Bringing a new puppy home is an exciting new adventure which brings with it a lot of responsibility for bringing the puppy up with proper training. The training should start at day one, when the owner should enjoy the cute little puppy, but should keep in mind that everything that he does with the puppy is reinforcing behavior that will continue when the puppy turns into an adult.

Same with the other dog training, puppy training should have the consistency all throughout so that behaviors that are acceptable for you will also be acceptable for other people that will be coming into your home. Make sure that you do not confuse your dogs with the behaviors that he can or cant have with you and other people. Whatever behavior is unacceptable to other people should be the same with you.

Biting

One common issue that has to be stopped through training is biting. Puppies are likely to bite as they are exploring their world, and unfortunately, people sometimes get the brunt of that attention.

When this happens, make sure that you do not hit or slap your dog when training it to stop biting as the puppy might think that the owner is actually playing with it, playing rough like dogs will make them do it with each other.

One way to train the puppy to stop biting is to refuse to play aggressive games with it such as tug of war, chase or wrestling. Although these activities are fun for dog and owner, they encourage aggressive behavior which is not acceptable for the dog to exhibit with all humans that come into the home.

One of the best ways to train a puppy not to bite is to let out a sharp “Ouch!” whenever the puppy tries to bite and then removing eye contact and turning the back to the puppy. This is the same method that dogs use with each other, letting the other dog know that it hurt and they are not going to play that way.

This is one method that uses negative reinforcement in training the puppy so that he would know that when he bites, it will not be given the attention that its asking for. When the puppy calms down and does not bite, this is the time that the owner should praise him and give him the attention so that the appropriate behavior is reinforced.

If the puppy bites down on the hand, the owner should place one finger inside the mouth under the puppy’s tongue and hold onto the bottom of the jaw with the thumb for about ten seconds. The pressure should only be firm enough that the puppy cannot get away for that amount of time. The puppy will not be able to bite down and it will provide the negative reinforcement that the behavior is not acceptable to use.