Stop Puppy Biting

by Ellen Landauer

A stop puppy biting video I just watched shows a man with a 6 -7 month old German Shepherd in an indoor scenario.

The man guarantees that he will show you how to stop puppy biting in minutes.

PHOTO: Stop puppy biting: Yup, they love to untie your shoes!

---

This appeals to most people with mouthy young dogs - an instant solution to the scary behavior!

But at what price to the emotional bond between you and your dog??

In this article, I describe a 'stop puppy biting' scenario of which there are many versions on you-tube. I then give you a detailed analysis of how this kind of 'training' creates chronic stress, and behavior issues such as severe aggression, shyness, destructiveness and more.

In addition to compromising the bond you so desire with your companion, the lifelong stress pattern resulting from such 'training' erodes a dog's physical vitality - setting the stage for greater likelihood of heartbreaking health problems later on.

---

Stop Puppy Biting Video

The man kneels on the floor, acting prey-like and touching the dog provocatively, stimulating the young dog to grab his hand or arm.

By this means, he is 'setting the dog up' to fail (do the unwanted behavior and reap the consequences) - so he can show off his magic training technique to stop puppy biting. People love this because they have so much fear of the aliveness of their puppy. They are on the trainer's side - not on the dog's side.

As the dog puts her mouth on the man's hand, the man makes a loud, sharp hiss - 'psst!' and aggressively pokes the dog in the ribs.

(NOTE: The hissing sound stimulates fear. In the wild, hissing is the prelude to getting attacked by a snake, big cat, etc. A poke is also danger. From their wolf ancestors, our dogs are hardwired with the fear of getting gored by an antler or pierced by the tusks of a boar or fangs of a predator).

To stop puppy biting, we are told to make our pups feel they are going to come to harm!

The dog shies away, turns in circles a few times - then moves hesitantly toward the man, barking in a stressed, agitated manner - now in deep conflict about approaching. The stop puppy biting 'training' has now created the beginnings of  behavior problems due to fear of humans!

The man states that there is not only nothing wrong with the barking, stress and agitation - but that it is GOOD! Good for whom? Not the dog!!

Once or twice more, the dog approaches and the man touches the dog in a way that encourages her to mouth him. (By the way, it is easy to see in the video that the dog is punished while hesitantly mouthing, not biting at all)! The same hiss and poke routine drives the dog away.

The 'trainer' has just shown the dog that he is not to be trusted - that he is a danger to the dog.

NOTE: The pup's fear of the man will get generalized - she has now begun to learn to mistrust ALL humans!

But the dog's innate attraction to humans is still there - now clouded by resistance. As a pup, she is still open enough to return, and does so, very hesitantly. She does not bark or try to grip the man's arm. In fact, no part of her body makes physical contact with the man.

The man reaches out and starts fondling the dog who then rolls over and shows her belly. The man is all smiles, petting the dog, saying how good this is that she submitted. He says that by doing the 'right' behavior, the dog is now rewarded.

Her beautiful, open and uninhibited attraction to the man has now been replaced by a coping behavior - submission. She is now just trying to survive - pleading, 'Please don't injure me.'

The man crushed this puppy's pure directness and rewarded her for indirect, conflicted, terrified behavior.

This kind of 'training' is setting the dog up to be skittish, reactive, hyper-friendly and/or fear-aggressive.

---

Stop Puppy Biting: At What Cost to the Dog?

What REALLY just happened? To stop puppy biting, the 'training' shut down the dog's vital force. This means that the unimpeded flow of vital energy flowing joyously through the pup is now blocked - like a hose that has a crimp in it.

The man just downloaded a big charge of nervousness into the dog's system, shutting down emotional flow. That nervousness will begin the process of eroding temperament -creating more and worse undesirable behavior. Plus it will eat away at the dog's vitality. Over the years the accumulated stress will deplete the dog's life force, likely causing health issues.

---

Stop Puppy Biting: People are Clueless!

From the comments below this stop puppy biting video, everyone thinks the trainer is a genius! Many of them tried this special technique with their dog and thank him profusely, thrilled that it 'worked.'

PHOTO: Stop puppy biting by opening to receive pure love!

---

All the trainer and his fans care about is that after the stop puppy biting routine the 'bad' scary behavior came to a halt. The trainer because he wants to impress, the fans because they are terrified of their puppies but are denying their fear.

By crushing the pup's openness and contactfulness, owners can avoid dealing with their own lack of wholeness. None of them see anything wrong with the fragmented, stressed behavior that replaced the pup's open, innocent desire to fully connect emotionally.

Do you ever wonder why some dogs go into conflict and look nervous and fearful when you invite them to approach you? The above example, and similar tactics, is commonly the cause of such avoidance. It drives stress deeper into the dog's body.

Stress is a 'charge' that builds into more and more deep, stored pressure - a growing physical/emotional burden that WILL cause problems in behavior and even in health.

The correction was corrosive to the pup's desire to connect with people, and more importantly, to her life energy.

In a nutshell, this kind of stop puppy biting training slowly kills dogs.

---

Stop Puppy Biting:
Fear Tactics Have Consequences

After being subjected to fear-inducing methods to stop puppy biting, the growing dog begins to show compensatory behaviors.

Some dogs react by becoming overdependent, showing hyper-friendliness, which most people see as good. The dog vibrates too much when interacting with people - tail thrashing, body wiggling. 'Oh, he's such a cute wigglebutt,' they say. That thrashing about is NOT happiness or 'friendliness' - it is nervousness.

Hyper-friendly dogs may even lean in on a new person and compulsively occupy the center of attention, not leaving guests and other strangers alone. This is all too often seen as super-sociability, when it is really - terror.

Or you may see 'zoomies' - the dog racing in circles around people - just out of reach. Nearly everyone sees this as happy excitement and thinks 'zoomies' are cute. No, the puppy is NOT happy - they are trying to work off the internal pressure of fear and avoidance. 'Zoomies' are fear attached to drive to make contact.

Yet other dogs begin to show inappropriate aggression - snarling, going after cats or other animals, ripping apart furniture, chasing cars, anger-avoidance of house guests, etc. Even those who do not show such disturbances of behavior may unexpectedly bite an innocent person to try and relieve their stress...

---

Consequences of Ignorant
Stop Puppy Biting Training

Typical stop puppy biting training teaches avoidance of humans.

The dog cannot have his heart's desire met with people, so he may run off to find other ways; chasing cars, cats, squirrels, etc., or just roaming the neighborhood any time he can get away.

As he grows a little older, he now must be trained to 'come when called.' All kinds of tricks - put them on a long line and tempt them with a treat, etc. are employed by the humans. Formal training to 'come when called' is NOT the way. It will just keep driving the emotional wedge between you and your dog.

While they sometimes appear to work OK, these compensatory methods fall apart when tested, say by another dog in the vicinity. Your dog will go toward the other dog rather than come to you. At its worst, this can result in a tragic accident that harms your dog.

By using ignorant stop puppy biting methods, the initial amazing attraction of puppy to owner, and to humans in general, is compromised by the owner.

Before their owners put emotional barriers between themselves and their pups, the pups are infused with passionate attraction for their humans. And the humans just throw it away!

While it is natural for a growing dog to want to explore a wider area - when raised in a way that honors their true nature, they are NOT avoiding you! They are just widening their horizons as is in accordance with maturing temperament. So it is easy for them to quickly return to you even without being commanded to do so. As their desire to explore increases, there are simple ways to naturally attract your growing puppy.

What you should do at those times is counter to most every training method.

---

Stop Puppy Biting: What they Don't Tell You!

PHOTO: Stop puppy biting by fostering calm harmony!

---

First, what is a pup feeling when they want to grip you with their jaws? To understand, think about what young dogs and pups do when meeting other youngsters. You've seen it - they jump on each other, chase each other and - yes - grip ears, necks and any other part of their playmate's body that is within reach.

Why? Pure attraction!

Ever see a mom or relative lovingly pretend to nibble on an infant and say 'You're so delicious, I could just eat you up?' Have you seen an infant grip the hand of someone holding them, and draw the hand to their mouth so they can suck on a finger? Or a lover nibble on their partner's ear?

There is an ingestive aspect to attraction. We are so attracted to the other person that we want to 'take them in.' We are opening to let them in - to fully bond with them.

The feeling is basically the same with puppies when they want grab and to hold some part of your body with their jaws. Their most direct and open way to express their attraction to you is by holding some part of you in their mouth - just like they do with their furry friends.

At the heart of a pup's desire to hold some part of you in their jaws is - pure love!

---

Stop Puppy Biting Video:
What is the REAL Story?

Typically, a pup's expression of pure canine love arouses fear.

The vast majority of people deny their fear by attributing the behavior to 'desire to dominate.' 'Trainers' perpetrate this myth by teaching how to stop puppy biting. Owners dominate their dogs because, after all, 'You need to be the 'pack leader' - the boss.

You may not know this, but your fear is perceived by a dog as a form of violence. This is because they feel you shutting down emotionally and vibrating in a stressful way. Your inner state alone drives an emotional wedge between you and the pup with whom you so hoped to share a bond of total trust.

Even if you deny your fear, your pup KNOWS - because dogs feel EVERYTHING that we feel. You cannot hide from your dog - they know EXACTLY what is going on in your most hidden emotions in every moment!

As avoidance increases as a result of applying measures like those in most stop puppy biting videos, you then find your puppy won't come when called - or even runs the other way! You have just created the second most frequent behavior problem in dogs.

---

Stop Puppy Biting: The Future

In the stop puppy biting video I described, what does the future hold for the pup and owner?

The lovely assurances by the trainer that the dog will see the owner as the source of all good things are an empty promise. Once the pup's desire has been turned into avoidance and/or submission, there is one thing the owner can almost never fully recover - unless they learn a new way - the complete and open trust the pup so longed to invest in them.

The pup will survive, may even look good as he enjoys treats and toys. BUT - driving the pup away when he is most trusting, vulnerable and passionately attracted to you is a betrayal of his aliveness.

If his natural temperament is strong, the built-up stress from accumulation of repressed energy can lead to aggressive behavior. The explosive nature of bound energy can result in chronic aggression that leads to a serious bite. In dogs of milder temperament, shyness and skittish behavior may occur - along with a possible fear-biting issue.

Driving away a trusting pup that is mouthing you is like reprimanding and shoving away a child who runs up to you and clasps your legs or climbs into your lap. Would you treat a child that way? Such treatment almost assuredly results in an emotionally damaged adult - who may, like a pup treated similarly - become a danger to others.

Even if a young dog is in a family with children or elderly, calm, knowledgeable supervision will make the grown dog safer in the long run - and it will lead to the deepest possible emotional connection with them. It will make ALL training much easier!

---

Stop Puppy Biting:
Consequences for the Humans

Most people want to avoid dealing with feelings that are triggered by the puppy's open, fully alive demeanor. By learning how to stop puppy biting and crush the 'bad' behavior, most people avoid the real issue.

The unspoken issue is that they cannot tolerate the fully alive, contactful nature of this vibrant, pulsating creature because they themselves lack that aliveness. They don't want the pup to show them how much aliveness they are missing.

This issue also can occur between parents and babies.

When people avoid their own lack of full contactfulness and aliveness by using contactless training methods with their dogs, they crush their own potential for personal growth. I was once such a person.

By opening to an unfiltered experience of a dog's wildness, I opened to an unfiltered experience of my own aliveness.

You may not want to do this.

I understand. I used to be afraid, just like you.

---

Stop Puppy Biting: Overcoming the Fear

In 'Hunting for Heart,' I share a LOT about how to harmoniously stop puppy biting, resulting in a bond of which you may only have dreamed. After all, I was like most everyone else. I used to believe in the need to reprimand and punish to stop puppy biting! I had to face my deepest fears to open to a whole new paradigm.

For your individual situation, if you need immediate help, guidance is also available in the form of a personal consultation.

BUY 'Hunting for Heart' and
Rediscover Your Primordial Bond With Dogs