How to Stop a Puppy from Biting
Oh the nipping puppy. It can be cute and cuddly 90% of the time and then suddenly it turns into a nipping monster that is only happy when it is chewing on some part of your body. This can be very frustrating for owners and if it isn’t corrected at a young age, it can become a lifelong problem for your dog. This is why it is important to make an effort to stop a puppy from biting at an early age, since it can be a big hassle to try to convince an adult dog that biting is not OK.
Like many behaviors that you see in dogs and puppies, biting is a natural behavior. Every puppy will nip and bite and there are a number of reasons why they do. These reasons include:
- They get carried away with playing
- They are teething
- Their teeth hurt for some reason
- When they are taking food
Most biting occurs during play or if they are teething but a puppy that is having a dental problem will also bite. If your puppy is biting around food or in an aggressive manner, then it is a different type of problem that you are dealing with and I would recommend that you read our articles on puppy aggression.
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When you are trying to stop a puppy from biting, there are a few things that you need to do. First, and foremost, you should properly socialize your puppy. Many times a puppy is biting because they are not properly socialized and do not know their puppy manners. Taking your puppy to a puppy socialization class can be a great idea when you are trying to stop a puppy from biting.
The next thing to do is to set some ground rules. I am a huge fan of rules and it really does teach your puppy what acceptable behavior is. Never condone biting or encourage it. Avoid playing games that encourage biting such as tug of war or wrestling.
After you have the rules in place, you can begin to teach your puppy that nipping is not an appropriate behavior. This is actually referred to as bite inhibition. This is actually a process that puppies would normally learn from their littermates and dam but since we take a puppy at such a young age, it is up to the owner to teach bite inhibition.
This is actually done in two stages. The first is the actual inhibition that teaches a puppy to use a “soft” mouth and to not bite too hard when they do nip. The second stage is in conditioning your puppy to bite less.
The Inhibition
Since this is the first stage, it is only appropriate to start with it. Before you start this type of training, I want to note that it doesn’t work with all breeds of dogs. For example, I trained a Labrador Retriever that loved to nip. However, whenever I used this method, it would only excite him to the point that he nipped even more. The method wasn’t successful with him and I ended up having to go with a different method to teach bite inhibition.
Step One: Play with your puppy
I know this may be a strange way to start but you want your puppy to start biting your hand during a play session. Don’t wrestle but set your puppy up a bit by having your hands down near his face.
Step Two: The Bite
When your puppy finally bites your hand, even if it doesn’t hurt, give a loud yelp or say “Ouch!” very lightly. The purpose of this yelp is to get your puppy to move away from your hand and stop playing.
Step Three: The Apology
Once you have yelped, remove your hand from the play area and stop playing all together. Wait until your puppy apologizes for biting. This can usually be done by having him sit or lay down. Once he does, accept his apology and then return to playing.
As your puppy grows, his bite should become softer and softer but you should still yelp any time he bites, even if it doesn’t hurt so that he realizes that biting at any pressure is not okay.
For puppy’s that become more excited by a yelp, simply remove yourself from the puppy. Put him on a time out by removing yourself from the room or the area for about a minute or two. When you come back, allow him to apologize and then start playing again. He will quickly learn that biting means that his favorite play toy will leave.
In our next article we will take a look at furher steps you can take in order to stop a puppy from biting: How to Stop a Puppy from Biting – Part Two
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