If your household has a new puppy, I am sure that you have been the victim of his sharp little teeth. Among the targets is the skin on your hands and feet, any loose shoes you haven't put away, and well, I am sure you already know nothing is safe.I have listed a few good ideas for helping you deal with your puppy's biting and chewing stage.

• Be sure to get some chew toys for your new puppy. Since your puppy is teething and definitely needs to bite something, these toys are great alternatives to your skin.  When your puppy begins to play rough and starts biting your hands you should stop your puppy from biting you by holding his mouth closed with your hand. Hold his mouth closed with your hand until he stops resisting your grip. He will probably not be happy about this, but keep him calm with your voice and hold him still. Without raising your voice firmly tell him "no biting". Be sure to keep your voice calm so he doesn't become nervous and resist even longer. The more relaxed he remains, the sooner he will submit. Now that he is once again calm, it is the perfect time to offer him a fun chew toy.  As soon as he takes the  chew toy in his mouth, give him lots of praise.Every time you play with the pup, repeat giving him the chew toy as needed and he will soon associate the praise-the positive reinforcement- with chewing on the approved chew toy.Stay patient and don't get mad at your puppy for not learning quickly-it could take some time to get the idea across),  and definitely be sure never to hit him for his playing rough and biting you. Hitting or scolding the pup is a negative reinforcement and will hurt your efforts to bond with the pup and slow down his ability to learn properly. Everyone in your household needs to  understand this, so you everyone treats the puppy’s behavior problems  (such as how to stop your puppy from biting) with positive reinforcement. When someone around the puppy yells or hits him for playing rough, it serves to confuse and hurt your training efforts in the long run.

• Another good method for stopping your puppy from biting and chewing up your household, is keeping your puppy in his crate whenever you are not able to actively supervise him. By not either watching or confining your puppy to his crate, he most likely will be found chewing various items around the house. Put some chew toys inside his crate with him, so he can chew to his heart's content safely.

• Just use common sense to stop your puppy from biting easily findable items. A simple example is to put all your shoes and slippers (historically favorite targets) into a closed room or closet.

• The Mama dog uses a vocal trick to let the puppy know it is playing too rough. The way to do this is by yelping in a high pitched voice when he bites you. It might sound silly, but if you watch a Mama dog, you'll see she does this when a puppy is biting too hard-to let him know he is hurting her.

• I have found that a very good way to stop my puppy from biting me is that while holding my hand over his mouth,  I also stare him in the eyes and bare my teeth in a snarl and perhaps even make a low growl to show a threat to him. You may have seen a Mama dog do this sometime or other.

• You probably won't want to grab the puppy by the scruff of the neck with your teeth the way a Mama dog does, but there is no reason not to use your hand to hold him still and show him who is boss until he submits. Stick with the correction until the puppy is totally submissive-that is how you  will really know he’s received the message about listening to the boss-by being submissive and relaxed.

• Playing rough games with him, such as tug of war or wrestling, is a bad idea (even though it is so much fun) because it just encourages him to bite even more. I know from experience that rough playing with my puppies always led to a lot of bloody tooth marks on my arms and hands-it was fun but painful to play with my puppy. I didn't realize at the time the rough playing was not a good idea because it could increase his aggression level.

I hope these tips are useful to get a grip on your puppy's biting problem. Click here for more dog training tips www.BehaveDoggy.com.

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