I got a cute puppy but he keeps biting me and chewing my furniture. What can I do to stop it?

It can be a thrilling and exciting experience to own a puppy. One of the problems that can occur with a puppy is biting and chewing. At this stage, all is new to a puppy including their sensory and surroundings. If left unsupervised, they can run into a bit of mischief. However, with proper puppy training as early as at eight weeks, one can start to build a good foundation for the dog’s later years.

Biting is a normal problem that puppies tend to do since they are teething. Anything as soft as a hand going into a puppy’s mouth, is joy to a puppy but pain to the owner. Also, chewing such things as furniture, walls, carpet and any other inappropriate items could not only be damaging to the household but harmful for the puppy’s health.

It is always good idea to have the puppy supervised and socialized as being part of the family. One choice is to have an enclosed area where the puppy can be contained and controlled with direct supervision. The puppy should have safe toys in this area but again always being watched for any problems.

Another method to use to avoid the puppy chewing or biting is to replace it with a chew toy. For example, if the puppy chews on a leash while taking it out for a walk, with proper training, one could replace that habit by giving it a chew toy instead. This will take time, patience and consistency for the puppy to realize that the toy is fine to chew on rather than the leash. This can be applied to any other inappropriate chewing or biting that the puppy is doing. Also, having a chew toy ready is always a good idea especially when the puppy is about to bite your hand.

Providing a positive and motivational reinforcement approach to a daily puppy training obedience routine will help modify this behavior problem.