barking poodle

It´s National Dog Bite Prevention Week and that´s a good thing, because there are a lot of people, especially kids, being bitten every year. Apart from the health risks, it´s sad because as they say Once bitten, twice shy! On average, the kids being bitten are 5-9 years old, an impresionable age and they may be afraid of dogs for the rest of their lives.

In the US alone, 5 million people are bitten each year, and 20 percent of them need medical attention.
So what can you do to prevent your dog biting?

Dogs bite and bark, it´s simply who they are. However, you can train your dog to stop biting.
Puppies explore the world with their mouths, by biting anything within reach.
Is this food? Is it a playmate? does it make a funny sound?
Puppies learn so-called bite-inhibition from their siblings and mom.
So how can we humans train our pups? Simply act like their moms would.
Here´s

8 ways to prevent your dog biting kids

Noise
If your puppy bites you too hard, yelp out in pain. This will give the pup some pause.
If he does it again, yelp louder. You could even growl a little.

IgnoreNow ignore the pup: as with all bad behaviour, being ignored is the worst punishment!
Scold Be sure to make yourself sound scary, think Darth Vader on a bad day.

Shake If your pup still persists, grab him by the scruff of the neck and shake him a little. Keep this up until he surrenders (relaxes and puts his ears back)

FlipStill trying to bite? Flip him over on his back, scold him Darth Vader-style again and keep him there until he stops struggling.

Remember: this is a puppy! So know your own strength and don´t be too forceful!
Avoid tug games
Puppies can´t tell the difference between “fun” biting and “not-so fun biting”, so you might want to lay off the tug games.
Common sense
It may be obvious, but still people tend to forget: don´t leave small children alone with a dog. Even the gentlest animal will lash out if it´s feeling threatened or try to play with this fun creature: is it food? will it make a funny noise when I chew it?

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As always Be Consistent If it´s not allowed today, it´s not allowed tomorrow!

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