise, pet and
offer a tidbit. If she closes her mouth on your hand again, repeat the procedure.
A
third alternative is to wear cotton gloves coated with a substance with an
unpleasant taste such as “Bitter Apple.” In this way, your puppy will learn
that "hands in mouth taste bad." For this method to work, every
time she nips your hand she must experience this bad taste. The possible
disadvantage to this method is that your puppy may learn "hands with
gloves taste bad and those without gloves don’t.” Remember that any of these three
methods will probably not be effective unless you work hard to teach your puppy
the right behavior by offering her an acceptable chew toy.
Jumping
Up
When
your puppy jumps up on you, she wants attention. Whether you push her away,
knee her in the chest or step on her hind legs, she’s being rewarded for
jumping up (even though it’s negative attention, she’s still getting what she
wants).
When
your puppy jumps up:
·
Fold your arms in front of you, turn
away from her and say “off.”
·
Continue to turn away from her until all
four of her feet are on the ground, then quietly praise her and give her a treat.
If she knows the “sit” command, give the command when all four of her feet are
on the ground, then quietly praise her and give her a treat her while she’s in
the sitting position.
·
When you begin to praise her, if she
begins to jump up again, simply turn away and repeat step two, above. Remember
to keep your praise low-key.
When
your puppy realizes that she gets no attention from you while she’s jumping up,
but does get attention when she stops jumping up and sits, she’ll stop jumping
up. Remember, once you’ve taught her to come and sit quietly for attention, you
must reward her behavior. Be careful not to ignore her when she comes
and sits politely, waiting for your attention.
What
Not To Do
Attempts
to tap, slap or hit your puppy in the face for nipping or jumping up are almost
guaranteed to backfire. Several things may happen, depending on your puppy's
temperament and the severity of the correction:
·
She could become "hand-shy"
and cringe or cower whenever a hand comes toward her face.
·
She could become afraid of you and
refuse to come to you or approach you at all.
·
She could respond in a defensive manner
and attempt to bite you to defend herself.
·
She could interpret a mild slap as an
invitation to play, causing her to become more excited and even more likely to
nip.
Never
play "tug-of-war" or wrestling games with your puppy if you’re having
a nipping problem. These types of games encourage out-of-control behavior,
grabbing, lunging and competition with you. These aren’t behaviors you want her
to learn.
A
Note About Children And Puppies
It’s
very difficult for children under eight or nine years old to practice the kind
of behavior modification outlined here. Children’s first reaction to being
nipped or mouthed by a puppy is to push the puppy away with their hands and
arms. This will be interpreted by the puppy as play and will probably cause the
puppy to nip and mouth even more. Dogs should never be left alone with children
under ten and parents should monitor closely all interactions between their
children and dogs.