Puppy Obedience - Mouthing and Biting by Joe Steen

It’s a perfectly normal thing to have a puppy mouth, bite, nip, and chew your shoes, clothes, hands, or other miscellaneous items. People often think that there is something bad about chewing, but only in the case of it hurting you or damaging your stuff should you ever try and force your pup not to chew, bite or mouth. There are a few key points you ought to keep in mind when starting obedience training with your young pup, and training on this topic is a perfect place to start.

First off, between weeks 7 & 12 (what Richard Wolters called “preschool”, click here for more info) pup is learning to be part of a family of humans for the first time. He does not inherently have a sense of what to chew and what not to chew; this is where you come in and what you will have to teach and show him. Kind of like bringing home a newborn baby for the first time, one of the things not to do would be to get angry, frustrated or perturbed about your brand new bouncing baby crying or pooping in his diaper. Likewise, pup has not been built or created with a sense of right or wrong.

During these first few weeks, everything must be fun and games. You can still be stern with pup, but not in a harsh or raising-your-voice-out-of-displeasure kind of way; this would be poor entry exposure to his new family. Yelling, punishing, or showing general displeasure of pup during this time around the area of biting may have a negative effect if you are training him to be an Upland Pheasant or General Water Dog. This may incite a fear of holding and potentially even keep him from his job and passion - retrieving. Keep all training and work in the fun and games division, nowhere else.

So how does one teach a young pup not to nip, bite or chew your stuff and yet be excited about the retrieve where they are supposed to bite and mouth a bumper and bird? Well, it is really quite simple. We already discussed the first tenant of bite training (1) Do not punish your pup for biting – the negative effects of this will follow your training for the life of pup. One negative action will not immediately effect your pup, but a consistent iteration of negativity surrounding him using his mouth in this manner is what will cause the damage, so to speak.

Snatching your hand or item away from pup or moving it around in an exaggerated manner will only cause him to want it all the more. So the second part of training your pup not to bite or chew you and your personal effects (2) is to hold the item or yourself still while you slowly remove them from pup’s mouth. One other thing that I have found beneficial in training my pups is to use this as an opportunity to teach the “give” command. A simple and stern “Give” while pulling it down and out of his mouth, followed by repetition and consistency, will go a long way in solidifying the right things expected from pup.

The third and final part of teaching pup not to bite the wrong stuff is to teach pup (3) to bite or chew the right stuff. As stated before, pup is new at this thing called family and needs a little training on what is acceptable and what is not; pup needs to know what the right things to chew and bite are without ruining his passions for what he was bred for.

The attached pictures show a good positive flow of what should happen:
Shoe? No.
Hand? No.
Get his attention.
You can have this, not that.

So just to recap, (1) don’t punish for biting, (2) slowly remove the item from pup’s mouth while teaching the “give” command, and (3) give pup the right thing to chew on and bite. Most of all, never forget the fact that you are trying to teach your pup to become the best retriever he can be while also making him a truly fun and satisfied member of your family.

Feel free to ask me for any advice on training, I’ll gladly do what I can to get you the correct and best information for training your Working Dog.

Choosing a Dog

As I stated earlier, breeds matter. Over the centuries, people have found dogs helpful for many tasks. As a result, selective breeding brought about more of certain desired results and less of others. Size is a great example. Some tasks require a large muscular dog while others require a smaller, more agile one. After all, a dachshund cannot accomplish what a Saint Bernard can and vice versa.

It's simple to research dog breeds. In fact, a quick online search reveals some helpful tools. Just as there are "cat" people and "dog people," there are "big dog" and "little dog" people with some in between. It is very important to be happy with your dog's size and overall characteristics since they will hopefully be part of your family for many years. Ideally, it is best to adopt a puppy. Our training advises 49 days as the optimum time to bring a puppy home. The exactness of this date is related to transitioning from dog mama to human parent.

Top Dog, the book we promote, and Family Dog, the DVD, offer additional help in choosing a puppy from the litter. In general, the best choice is neither the most active nor the most passive. Alert and interactive are good traits of course. Another interesting thing to look for is the puppy who briefly resists being held on his back and then relaxes instead of the one who continues to resist or the one who never resists in the first place. It's easy to let the cuteness factor overcome this rational assessment!

Another consideration is the presence of other dogs and pets as well as children in the home. Even a dog that will used for hunting will still be a family member. Actually, the time he spends interacting at home with the family is just as valuable to his training as the time he spends in the field. Just as children learn by playing, so do dogs. Regardless of the breed, all dogs need consistent training and attention. The brand new puppy needs frequent attention to his potty training. Other basic commands and leash training can be accomplished with a routine of 15 minutes twice a day. Since our goal is trained happy dogs, this 15 minutes twice a day has to be a priority everyday for 16 weeks. The results will certainly be worth the effort.

Our Dogs

Dogs and people have lived together for a long time. As protectors, hunters, servants, and devoted companions, dogs improve our lives. However, some dogs and people who don't seem to work well together. Our goal is to educate people about dogs and what to expect when you bring that cute puppy home. I grew up with "outside" dogs. My dad had beagles who lived outside in a pen. They were well cared for and had a working relationship with my dad, who enjoyed rabbit hunting. Dad lost interest in rabbit hunting when the deer population increased and became a huge distraction to his beagles. In December 1975, my brother and I gave Dad his first retriever, Missy. Missy was a black lab/golden retriever mix. Missy quickly became my dad's best friend and went everywhere with him, especially fishing!

Missy got our entire family excited about retrievers! Within a few years Dad, my brother, and I had Golden Retrievers. My husband Ed and I got our Wendy in March 1979. Except for one year, we have had a dog in our home ever since. So we have the personal experience to discuss dogs and their important place in our family. Wendy was there when both our children were born, accompanied us on a four-year overseas military assignment and enriched our lives for 13 years. We still share funny and fond stories about her.

Since Wendy we have shared our home with BJ (Sharpei/Lab mix), Kelsey (Golden Retriever), Hannah (Sheltie), Emma (Golden Retriever), and Dusty (Golden Retriever). We adopted BJ and Hannah because they needed a loving home. Dusty was my dad's dog who came to live with us after Dad passed away. Since our personal breed preference has been Golden Retriever, we brought Kelsey and Emma into our home as young puppies. There you have our personal dog history from 1980 - 2014.

These 34 years and 6 precious dogs have given us plenty of time to learn what works and what doesn't. We have made mistakes and we have done a lot of things right. Overall, our lives have been greatly enriched by these dogs who shared our home. From our experience, breed matters. Age of adoption matters. Sex matters some but not a lot. The most important factor in having a trained happy dog is your preparation, education, and commitment. Our daughter and her husband recently purchased the company that has offered effective instruction for training dogs for over 40 years. Click here for more details. We are delighted our love of dogs has passed on to our children and grandchildren. We are also delighted to be teaming up with them to help other people enjoy dogs as we do. My goal in future posts is to show people how to train a dog to be a happy member of the family.