Stop Puppy Biting

If you have a new puppy in your home you would probably like to know how to stop puppy biting. I bet you’ve surely noticed his passion for chewing and biting everything he can get his little mouth close to. That probably has included the hands and ankles of your family, any loose shoes lying around, or maybe even on the furniture. From my own experience I have learned that there is pretty much nothing that they won’t try out. You’ll want to stop your puppy from biting everything they can, and save your flesh and household items from the damage those little sharp and pointy teeth can do. Putting stuff in their mouth is a major way that puppies learn about their environment. They are thinking “Hmm, can I eat this? Yuck, not so good. Maybe I can still play with it. I won’t actually eat it, but I will tear it to pieces!” Besides that, it is natural for puppies to play and to play rough, and biting each other (and now you), isn’t done with any malice, so you can’t punish them for trying to have a little fun. In a litter they naturally will learn to inhibit this biting by interaction with Mama Dog and their siblings. For instance, if one puppy gets too rambunctious the Mama stops the puppy from biting by clamping down on the scruff of the puppy’s neck until the puppy calms down. She may also turn her back and ignore the offending puppy; she will sometimes bare her teeth and growl (a sure warning in dog language that even a young puppy clearly understands); she may grab the puppy by the scruff of the neck and shake him; or she may put her paw over the puppy and hold him down until he is submissive. Well, you can’t stop, nor should you try to stop, your puppy from biting and chewing, (as long as it is something appropriate like a chew toy) but you can stop the damage from biting and chewing. Just use a few common sense ideas based on the behavior of the Mama Dog. Use your understanding of Mama Dog’s body language to make your point to stop your puppy from biting inappropriately.  Click here to read my article Recognizing Dog Body Language.

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Here are a few practical tips to help stop puppy  biting and to make his chewing less of a problem.

• Be sure to get some chew toys for your new puppy. He’s going to need to bite something, and these toys are perfect substitutes for your hands and feet. When your puppy is playing with you, have the chew toy there and ready. When your puppy starts playing a bit rough and begins to bite your hands, stop your puppy from biting you by holding his body with one hand, and gently extricating your hand from his sharp little teeth. Then close his mouth with your free hand and keep it closed till he becomes submissive and accepts your hand over his mouth. He will probably not enjoy this, but try to keep him calm with your voice. Tell him “no biting” firmly, but without raising your voice. If he becomes nervous he’ll resist longer. The calmer he stays, the quicker he’ll become submissive. Don’t remove your hand until the puppy is submissive. Once he has accepted this, remove your hand from his mouth, and offer him his chew toy as a wonderful substitute to human flesh.  As soon as he places the toy in his mouth, be sure to give him lots of praise. Repeat this as needed and he will soon associate the praise with chewing on the approved chew toy. Since he doesn’t get any praise for biting you (only a time out from playing with a big old hand over his little mouth) he will want to perform the behavior that gets him the praise and the toy, rather than the hand closing his mouth. This is the  puppy from biting, with positive reinforcement.  If others are yelling or hitting the puppy when it bites, this will undermine your own approach and cause the puppy to be confused.positive reinforcement method to stop your puppy from biting. It  will take some time to sink in, but be patient and don’t ever hit or yell at the puppy for play biting. Those are negative reinforcements and will hurt your efforts to bond with the pup and slow down his ability to learn properly. Be sure everyone in your household understands this, so you all treat the puppy’s behavior problems, such as how to stop your

• Another good idea to stop your puppy from biting and chewing up your household, is to keep the puppy in his crate or kennel (if you have one for house training your puppy) whenever you are not able to actively supervise him. Don’t let the puppy have a free run of the house, or he will probably find something tasty to put in his mouth-your slippers, furniture, etc. Be sure to provide some chew toys inside his crate for his chewing enjoyment needs. Dog kennel training is great for not only house training, but also for controlling puppy biting and chewing during the teething stage, and as a place of security-a den-for when he just wants to hang out.

• Also, use common sense to stop your puppy from biting easily findable items. For instance, keep your shoes and slippers, etc. in a closed closet. Close bedroom doors, and doors to other rooms you don’t want to find puppy damage. He should only be running free when you are actively supervising and playing with or training your new pet. limit his access to most of the house, so you can control what area your puppy should stay in.

• Using some tips from Mama Dog,  stop your puppy from biting by demonstrating to your puppy that his biting is hurting you. Do this by yelping in a high pitched voice when he bites you. You might feel a little funny, but this is one thing Mama Dog will do to get his attention and stop the puppy from biting her. Probably he will decide to have some more fun by biting you after a moment or two, so you can yelp again. Another good way to stop your puppy from biting you is by holding him with one hand, and  using the other hand to close his mouth, stare him in the eyes and bare your teeth in a snarl and perhaps even make a low growl to show a threat to him. This is what Mama does, and it sends a very clear message to the pup. You probably shouldn’t (and wouldn’t want to) grab the dog by the scruff of the neck with your teeth like Mama does, but you can still use your hand to hold him still and show him who is boss until he submits. Don’t stop the correction until the puppy is compliant-that lets you know he’s received the message about listening to the boss-by being submissive and relaxed.

• If you want to stop your puppy from biting, don’t play rough house games with your puppy, such as tug of war or wrestling. I always used to do this, and always used to have bloody hands and wrists and forearms. I used to enjoy the rough play as much as my puppies did, and didn’t realize it was so potentially leading to some behavior problems-the worst of which would be dog aggression problems. So, try to resist the urge to play rough with your puppy—it teaches them that it is OK to be aggressive with you, and from personal experience I can truly say it hurts to have those sharp little pointy puppy teeth tear through your skin. Instead of teaching my puppy to stop  biting, I was teaching him it was a fun thing to bite me.

Use these tips to avoid losing shoes, blood and other things you would prefer to remain intact to your puppy’s busy mouth and super sharp teeth. This stage will last through teething and sometimes as long as 2 years as the dog’s teeth are setting, but because you have stopped your puppy from biting you and your household items, this problem should be under control. Let him take out his biting needs on a chew toy and it’s a win-win situation. To learn more about controlling the problem of puppy chewing read my article Stop Dog Chewing Problems.

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