How to Teach a Puppy to Stop Biting

Biting is a natural part of development in dogs, and puppies often receive reciprocity from other members of the pack, including adults, helping to teach them to refrain from biting. Allowing puppies to bite without restraint can lead to behavioral problems as the dog matures; A lovely gnaw from a 5 kg puppy can turn into a serious bite from a 36 kg adult dog.

If you or a family member is physically threatened or concerned about your puppy, seek help from an experienced Certified Dog Trainer or Applied Animal Behavior Specialist. ^{[1] X Research Sources}^{[2] X Trusted Source American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Go to Source}

Table of Contents

Understanding Biting Behavior in Puppies

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Know how puppies learn not to bite. Puppies often don’t know how hard they bite, and so they bite very hard without understanding how it affects others. Puppies often learn that they are biting hard by playing with other puppies or with large dogs. Puppies will grab and bite each other while playing until the other dog is in too much pain and yelps. The bitten dog will stop playing, and the bitten dog will be surprised and also stop playing immediately.

The next time a puppy plays and bites too much and gets the same reaction, he will begin to realize that biting can injure other puppies and people. Puppies use this to correct their behavior.

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Understand pack dynamics as puppies grow. Adult dogs are fairly tolerant of puppy behavior (sometimes disruptive), but they become less tolerant as the puppy gets older. This is because adult dogs think that puppies “should know more”. Thus, as puppies grow older, the adult dog’s severe conditioning turns from a small change in play to a quick warning, including a growl or a bite.

In exceptional cases, when “teaching” a puppy, the adult dog will jump on the puppy and hold it on its back to teach a lesson; In most cases, dog owners should not imitate this behavior, unless instructed and observed by an experienced trainer.
Because this is a natural process, puppies often learn from adult dogs that biting is unacceptable before they are old enough to cause harm to other dogs and people.

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Use judgment when training. When choosing a puppy training method, you need to be aware of the amount of time you can devote to training and the training method that is appropriate for your situation.

If there are children in the house, it is important for the puppy to understand not to bite the children, but it may not be appropriate for the children to participate in training.

Teach dogs not to bite

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Play with the puppy until it bites you. When it bites, yawn, mimicking a dog’s meow with a sound that can be as loud and sharp as a dog’s meow. Stand up and stop playing with the puppy to reinforce that his behavior is unacceptable.

If you use a clicker when training your puppy, click it as soon as the dog releases your hand or stops biting.

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Let your hands relax when the puppy bites you. The act of pulling back in pain, even though it’s obviously a natural response, can encourage the puppy to play harder and continue biting. By moving your hand, you are encouraging the dog to hunt, which will make the dog want to continue to bite you. On the other hand, a loose arm is less enjoyable to play.

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Play with the dog again. If it starts biting again, scream or reprimand severely and stop playing again. Repeat these steps no more than 3 times in a period of 15 minutes.

Pushing your puppy by trying to train it for too long won’t bring about any tangible results. The puppy will not learn to stop biting and his behavior will continue.

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Reward your dog for a positive response. Between unintentional bites, if the puppy licks you or tries to make you happy, praise and/or reward him. The dog should be rewarded and encouraged to give positive feedback including not biting.

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Stop reacting for a moment if shouting alone doesn’t help. When the puppy bites, scream loudly and hold out your hand to signal that the play is over, then ignore the puppy for 20 seconds. Isolation from the pack sends a strong message to the puppy that it has misbehaved. ^{[3] X Trusted Source American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Go to the source} If the puppy bites again, get up and walk away for 20 seconds.

After 20 seconds, you can go back and start playing with the puppy again. You need to convey the message that playing lightly is encouraged, but playing hard is not. Play with the puppy until such an outcome occurs and repeat the ignore/stop playing steps.

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Decreased puppy’s tolerance to biting force. If you let your puppy know that hard bites are not acceptable, your dog will try to bite lighter. Continue to prevent the strongest bites after that, and so on until the dog can bite your hand gently and knows how to adjust the bite force.

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Be patient and persistent. This process can take a long time, especially with highly predatory puppies. The method will work, but you may get multiple bites during training.

Teach Good Habits

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Encourage the puppy to play with other friendly puppies and large dogs. Playing with other vaccinated dogs is a normal part of a dog’s childhood. And like your childhood, this is a period of discovery and learning. Regular playtime with well-trained dogs, who don’t need to be taught not to bite, will encourage the puppy to play well around other dogs and you. ^{[4] X Trusted Source American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Go to source}

Consider enrolling your puppy in a puppy training class, where your pup learns essential skills while playing.

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Use a bone or chew toy your puppy loves instead of letting your puppy bite you. Take out a toy or bone and let it bite into it. ^{[5] X Trusted Source American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Go to the source} This will teach your dog that its teeth should only bite toys or bones, not you.

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Participate in other play activities. Vigorous hand play is fun, but this can mislead puppies. You can encourage other play activities, but don’t let your puppy bite your fingers, hands, ankles, and toes.

Learn how to play with your puppy. Follow the same rules every time you play.
Learn to play tug of war with puppies. Stick to the same rules to encourage your puppy to stop biting when he gets close to your hand. ^{[6] X Research Sources}
Offers lots of fun new toys for puppies to play with. A bored dog is more likely to seek your attention by biting. Change the toy so your dog is less likely to get bored.

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Use nasty-tasting repellents to prevent your dog from biting you. Before you start playing with your dog, spray bite repellent on areas of your dog’s body and clothing that your dog likes to bite. ^{[7] X Source of Research} When your dog starts biting you, stop all activities and wait for it to respond to the anti-bite agent. Praise the dog and continue playing when the dog lets go.

Some bite repellent options include bitter apple, ^{[8] X Trusted Source American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Go to a source of} topical oil, tea tree oil, or white vinegar. Alternatively, you can use a mouth spray (like Binaca) that has an unpleasant taste and sound and spray it into your puppy’s mouth when he bites.
Spray bite repellent on you and your clothes (if it’s clothing safe) for at least two weeks. After two weeks, your puppy will be absolutely disgusted with your hands and ankles.

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Make sure your puppy gets plenty of exercise. A well-trained dog (practices until tired) will not be rough when playing with you. This will help avoid forming a bad habit the first time around. A tired puppy is usually a well-behaved puppy.

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Don’t “take poison to cure poison”. Sometimes you want to punish your puppy by patting, hitting, or waving your finger in the dog’s face. The problem is that these reactions can lead to one of two things: they can encourage the puppy to continue rough play, or they can cause the puppy to respond angrily. Avoid other physical punishments that might scare or cause the puppy to imitate.

If you plan to use these punishments, you should contact a dog trainer or animal behavior specialist for help.

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Casual games should not be banned. You may not like being bitten every time you go out to play with your puppy, but you really want to untie the real leash between you and your puppy, and play is part of helping you do this. Don’t skip playtime just because your puppy doesn’t know how to play gently yet. Teaching it the difference between right and wrong rather than stopping playing will be the best way for both.

Avoid Bite Game

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Take the dog for a walk every day. Check your puppy’s vaccination status before walking it in a public place where other dogs are present. ^{[9] X Research Source}^{[10] X Research Source} Be sure to walk the puppy on a leash for its own safety.

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Replace your hand with a toy that is allowed to bite. Give the puppy a chance to bite the appropriate toy. Reward the dog for playing with the toy.

If your puppy hesitates at the toy, try smearing some tuna juice or peanut butter on the toy to make it more appealing.

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Get your puppy to stop playing if it’s rough. If your dog starts playing too rough, you can force the puppy to “stop” playing for a while, even right before he bites. ^{[11] X Research Source}

Advice

You may need professional help if the above methods don’t work.
Dogs start teething when they are 4 months old. It is best to complete training before this stage, as adult teeth can cause more damage than preterm teeth. ^{[12] X Research Source}
Small breed dogs can also cause dangerous bites; You shouldn’t give up on training puppies just because they’re young.
Allow older dogs of good character to self-manage the puppies. Although the upbringing of large dogs may seem strict, adult dogs are quite adept at teaching puppies proper manners.
Keeping track of your “kindergarten” puppy’s playtime can be a great way to detect your dog’s biting behavior and correct them.

Steps

Understanding Biting Behavior in Puppies

Teach dogs not to bite

Teach Good Habits

Avoid Bite Game

Advice

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