While dogs are well-known as man’s best friend, you, as the dog owner, are responsible for the training of your dog, if you desire him to live up to that lofty moniker. When you bring that cute pup home, he is a rough-and-tumble and loving character. What he lacks is discipline and that’s where you come in. You need to fulfill your end of the bargain.

Dogs are in the main the most lovable of animals, inherently faithful, fun loving, comforting and entertaining. However, you have got to face the fact that dogs are perpetual three year olds, in terms of discipline. That is why an early program of training is necessary. Dogs utterly love to delight their owner. It’s up to you to let your puppy know what is required of him in the behavioural category. From his point of view, he’s in a continuous state of having fun. He does not know good from bad behavior unless you make the distinction. One of the most everyday dog behaviors you will desire to curb is the biting pup syndrome.

Pups love chewing on everything, as any dog owner will affirm. The biting puppy may have an enjoyable session with your precious slippers, a book or a tasty bone. He should certainly be able to enjoy his bone, but you have got to provide behavioural guidance that points him away from your slippers or your current reading material. He does not see there’s a difference, unless you let him know. If you just let him do his thing, he will soon be an disrespectful biting puppy, with the whole world in his approved list of biting behavior. If you’re an irresponsible dog owner, you have no one to blame but yourself when he graduates to biting you, your children or your next door neighbour whenever it pleases him. The biting puppy, unchecked, will become a biting dog, landing you and him in a whole bundle of trouble.

Just like kids, dogs need behavioural guidance. Getting a biting puppy to understand the limitations is actually quite easy. Where do you draw the line? Biting food items and bones is a good rule of thumb. Anything else is a deal breaker. If you allow him to bite an old, worn out pair of slippers, you’re giving him a license to bite and chew up a assortment of household items. He cannot distinguish between things which are OK to bite and those which are not.

Pups, while teething, are prone to be biting pups. However cute you might think their decimation of yesterday’s newspaper, you have got to put your foot down. Dogs only understand rules in terms of the absolute. It’s either OK or not OK. The punishment should also fit the crime. In the case of inanimate objects, a rolled up newspaper, with a sharp noise report, will get your message across.

You must hold in reserve the most serious punishment for infractions which involve your puppy biting a human. No matter how fun loving, lacking in spite or whatever, a puppy must be deterred from the idea that biting a human is acceptable. Let’s say your daughter decides to share some fat scraps from her dinner plate with her pup. He’s certainly eager to share in this largess, inadvertently biting her in his haste. While he means no harm, if you let this pass uncorrected, you’re giving him a green light for behavior that spells trouble down the road.

In order to cut off immediately and unequivocally puppy biting behaviour, you will have to come down on him hard. A strong blow to the nose, the removal of the food and a dog version of time out is what we have to impose. Put on his leash and give him a taste of isolation on his own, along with a “bad dog.” This is the language and action that he can understand. He knows that his conduct resulted in a punishment, the loss of the desired item and isolation from his family.

Employing this strategy, you can quickly and easily train your biting pup right out of his bad habit. By the time he is six months old, you will have a permanent toddler dog who knows his limits!