How to Stop Puppy Biting

Mouthing, Biting and Nipping in Puppies: a Guide to Help You Through

Aren’t puppies just so fluffy and adorable? Until they use their teeth, that is.  And wow, those teeth are sharp and puppies can bite really hard! Bet you’re not thinking how fluffy and adorable they are in those moments, hey?

I have worked with hundreds of new puppy owners and one of the biggest worries they have is that their puppy is biting them. It can feel really difficult when we have a puppy who is intent on grabbing our arms and ankles, our clothing or launching at our faces with those razor-sharp teeth!  There are things you can do though, so read on!

Why does my puppy bite?

Puppies mostly explore the world with their mouths and, as much as it doesn’t feel great at times, all that mouthing is actually perfectly normal and natural…for them at least.  If you have a puppy who you think is biting excessively, or is biting out of fear or from guarding behaviours or is naturally genetically a breed that is prone to biting and you want to be able to manage it, please seek help from a professional trainer sooner rather than later.  But, for now, we are talking about general puppy biting because, unless you’re lucky to have one of the ultra-rare puppies who just don’t bite, you are going to experience puppy biting from your puppy because that is what they do.

So, great, we know they don’t have another motive, but what on earth do we do when that mouthing/biting is non-stop or we find ourselves living with what might as well be known as a land shark?  Good question Jo, I hear you ask. 

Let’s just consider for a second the fact that, alongside mouthing/biting being a normal behaviour for them, it’s also a self-reinforcing behaviour too. It feels good to them!

It feels especially good when they are teething and it feels good when they aren’t.  It’s just a behaviour that puppies enjoy.  But I certainly don’t want shreds constantly being taken out of my arm, that’s for sure and I’m sure you don’t either.

Some of the main triggers of puppy biting:

When they are teething:

As a rough guide, teething tends to peak around 12-16 weeks of age, which is when biting behaviour is usually worst.  Different breeds tend to lose their teeth at slightly different ages. Their baby teeth should have grown through completely by 8 weeks of age and by the age of around 6-7 months, most of their adult teeth will have replaced them.  In between this time, your puppy will go through different stages of teething. You usually notice this by finding teeth/seeing new teeth growth, smelly puppy breath, noticing their gums are sore or increased mouthing/chewing/biting. Teething usually happens around the stage of development where puppies confidence grows and so the two events occurring at the same time can be challenging!  Because they explore the world with their mouths and because their confidence is growing, you’ll notice more mouthing behaviours. They will also likely be looking for things to chew on to help soothe the pain of teething; it hurts those gums to grow new teeth! Providing appropriate items for them to chew on is a good idea at this time, lots of puppies love frozen carrots to help soothe the pain.

When they are overtired:

This is possibly the most common cause of excessive puppy biting because overtired puppies make terrible choices and usually that choice is to resort to launching at you with those teeth. Puppies need a lot more sleep than you think, usually around 18 hours per day (in a 24 hour period).  A lack of rest and being overtired usually causes a puppy to become irritable. Irritable puppies will bite! Try and ensure you encourage your puppy to rest as much as possible throughout the day. Often, people fall into the trap of taking their puppy for an extra walk or an extra play session in order to ‘tire them out’, but usually that’s the last thing they need. Having a suitable pen or crate area that has been introduced properly can really help with ensuring you can give them proper down time.

When they are overstimulated/over-excited:

You’re playing with your puppy and it’s all fun and games and then suddenly, they launch at you! We’ve all been there, right? Sometimes, a very hyped up excitable puppy is the cause of excessive biting because they aren’t very good at dealing with that feeling. Or perhaps you’ve just come home and your puppy goes crazy to see you because their mind is blown and then, wham…out come the teeth. Or perhaps you’re trying to make breakfast first thing in the morning with your puppy hanging off your dressing gown. Puppies can bite a lot more when they are excitable and so sometimes it is a very good idea to mix up the kind of activities you do with them and keep some of the more exciting games you play short in length so that they don’t lose their mind…and bite.

When they are hungry:

Whilst I don’t think this is a major cause of puppy biting, it certainly can contribute to increased biting behaviour at times.

Knowing the above gives you a rough predictor or when your pup might become ‘old terror teeth’.  But you might also have seen other signs in your own puppy that are good predictors that your limbs are about to get shredded.  These are well worth listing down with all the family so that you become very conscious of triggers to your own pups mouthing.

What to do to help:

With your trigger list in mind, start thinking of ways that you can ‘change the picture’ for your pup at these times and, better still, predict it in advance of the biting occurring.

So, knowing when your puppy will start to become mouthy means that you can start a calming training session beforehand, enter the room with a weaponry of toys or settle them down in their pen with a Kong or chew, for example.

 “BUT…JO!” I hear you say, “sometimes they just launch for me out of nowhere!” Yep, the super biters can be good at that. 

Here’s your plan:

  • Always have treat pots around the house, out of puppy’s reach (but within yours, obviously). 

  • Always have soft toys around the house, out of puppy’s reach (but within yours, obviously).  These aren’t toys that are just lying around, they are soft fleece tuggies, or similar, that you use for training only so that they remain interesting to your puppy.

  • Where possible, when your puppy is starting to go for your skin, divert them on to a soft toy or teething chew to chew on and mouth instead.  Now, you will need to make that toy ‘come alive’ and seem exciting enough to bother letting go of your limbs for.  You can then gently tug or move the toy around gently for them to chase to sustain interest in it, rather than returning to your arms/legs/hair etc.  Remember, the more excitable the play though, the more mouthy they might become.

  • Another ‘in the moment’ option is to grab a treat (from your one-of-many easily accessible treat pots that I know you’ve already planned on stashing around the house) and hold it against your puppy’s nose until they let go.  Immediately get them in to their ‘thinking zone’ by practicing some training for rewards, rather than being biting monsters.

  • Another ‘in the moment’ option is to grab a long-lasting chew or stuffed Kong (Himalayan dog chew, pizzle stick and so on), cuddle dog in one arm and hold the chew in your other hand for them to gnaw on.  Once they are fully engrossed in this (which might take 10 – 20 minutes), pop them and the chew in the pen and let them continue to chew.  The chances are, if they haven’t already, they will settle and fall asleep; adding to the essential sleep quota!

BUT:

For those persistent little biters, who bite and bite and bite no matter what, you might need to resort to the following protocol to help.

  • Firstly, however, don’t forget that any attention whilst they are biting in terms of pushing, screeching or shouting is likely to be seen as a good thing from your puppy. In turn, they might learn that this is the way of getting your attention.

  • If your puppy is hanging off your clothing regularly, please give consideration to what you are wearing around them whilst this behaviour is their ‘thing’.  If it’s a dressing gown every morning, kiss goodbye to the gown for the time being.  It does tend to be the looser items of clothing that they go for.  When they are hanging off clothing, stand still and ignore them (no eye contact, no talking).  Sooner or later that’s going to become super boring and they will let go.  Then and only then can you calmly give them attention and/or divert them to something else (whilst swiftly getting changed into something less enticing for the puppy to grab!).

  • If, no matter what, they decide they are going to take chunks of your skin, then immediately remove yourself (not the puppy) from the room.  After 1-2 seconds and once they are calm (don’t leave it so long that they become stressed by you leaving though, that is not what we are trying to achieve), re-enter the room and re-engage with them calmly.  If they bite again, repeat the process. You might have to do 20 repetitions of this in one day but, in not so long, your puppy is going to learn that biting = fun/attention going away.  And that is not what a pup wants! Try re-entering the room with a toy to help them actually make the right choice of what to bite on when you do; we want to set them up to succeed and make good choices, at the end of the day.

 Try to ensure that:

  • Greetings are best nice and calm. 

  • To praise all the good choices they make! You know, all those sits they do instead of jumps, all those licks they do instead of bites, all that toy chewing they do instead of arm shredding.  All the good stuff they choose to do without being asked – praise, praise, praise!  What gets rewarded, gets repeated!

  • A decent daily routine to help can look a little like: play, train, toilet, pen & chew, sleep.

  • Arm yourself with loads of chews, loads of prepared Kongs, loads of decent chew toys.  Laugh in the face of your puppies biting…fail to prepare, prepare to fail (as they say).

Remember, puppies bite. That is a fact of life. It’s rarely malicious and it’s barely ever personal, it just is what it is. As much as it doesn’t feel great at times, experiencing biting really is part of raising a puppy. If we plan for it, we can make it easier. It doesn’t last for long, I promise and they are so worth the effort.

Happy training and enjoy your puppy, they don’t stay so little for long xx