Puppy Mouthing and Biting
Mouthing is when the puppy hold or bites your hand, arm or clothing. His bite, quite sharp as you probably already know, can pierce the skin when making contact or he may just wrap his jaws round your arm.
The solution is really very simple. All you need to do is push your arm or hand into the puppy’s mouth at the moment he attempts to bite or mouth you. Training like this is done gently and is intended to shock the puppy and not to harm him in any way. It’s likely that you will only have to do this two or three times before the puppy comes to realise that biting or mouthing is a really bad idea. Giving the puppy toys specifically meant for chewing will give your puppy something to work his teeth on.
When people pull away from the puppy he thinks it’s a game and enjoys playing it. The puppy loves games and so will continue to mouth/bite your arm or hand. Just try it, you will be amazed how quickly it will work.
One other thing related to the puppy’s mouth. Puppies do lose their teeth. Puppies start to grow them at 2 – 3 weeks of age. At 8 weeks they will have a full set of 28 teeth. It depends on the size of the puppy, but generally between 3 and 6 months, small breeds will be earlier than large breeds, puppies will start losing their teeth and you may find one, or more, on the floor (it’s quite normal.) It’s not uncommon though for the puppy the swallow the tooth and normally it doesn’t cause any harm. The adult teeth shove the baby teeth out.
Remember that in a dog only the lower jaw moves, so if you are ever inspecting its mouth gently move the lower jaw. The puppy must be bought up to allow you, the owner, and any other adult such as the vet to touch it any where on its body. This familiarity is brought about through careful and gentle handling when grooming your puppy. Grooming is a brilliant way to develop a close bond between the owner and the puppy.
