Dog Nipping

Dog Nipping

Dog nipping, is generally more common in puppies, and is the mouthing and playful biting on your clothes and hands with no serious intention. It is found in older dogs, particularly those who weren’t taught proper bite inhibition as puppies.

Mouthing and nipping is a natural behaviour in dogs and puppies. It’s a very useful way for them to explore their little worlds and what’s in it. They use their teeth, lips and tongues to test, taste and smell what everything’s about; much in the same way as we would use our hands and eyes to assess what’s around us.

Dog nipping is very different from true dog aggression. Dog nipping is a way that dogs and puppies use to communicate, explore, interact and play with each other. Right from when the puppies are first born, puppies use their mouths to find out all about what’s going on in their nursing box. They discover their environment, their littermates and of course the most important thing they need to get to grips with, their mother.

Sometimes, adult dogs hold on to these nipping tendencies. This often results from possibly being taken away from the litter too early, before they have had the chance to learn about bite inhibition, or perhaps their owners encourage them to play roughly and the dog then develops a blurring of the lines between what is acceptable and what is not. Dog nipping can then show itself during playtimes and periods of emotional stress.

When puppies play with each other, they are learning many important lessons. One of these is bite inhibition. When two puppies are playing and one pup bites the other too hard, the victim will yelp loudly from the pain and stop playing and leave. This teaches the bite-er that he has bitten too hard, and this is not acceptable. He receives social isolation for overstepping the mark, and hopefully he will be not so rough in the next play session. When other puppies bite him, he learns how it feels to be bitten.

This is why it is very important that under normal, healthy circumstances, puppies should not be removed from the litter too soon. They will miss out on vital lessons that the litter situation is designed to teach. Missing these lessons can result in maladjusted puppies, and whilst it’s not impossible to go back and relearn these points, it is always much easier when they are learnt in the correct order and environment.

It is common that even puppies that have learned the correct bite inhibition need some reminder lessons once they enter the human family home. Animals interpret pain in very different ways than humans do, and human skin is also much more easily damaged than a dogs. Once the puppy is in our home, it’s usually necessary to refine this bite inhibition even further.

A dog that doesn’t have a reasonable grasp of a bite inhibition, has the potential to be a dangerous dog, and a simple play session can quickly turn into a painful ordeal for those on the receiving end. This is just not acceptable, and is in most cases preventable.

Puppies don’t have the strength to inflict great damage, but they do have teeth sharp enough to tear skin and draw blood. An adult dog is capable of far worse, and whether he was only playing or not, is no comfort or excuse to the person or other animal on the receiving end.

These steps may be helpful in teaching your dog to have a good bite inhibition. These tips will work on an adult dog, but could take longer to establish. As with all things dog training, persistence and consistence are the keys to success.

Firstly, when playing with your dog, you need to decide the level of mouthing that is acceptable to you and the people around you. Some dog owners are prepared to accept the touch of teeth on hands, providing no pressure is exerted. Some decide that no touching with the teeth is allowed whatsoever. This is particularly beneficial in large and strong jawed types of dogs.

During your play session, or indeed whenever this may happen, when you get to the level of tooth contact you have previously decided is acceptable, squeal loudly and immediately turn your whole self away from him. Get up and walk away for a good few paces, keeping your face and eyes away from even looking at him. Do not speak to him, if he follows, do not touch him.

You are giving him the social isolation he would have received had he done the same thing as a puppy. The intention is to socially isolate the puppy for 20-30 seconds. This time frame is long enough for him to let the lesson sink in, but not too long so that he forgets what it was all about in the first place and go and find an old shoe to chew.

It’s important that before you start these steps, that the other people around you are aware of what may happen. They must not be allowed to start playing with the puppy themselves or your efforts will be pointless. People in the vicinity when you do your social isolation must also do the same and turn their backs.

Most young dogs, and plenty of older ones just can’t help but want to grab hold of something with their teeth when they’re playing. To help prevent them discovering how fun fingers are to chew on, make sure you have a good substitute close to hand. Something with a bit of give, such as squeezy rubber toys, pigs ears and rawhide chews are all good ideas. My dog’s particular favourite is a sausage shaped tennis ball toy.

If he does start nipping at your face or hands, correct him quickly with a sharp ‘No!’. He should stop, startled. As soon as he does stop, praise him. Don’t forget that you are praising the stopping. You may feel that with the stopping being so close to the nipping, that he won’t know what you’re praising him for, but he will connect the praise with the thing he is doing at the moment you deliver the praise. Quickly distract his attention with the chew toy.

Never use physical force to correct a dog for inappropriate chewing or mouthing. In most cases it will actually encourage further teeth action by raising the adrenaline levels. Using the cold-shoulder method is so much more effective and less traumatic.

Your dog really does want to please you, he just has to learn how, and sometimes this takes a while. The chances of him learning quickly are increased when he has 30 seconds to think about what’s going on, instead of sitting there stunned from a crack on the skull.

Sometimes, despite your best efforts, a dog can get really hyped up, and even the cold shoulder won’t work and you are getting repeated attempts from your dog to use his teeth. This is time for a bit of time out. He needs to go to his crate, or a small quiet room where he can chill out for 5 minutes. After this time, he can come back out and play can resume, but on a lower level, until you are confident that things are not escalating once more.

Some dogs, need little or no encouragement to become toothy and overexcited, and high energy breeds are particularly prone to this problem. You need to be prepared for this from the start and do not play contact games atall. Fetch, Frisbee and flyball are all good alternatives, as well as other general dog agility games.

Avoid at all cost rough games and wrestling. These types of games are actively encouraging toothy play but worse still is that they call on the dogs natural instinctive aggression. Do not go there! Keep the games friendly, low key and be prepared with distractions if you need to call on them.

Some great information about loads of other dog training issues can be found at Secrets of Dog Training. You can get a free report on the Myths of Dog Training here. You can also get a 6 day mini course sent straight to your email inbox that’s full of useful dog training tips. It a great part of the toolkit that any responsible dog owner should have access to.