Surviving Puppy Biting: Puppies and Kids
As a professional dog trainer, I don’t think I’ve ever worked with a puppy client who didn’t need help with biting. Puppy biting is seldom aggressive, but it’s always present and always a problem.
Last year, I published a general post about puppy biting and how to handle it—check that out if you haven’t yet! This year, we’ll look at four specific puppy biting scenarios in greater detail. First up, puppies and kids.
The first step to resolving puppy biting is recognizing that it’s normal. Puppies bite. That doesn’t mean you (or your children) have to be miserable, but it will happen. Some puppies may be more bite-y than others, but all puppies bite.
The second thing to understand is that children and toddlers are irresistible magnets for puppies. They’re short, they move fast, and they make high pitched sounds. How can a puppy say “no”?!
It is unfair to ask either human or canine to quit doing what is perfectly normal given their stage of development: puppies naturally jump and bite; children naturally run and scream.
Rather than expecting either party to completely change who they are, we structure for success and facilitate appropriate interactions in line with development.
What does that actually look like?
The Shift
Achieving successful puppy-and-kid households looks very different than you might envision.
When I consult with families on this issue, I do not show them how to teach the puppy that biting is wrong.
Instead, we discuss how to prevent the puppy from biting in the first place. For most households, stopping the biting before it happens means significantly reducing (if not eliminating) access: puppies cannot bite what they cannot reach.
Beyond my general tips for puppy biting, my #1 tip for stopping your puppy from biting your kids is to keep them physically separated using baby gates and kennels for MOST of the day.
Say what?!
That’s right.
Are you using a Puppy Pacifier? Click here for more info on one of my top tips!
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As radical as this sounds, it makes sense for accelerated training.
Consider Household A. Except for a few kennel naps throughout the day, Puppy mingles with the kids. While he’s mingling he’s also jumping and biting and Mom and Dad are breaking up the chaos over and over and over again.
What is this puppy learning? He’s learning that kids are actually mobile jungle gyms and chew toys (OR that they invade his space, take his stuff, poke him and are generally scary).
In Household B, Puppy is physically separated from the kids except for a few 5-10 minute sessions per day. During those sessions, Mom or Dad coach both humans and canine how to interact through structured training and playtime.
What is this puppy learning? He’s learning that kids are safe, sitting or lying down in front of them gets him treats, and he doesn’t have to chase, jump on or bite them to have fun.
Which Puppy will do less biting?
Puppy Jovie hangs out in her pen with a cosy bed and various toys.
Even if both households do training time, We can’t establish good habits if Puppy spends most of the day practicing bad habits.
For more on making kids and dogs work, check out Cannon Dog Training’s superb blog post, “5 Steps to Living with Babies and Dogs.”