Why does my puppy bite so much?
4 steps to curbing puppy biting, nipping and mouthing
Brie Blakeman, CBCC-KA,CPDT-KA
─ Noble Woof Dog Training Portland, Oregon
Learn more in our FREE dog training resource network Noble Woof Network.
All dog’s play with each other using their teeth and their mouths. This is a very natural behavior that is completely appropriate for their species. Unfortunately, they don’t know that biting on humans is not appreciated and until taught otherwise, they will try to initiate play and attention with us just as they would with their canine companions. While it should be every dog owner’s goal to teach their puppy that it is not appropriate to nip and bite at human clothes, hair or skin, it is important to recognize that nipping is a normal developmental behavior that can eventually be resolved with some calm and consistent guidance from us.
Why They Do It
Much like babies, young puppies learn a lot through exploring the world with their mouths. It is no biological accident that their teeth are razor sharp! Puppies need to learn “bite inhibition” or how to control the force of their bite, and since their jaws are underdeveloped, it is important that their teeth are sharp enough to inflict pain. Yes, the biting is supposed to hurt. This is to ensure that they get immediate feedback from their playmate on what pressure is too much pressure, so that when their jaws fully develop they know how to control their power and prevent harm.
How They Learn
The main way that puppies learn is by practicing on each other and mom, but when we remove our puppy from their litter, we become their practice grounds. Practice is the act of rehearsing an activity repeatedly in order to improve or maintain one’s proficiency. This means that the issue of puppy biting cannot be resolved overnight, and while this may be the worst part of owning a puppy, they need to rehearse this behavior in order to get better!
TIP #1: Enroll your puppy in puppy socials!
One of the most essential steps you can take towards both your puppy's socialization and puppy nipping feedback, is to provide them with ample opportunities to play with puppies their own age. Provide them with play dates three times weekly for best results. If they get plenty of time to practice nipping on the appropriate species they will be much less interested in practicing on you!
The following companies have the best puppy socials in Portland, Oregon:
Noble Woof Dog Training (Our trainers Brie Blakeman and Christina Gray lead these)
PupStar Training (Our trainer Kate Johnson is a trainer at these)
How To Give Appropriate Feedback
As you can see, the day we bring our puppies home, we become a crucial part of this learning process for them, especially if we aren’t providing them with play opportunities with their own species. The best way to help them learn what we would prefer instead is to offer consistent and calm feedback.
Learning to control pressure: The first goal is to help them learn how to control the force of their bite. Up through 8-12 weeks of age, it is appropriate to allow your puppy to put their teeth on you only if they are not applying pressure. As soon as they apply significant pressure you must immediately and quietly remove your attention, get up and leave the room.
Tip #2: Use Redirection
The first technique to resolve biting on inappropriate items, people or surfaces is to redirect them to an appropriate item such as a toy. This will help them learn what is appropriate for them to put their mouths on. This method is most effective when used between 8-16 weeks of age.
Rotate a batch of toys every couple days so that they seem new and interesting.
You can also reserve a very special toy for redirection during particularly bity times, but make sure that this special toy spends most of its day up on a shelf so it remains novel.
16 weeks is when your puppy starts teething. During this time providing plenty of chews and even frozen treats can be immensely helpful.
Tip #3: Reverse Time-outs
When redirecting your puppy to a toy fails, it is very effective to use reverse time outs. Biting is an attention seeking behavior, so if biting results in all the fun ending and your attention being lost, your puppy will start to bite less and less. By 16 weeks old, you should suddenly become completely intolerant of any tooth contact on your skin at all! We want them to believe that all mouthing on humans is now prohibited.
Immediately ignore them when they bite: Do not look at, talk to, or touch them.
Get up and walk away stepping behind a baby gate for 10-30 seconds
Return and engage in gentle and calm petting or play with a toy.
If their behavior persists, repeat steps 1-3 THREE TIMES only, and if on the third time they are still chomping down hard, put them in a confinement area with a puzzle toy or kong until they calm down.
Tip #4: Provide & Prevent
Most puppies have one or two witching hours a day. Usually the first is in the AM with a sudden burst of energy, and the second is in the evening during sun down. These are VERY bity times of your puppies day because they are likely over-tired and/or overstimulated. This is not the time to train them not to bite, because they’re likely to tired to learn. Instead just prevent them from getting a chance to practicing biting, by proactively putting them in a puppy play-pen or crate, while providing them with amply enrichment opportunities for sniffing, licking, and chewing and dissecting. Keep them in their puppy confinement area during these times, and keep them busy with frozen, food stuffed items.
Check out our list of the TOP ENRICHMENT TOYS TO CURB PUPPY BITING on our AMAZON AFFILIATES PAGE.
Video Resources:
Stop biting clothes with Kiko Pup
This video on puppy biting by Kiko Puppy should help!
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