Stop Puppy Biting – Correcting Dog Biting Behavior

Arland Kent asked:




I know… it wasn’t too long ago that you got your puppy. At first you liked the nibble your ears and it tickled. But now, although still a puppy, the little nibbles have actually turned into hurting bites. The fact is, if your puppy is younger than about 16 weeks, he might be frequently nipping or biting a lot since younger puppies are mouthing. There are actually many reasons why your puppy is biting frequently. However, you do need to stop the puppy biting.

If he is nipping or biting and you want to stop that biting, think about these questions: Maybe he is thirsty or hungry? Does he need to go number two? Could he be sleepy? Is he interested in playing? Think about this, puppies will tend to nip when they feel needy. It basically is the same as when a young baby cries. They generally want something.

There are various ways that can help you control or prevent mouthing and nipping. However, don’t reward his nipping or biting. He may be needy for something that he wants but don’t reward this bad behavior with the need he desires. Then you will be rewarding of bad behavior. First you need to get him to stop biting or nipping. Take a look at some of the ways below that will help you do that:

1. You may want to isolate him in some way by maybe putting him in his cage. If he is teething, you might give him some chewable toy made for teething while he stays in his cage.

2. Don’t give your puppy of attention when he nips. Simply keep your hands and motionless without pulling them back quickly. Just stop playing with the puppy.

3. If your puppy starts biting down with force, turned quickly staring him in the face and make some sort of noise or simply say “no”. Remember to be consistent with your commands.

4. When you find the puppy biting down on your hand and/or fingers, immediately put your thumb right below his tongue inside his mouth in order to grasp his lower jaw. With your thumb in place and fingers on the outside bottom part of his jaw, clamp down slowly. The puppy will not like your thumb being in his mouth. It won’t hurt him but it will be slightly uncomfortable. Doing this consistently will help him associate biting with receiving that uncomfortable feeling of your thumb touching the inside of his lower jaw.

If your puppy is older than 16 weeks and he still nips or bites, you’ll need to prevent this as soon as possible. This bad behavior can lead to worse behavior as he grows up. To help prevent this nipping and biting behavior you can do a few things to avoid it.

1. Put a stop to those challenge games. They will include chasing, tug-of-war, teasing and wrestling to name a few. These games usually encourage the dog to play rough and bite down hard. If you do want to continue these games make sure your dog realizes the difference between your body and the toy you are playing with.

2. Whenever your puppy or dog nips or bites even when he is young as a small little puppy, discourage this behavior. Let him know that biting or nipping your skin is unwanted.

3. Get a few items that you can use to grab his attention like a ****** gun, ****** bottle, or mouth spray. Don’t directly look at your puppy while you spray him since he might associate the spraying with you being in front of him and looking at him.

4. During times of training and maybe even play, leave the leash on your puppy so that when he does nip or bite, you can immediately correct him by giving him a slight jerk to the side of his neck.

5. If your puppy does continue to bite or nip, review your actions by asking questions like: Am I being convincing enough (do I use a firm voice tone or expect action)? Am I snapping the leash or pulling it (pulling encourages active play)? And, is he taking me seriously? You have to command respect from your puppy if you want to see results. That means, effectively being your puppy’s pack leader.

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