question about beagle puppy

Question
Hello, I have recently acquired a beagle puppy.  He is biting everything, which I am not too concerned about because I've heard that puppies that are teething bite.  However I am concerned that he is biting when he gets upset, for instance when we have to take something away from him.  Is this usual for puppies, or is this more personality?  I'm concerned because of small children that play with him.  I've had a dog before but never a beagle pup.  Thanks for your help!

Answer

My dog Opal   Hi Lauren,

Yes, it is normal for puppies to bite and what you want to do is develop bite inhibition in your puppy. The proper way to do this is by ceasing interaction when your puppy bites to hard. No need to yelp - this practice may actually stimulate the puppy further and cause him to bite more. By the time your puppy is about 5-6 months of age he should have developed good bite inhibition and if he mouths you at all you should not feel teeth.

Don't let anyone tell you to try to teach your puppy to stop biting in a few days. What you want to do is to teach your puppy to gradually inhibit his bite so that in the future when he is an adult dog he will not bite down with full force when stressed. You want him to learn to inhibit his bite. You do not want to stop biting altogether - otherwise he will not learn this important lesson and when under stress he is likely to bite with full force and limited inhibition.

At first you should stop interacting with your puppy (don't even make eye contact with him) and withdraw your hands slowly (vs. quickly which could result in a tearing bite to your skin)when his biting hurts, then start ceasing interaction when he bites hard but it hurts less and so on until he is only mouthing and finally not mouthing at all or very little. It is a learning process.

The other thing you need to do is give your puppy acceptable things to chew on to satisfy his chewing urge. Always monitor his chewing until you know for certain how he will respond to anything you give him to chew on. I recommend the durable Nylabones. They come in a variety of styles. I personally prefer the knobby ones.

I also like the real white (cleaned) bones made by Dentley or Red Barn. I prefer the ones that aren't filled. If you want to fill them , fill them with moistened kibble and a little peanut butter. Kongs work well this way too.

You can also give your puppy something cold to ease the soreness of his gums due to "teething." You can purchase soft chew toys you can saturate with water and then freeze. You can also create your own chew toys with leftover fabric or a clean rag such as T-shirt
material.

You need to supervise your puppy's interaction with small children to prevent any injury to them and teach them how to behave appropriately around the dog. No hugs or kisses and no rough play! Dog bites to young children most often occur to the head and neck area and most often children are bitten by dogs they know.

Some dogs take treats hard, meaning you can feel their teeth and they sort of grab the food. Do not allow children to give your puppy food or play with him or near him when eating or chewing on a bone. I recommend hand feeding your dog his kibble to build your bond as well as teach him to be gentle with his mouth.

I think mouthiness is common to all puppies. They are exploring their environment and teething. They have to learn to inhibit their bites. Some of this is learned in the litter from the puppy's litter mates and mother. If the puppy leaves the litter too young (before 8 weeks), he may be more of a biter because he didn't have the advantage of this early learning, but you can still work with him an should. He can still learn to inhibit his bite.

Hope that helps - good luck!

Cindy

PS I tied to attach an image of my dog holding my glasses, bit it doesn't look like it uploaded. This dog came to me at one and a half years of age with terrible bite inhibition. I taught her bite inhibition and to retrieve using clicker training and now I trust her to retrieve my glasses!