On this page:
Resources:
This article will outline how to get your puppy to stop biting hands using 5 techniques. When that cute puppy is nibbling or biting your hands it might become irritating or can lead to a painful bite. Teaching your puppy not to bite is very important because a biting adult dog is a serious danger to others and perhaps yourself.
So what can you do to prevent this type of behaviour? There are steps you can take to get them out of this habit. By understanding why they’re biting and providing an appropriate outlet for their energy, you can help prevent this unwanted behaviour and start enjoying playing and socializing with your puppy.
1. Determine When the Biting is Happening
Your first activity is to identify when your puppy is biting. Then pinpoint the specific times. Could it be during play time or food time? Is your puppy bored or stressed? Only when you answer questions about what triggers your puppy or the situation can you begin teaching your puppy better ways of communicating.
2. Teach Your Puppy Bite Inhibition
You might be tempted to completely stop your puppy’s biting and mouthing at the beginning. It is vital to allow your puppy to understand the limits of how hard they can press against skin before it becomes painful. This is called “Bite Inhibition” which teaches your puppy what kind of bite pressure is acceptable and which isn’t.
Calmly and consistently show your puppy where the boundaries are. You begin doing this by telling them “no” or “leave it” in a clear voice, at the same time make your hand to go limp. Do not pull away as this can make your puppy want to bite you more or harder. When your puppy lets go ignore them for a few seconds or redirect their attention with a toy or treat. When they stop, reward or praise so that this behaviour is reinforced.
3. Redirect to a Chew Toy
Your puppy needs to know that chewing on toys is fine, but biting your hand is not! When your puppy bites, tell them a firm “No!” and then give them a chew toy. Give your puppy a variety of safe chew toys and redirect their biting behaviour to the toy instead. Your puppy will learn that there are other appropriate ways of playing than biting your hands.
4. Structure That Energy
Sometimes you need to allow your puppy to use up their energy by doing a physical activity like running or a mental game. Hide a treat and let them find it. A gentle game of tug of war can be enjoyable and teaches your puppy what is appropriate to have in his/her mouth. When playing with your puppy do not encourage rough play because your puppy will be enticed to lose control and bite.
If your puppy does bite teach him/her that it means “game over”. You will without exception walk away and not continue playing. You may decide to enroll your puppy in puppy classes where your puppy can socialise with other dogs and practice other obedience techniques such as sit, heel and stay. This can encourage your puppy to learn the difference between a “yes” and “no” command.
5. Rewarding and Praising
Never hit or physically punish your puppy. Shouting or punishing can be like a reward to your puppy because it teaches them that they get a response from biting. Rather teach your puppy that biting gets them nothing. Try your best not to become frustrated. Make it a point to verbally praise your puppy when they resist the urge to bite, this will reinforce the wanted behaviour, and your puppy will know what is acceptable and what is not. Use encouraging words like “Good girl/boy” in a happy voice when praising your puppy. You can give him/her treats as an additional reward for good behaviour. Praising and rewarding your puppy is a very effective way teach him/her.
Practice makes perfect. Yes, it requires a lot of patience and dedication to get your puppy to stop biting your hand. Your puppy may not understand in the beginning but that is OK. With consistent positive reinforcement, praise and implementing the above guidelines you can teach your puppy not to bite. If you continue to have trouble with biting there is always help. Check this online resource:
Dog Training – Stop Puppy Biting Hands
Watch this video from Will Atherton Canine Training to see some of these methods demonstrated:
Stop Biting Instantly
Video Transcript Summary
Now before I show you exactly how we fix this puppy biting I have to talk about ways that don’t work. If these things did work there’d be no puppies in the world biting people. The single, greatest problem behavior with puppies is to simply ignore the behavior and think that it’s going to go away.
Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. If it did work I would suggest that you do that. But we have to have an ability to communicate with our dogs as to what is acceptable and what isn’t. So ignoring the bad behavior doesn’t work. Nor should you squeal and pretend that you’re a puppy mate or a litter mate and let them know that they’ve hurt you.
When it comes to the wider success of having a puppy, you have to be able to communicate to them that you are their loving leader. I’ll ask you the question: “Do you think when these guys have been nipping and chewing on their mothers their mothers would squeal and ignore the behavior and hope that they learn? No, it’s not what they would do.
Communication
We have to be able to communicate to them effectively from a place of love kindness and empathy to set these guys up for success. Surely the last thing you want is these adorable little puppies turning into adult dogs that still mouth, chew and bite, and it happens every single day.
So with you guys let’s stop that from happening right now. The way that we’re going to address this behavior and the way that I’ve helped thousands of people achieve massive success with puppy biting, is following my methodology of correct redirect and reinforce. It’s really simple.
We correct the undesirable behavior, biting humans, and we let them know that isn’t acceptable. We redirect them to what we do want them to chew and let them know that that is acceptable by reinforcing that behavior.
Correction
So let’s start with the correction piece of the puzzle because it’s this piece of the puzzle that people have no idea how to effectively implement. Notice an active correction is what we’re going to do when we are imitating what the mother dogs would do.
So this little guy is actually being lovely right now sitting nicely and patiently. Therefore I’m going to reward and praise this behavior. This black puppy is a little bit feistier so when he makes a bad decision I take that away and I’m waiting for the exact moment that he makes a good decision. This is an active correction.
So you see, I have startled the puppy and the puppy is clearly not upset. They’ve gone back to play so he still wants to play and I want to play with them. Notice, when they’re making good decisions like he’s doing now and playing with him he’s getting belly rubs. He’s getting praise and he’s getting attention.
But I don’t want to stop there because I’m a loving leader. I’m a balanced leader and I don’t just want to challenge them when they make mistakes. I want to communicate to them what they should be doing instead. So that’s where we go to our redirection but not until we’ve helped communicate what isn’t acceptable.
Reinforcement
First, now would certainly rather be using a puppy hammer but we’ve only got our full-size one. So now I’m bringing a toy into the equation and I’m getting their attention with the toys. When they make the decision to chew on that instead, which they’re doing now, yes, they’re getting praise. They get rewards when they’re nibbling and chewing on something that they should be.
I’m communicating to them effectively, yes, and then i’m reinforcing this desirable behavior and with now nothing more than managing those three systems. Make the bad decision and chew on me i’m going to correct that behavior once I’ve achieved that outcome.
Then yes, I’m going to bring a toy into the equation and our hammer has been designed to be an incredibly engaging toy and something that the puppies are going to want to chew on instead.
When they make those good decisions they’re going to get rewarded. Bad decision – correction. I’ll just redirect towards something I do want them to chew on instead. When they make those better decisions they get rewarded for doing so.
In Conclusion
So guys, as you can see, puppy biting isn’t something that you have to live with. Don’t listen to people that tell you that all you can do is ignore it or all you can do is squeal and turn you back to it and hope the problem goes away.
Address the problem from a place of loving leadership and you’ll build your communication with your dog for a wide variety of other problem behaviors that you may face as well. So enjoy your beautiful new puppies but don’t forget we need to lead our puppies because leadership is love.
Here is another article that may interest you:
How to Stop Your Dog From Jumping Up at Guests
Podcast: Play in new window | Download