Should i tap my puppy on the nose

They look for gum pain relief by putting their mouth on objects and applying pressure. Relief for this can come in the form of a toy or an appropriate chew. Do not encourage play biting with your puppy.

Stay away from playing games that involve waving your hands around their face or on the floor in front of them, and also from games that encourage aggression, such as tug-o-war. These actions make it very tempting for pups to use their mouths. In general, no matter what words come out of your mouth, your puppy is only concerned with the fact that you are speaking to them.

This means that you are paying them attention, which may encourage them to continue the behavior that originally caused them to get this reaction from you.

Mimic the reaction that a puppy gets from a bitten littermate. When puppies are very young and still with their mothers and littermates, they learn when a nip or bite is too hard by the reaction that they get.

While the mother may scold them, sometimes physically, if they bite a littermate too hard the usual reaction is a loud cry and they immediately stop playing. Through this process they learn how much is too much and how hard is too hard.

You can use this same principal when teaching your puppy not to bite. Fold your arms and look away from your puppy, ignoring them for seconds. In some cases it may even be necessary to leave the room. This course of action following a nip or bite, will let your pup know that when they bite you, the fun stops and playtime is over.

Resume playing with your puppy once it has settled down. Show it affection again. This will show your puppy that they get no attention at all when they exhibit this particular behavior. If your puppy is teething, give them an appropriate chew toy to encourage good chewing and biting habits. This can also help, even if they are not teething, by showing them what things are OK for them to chew on. As with teaching your pup any new behavior, you must always be consistent to get consistent results.

Mind your attitude and body language when training your puppy. Different attitudes or body language that you display to your puppy or dog could be reinforcing good or bad behaviors. Looking at or talking to them, while they are barking to get your attention, are examples of some actions that reinforce bad behavior.

Paying them attention and speaking to them when they are calm and playing nicely are examples of actions that reinforce good behavior. Be aware of how you act toward them and how they respond to those actions. If you do this well, they will respect and adore you. They will even learn that no matter how much your puppy or dog would like to bite you, that you are not an appropriate chew toy.

Look for warning signs before your puppy bites, which are always present prior to a dog bite. Sometimes the signs are very subtle and can be missed by an unsuspecting person.

Warning signs can last for months or even years before a dog bites. An example of this is a dog that has tolerated a rough child, for a period of time, before surprising everyone and biting them. Some subtle warning signs your dog can give, before a bite occurs, include but are not limited to, getting up and moving away from a person, turning their head from a person, giving you a pleading look, or yawning as someone approaches them.

More obvious warning signs can include, but are not limited to, pinned back ears, fur standing up along the neck or back, curling their lips while baring their teeth, direct eye contact, growling, and barking. Method 2. Determine if your dog is biting due to fear. One of the most common reasons dogs tend to bite is due to fear. This fear is not necessarily a result of abuse or having an abusive background. The fear, itself, stems from inadequate socialization as your dog went from being a puppy to an adult.

New, unfamiliar people and animals tend to come in and out of their lives more sporadically, which usually triggers fear in your dog. Determine if there is another reason your dog is biting. There are several other reasons why dogs feel the need to bite. These can include protective tendencies, pain, prey drive, maternal instincts, or simply, breed related instincts.

Pain related bites can happen when your dog doesn't want to be touched for one of several reasons. Maybe they are an elderly dog with aching arthritis, have a wound or injury they are guarding, or was stepped on by an unaware person as they were walking by. Prey drive biting situations are usually triggered by anything that initiates a chase for your dog. This can include passing joggers, cyclists, cars, or animals. The maternal instincts of any new mother can be fierce and forceful at times.

Respect the space, and handling, of a new mom and her pups during times when human involvement is necessary. Dogs of a herding breed or background may be prone to follow their natural instincts to herd people or animals by biting and nipping at legs and ankles.

Use desensitizing and counter conditioning to teach your dog not to bite. This gives you the chance to expose your dog to situations that may cause it to be fearful, only at small levels that it is most likely to tolerate. During this exposure, you are in charge of keeping your dog in a happy state-of-mind.

So instead of focusing on and being fearful or reactive to the situation, it is focused on you and the special treat or toy you have for it. The overall goal for this method is to help your dog understand that they can having a positive state-of-mind even in strange or scary situations. Try recruiting a helper to work with you and your dog. When training your dog with a "new, unfamiliar person", have your helper ignore any fearful behavior your dog displays and look at you instead.

Make sure the stranger is prepared with a supply of tasty treats that they can offer up rapidly and frequently to keep your dog's mind on the good part of this situation. If they give your dog the treats too slowly, this may give your dog enough time to decide that this is a scary situation again.

Of course, remind your helper not to move too fast or in a threatening manner, or make any loud noises, so as not to spook your dog. Use behavior replacement to teach your dog not to bite. The second method involves training your dog to replace their fearful behavior with something fun and more appropriate. This is called operant counter conditioning. The goal of this type of training is to refocus your dog's attention onto you by following a basic command, such as heeling, sitting, or lying down.

These are reward based commands that will usually result in a tasty treat or love and affection from you when they complete the task. This produces a positive association with a scary situation. He should come around to face you and find out what's wrong - tell him "bad dog - no bite" in a firm tone of voice.

Do this every time he nips until he gets the idea that nipping means no more fun. Replace your flesh with a toy When you've resumed play, and if your puppy tries to nip again, try replacing your hand or arm or whatever's being nipped with a toy.

Teach your puppy that you're not the toy. Put a toy in between you and those needle-sharp teeth! The Nose Tap If your puppy nips turn to him immediately and give him the "sit" command. Take your forefinger and hold it up in front of his nose, then tap him on the nose and say "no bite" in a stern tone of voice. It's important to note two things here: 1 the nose tap isn't designed as a dire punishment - you're not trying to hurt him, but rather startle him into stopping the behaviour; and 2 your tone of voice is just as important as the nose tap.

Don't scream at him - your voice should be stern and give a clear warning - think of it as a verbal growl - something that he can understand as a dog. An interesting result of this manner of breaking this habit is that down the road, when your puppy has learned to recognize the raised finger, he'll usually stop whatever behaviour he's engaging in just because he knows what's coming. You won't even have to raise your voice - just lift that finger.

Don't encourage biting or nipping in the first place Don't let the kids start "chase" games - that encourages dogs to think that the kids are prey. Don't play games that involve waving your hands in front of your dog and encouraging him to jump or nip. Don't play tug-of-war with your dog - it will not only encourage him to think he's your equal, it can promote nipping if you use a rope toy, for example, because he'll try to bite at your hands to make you lose your grip on the toy.

Play games of fetch and retrieval, but be sure that your dog knows the "drop" or "release" command so you're not fighting over the toy. Be consistent Stop the nipping behaviour as soon as it starts, and be consistent about disciplining your puppy for it.

Don't let him get away with nipping on one day, and then discipline for the same behaviour the next. Dogs don't understand "sometimes it's ok," or "maybe it's ok if you don't nip too hard and I'm in a good mood".

The ultimate answer depends on what age your puppy is. Ivana shares information about what to do if your puppy broke its teeth playing tug. A traumatic nose injury in dogs can cause bleeding and pain that may require veterinary attention. Dogs should not be tapped, smacked or punched on the nose with the hands or other objects for any reason. Even though a tap on the nose may not necessarily end up hurting the dog, we need to look at how the dog perceives it and what happens to him inside, yes, that means emotionally.

Repeated tapping to the dog's noise may trigger fear and self defense in the long run and the dog may at some point react defensively just as it can happen with scruff shakes and other intimidating actions. Many people still rely on outdated training methods such as smacking a puppy on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper for eliminating on the floor or giving a whack on the nose directly with a hand to stop a puppy from nipping on hands. Tapping a dog on the nose is based on positive punishment , meaning that its timely application is meant to reduce and stop an unwanted behavior.

However, this type of correction actually heightens the chances for defensive aggression studies say. The behavior you wanted to target gets hit but so can a huge portion of the dog's whole repertoire.

One of the best ways to make dogs hand shy is by tapping them on their nose. There are high risks that a dog will become wary of hands after owners have been tapping them on their nose or used their hands somewhere near a dog's face for the purpose of giving a correction.

Tapping on a dog's nose may therefore lead to a dog who becomes afraid of having hands anywhere near their faces and may also lead to defensive behaviors. Because hands are connected to humans, it also wouldn't be surprising if on top of being wary of hands, affected dogs would also become wary of who delivers the "corrective tap," negatively affecting the dog's overall level of trust in such person.

As mentioned earlier, some people may use tapping on the nose or head as a way to entice or perhaps, better say provoke a dog into play.

A while back, there was an unfounded belief that playing roughly with a puppy by tapping him on the face and head would make the puppy more protective. Even though this practice may look innocent, especially when the puppy or dog responds by engaging in a play session, there are associated risks that make this practice counterproductive.

Karen Overall in the book " Clinical Behavioral Medicine for Small Animals " discourages this practice and explains that it may lead to inappropriate play and even aggression. This type of play only teaches the dog to play inappropriately and aggressively.