How to stop puppy biting





Love can hurt, especially the love for a little puppy.

If you just got yourself a furry baby friend, you probably know this problem:

There´s a high price to pay for adorable noses and tiny paws:





you have scratches on your skin and little holes in your favorite shoes, the sleeves of your favorite sweater are stretched to twice their size and your fingers feel like half eaten sausages at a barbecue party.









Why do puppies bite?

Since puppies don´t have hands ( well...not really) their number 1 way to interact with the world and take in new information is by mouthing.

When teething begins, it´s perfectly normal and necessary for your dog to chew a lot. In fact, just like human toddlers, puppies chew to make their sore gums feel better!

In their short time on this planet, they were not taught what´s appropriate to chew on yet- and what isn´t.





About three things I was absolutely positive.

First, my puppy was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him-and I didn’t know how potent that part might be-that thirsted for my blood. And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.”

― Stephenie Meyer , Twilight / kind of





Ok, I´m sorry, I had to.

But don´t worry, it does not have to go this far:

Here are some strategies that will not only soften your puppy's mouth, but your skin as well:





How do I teach my puppy not to bite me?



1) the reverse timeout

We all know the idea of taking our puppy and putting him in a place of shame, with no toys or attention, so he can "think about what he´s done"- most people usually choose their bathroom.

Not only is this method old, but also pretty confusing for most dogs.





Instead of locking your puppy in somewhere, remove yourself from the situation:





Step 1: Play with your puppy like you normally would, wiggle your fingers, tap on the ground and put lot´s of attention on your hands, provoking him to bite you.





Step 2: When he bites you, quickly but calmly stop the game and leave the room for a minute or two.

This way, he will learn that biting will stop all the fun right away.





2) The puppy yelp

If we had not separated our puppy from his mom and littermates for 6 months- biting would most likely not be a problem for any of us.





If you ever watched your puppy play with his brothers and sisters, you might have noticed them playing together rather roughly and biting each other a lot- until one makes a high pitched yelp/ whimper.

This yelp is puppy language for "OUCH! You bit me too hard! I´m hurt!"

This way, puppies learn to adjust the pressure they put on their loved ones when playing, so they don´t have to hurt each other. Adorable right?



When removing the puppy from his mom and siblings, it becomes our responsibility to teach them to have a soft mouth- for our own safety and those of others, especially if he´s going to be around younger children.





Step 1: Play with your puppy like you normally would, wiggle your fingers, tap on the ground and put lot´s of attention on your hands, provoking him to bite you.





Step 2: As soon as bitten, quickly pull your hand away and make a high pitched yelp sound, imitating a hurt puppy.





Step 3: Stop playing with him for a few minutes, then repeat.





This might leave you to feel slightly stupid, but this really is a very natural way for your puppy to learn to be more careful around you.





3) teach backing off by using positive reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is a very powerful tool when it comes to training puppies:

We focus on what we want the dog to do rather on what we don´t want him to do.





Step 1: take a treat and close your fist around it. Let your dog sniff and bite you (if it´s not too painful). If you´re doing this for the first time, you´ll have to outlast a very persistent puppy.





Step 2: As soon as your dog stops biting you, open your hand and drop the treat. Repeat. As the game goes on, your puppy will quickly understand that no good things, such as treats, will happen if he is biting.





Step 3: Once your dog has mastered step 2, level it up a bit:

Let him sniff your fist and tell him "off" once and wait until he backs off, then drop a treat.





This technique is very effective when done persistently. Never give him a treat if he is biting or else you´ll only encourage him to bite even more.

You know you´re on the right track when he start licking instead of biting :)

You can even reward licks: give him a treat when he´s licking and not biting you, to teach alternative behavior.









5 ) desensitize him ( make sure he does not bite other people)

When meeting other people, they won´t know about our little biting problem and the effort we put into solving it.

All they can see are big beautiful eyes and a cute wiggly tail.

They will start petting him playfully and talking to him in a high-pitched voice, that will excite your puppy and put him in a bitey and playful mood right away.

Especially younger kids will touch his nose, poke is eyes, grab his fur, roughly try to cuddle him and do lots of other things that might make your puppy want to bite them or even be afraid of them...





Since we neither want the puppy to be afraid of kids- nor the kids to be afraid of dogs, the best thing to do is desensitize him at a young age, to prevent him from biting other people.





Step 1: start the game: mildly annoy your puppy a little, in a playful way. Grab his fur, play with his tail, softly poke him, massage his paws, look in his ears, anything a toddler would want to do. Start slowly and with one thing to set your puppy up for success.





Step 2: immediately reward your puppy with a treat for not biting and staying calm. If he gets too excited, stop the game and try again later, a good time would be after a walk or when he is a little sleepy.





6) play tug-of-war

Another way to effectively teach your dog not to use teeth on human skin is by redirecting him into biting something else: chew toys.

Playing tug is a good way to teach your furry friend where we actually do want him to bite, but there have to be some rules to it.





What we are going for is teaching to bite - and stop biting when you tell him to.





Step 1: Movement is very exciting to dogs. Take a tug toy and move it around in front of him, make him chase it a bit, to really put him in a bitey mood.





Step 2: once he chews on it, stop moving the toy completely to make it less interesting, then tell him "off".





Step 3: Give him a treat as soon as he lets go of it.





Also, toys with food in them have a higher priority to dogs, even if it´s just 2 little treats.

Stuffed kongs are also very popular chew toys, for example, filled with peanut butter. are also very popular chew toys, for example, filled with peanut butter.













Do´s and Don´ts





Do:

have chew toys in every room of your home . This makes it even easier for you to redirect your puppy into chewing on something more appropriate than your skin. Also, when going anywhere, bring a chew toy with you- just to be safe.

Rotate toys . Never give your dog access to all the toys he "owns" at once, but keep them in a box and give him 5 a day to always keep him interested. Switch them for 5 different ones the next morning.

Provide toys that are easily distinguishable from household goods : no sock toys or old shoes and such, you get the gist.

Use healthy, high value treats such as little pieces of cooked chicken





Don´t:

don´t buy your puppy squeaky toys ! Not only are they super annoying on our ears, it also desensitizes them to the high pitch sound their littermates used to make to communicate pain. This means that some training methods might be less effective and your puppy actually thinks the squeaky noise is part of a game and will try biting even harder.

Put your dog in his crate for punishment . We always want the crate to stay a happy place for your puppy, so he doesn´t get scared the next time you put him in there.

Yell at your puppy or get upset when you catch him in the act of chewing something you don´t want him to: for dogs, attention is attention, and he might use this strategy again next time he is feeling bored.









What to do if your dog chews your furniture:

water based bitter sprays (such as , etc) on the areas he chews most on, this is usually pretty effective. Make sure not to spray it directly on him though - or have him stand near you, while you apply it, as it might irritate him. Try using(such as bitter apple® , etc) on the areas he chews most on, this is usually pretty effective. Make sure not to spray it directly on him though - or have him stand near you, while you apply it, as it might irritate him.









How long does it take?

T he puppy teething stage ends after 6 months . If you successfully teach him not to put his teeth on skin within this timeframe, it´s very likely for you to never have a biting problem after that period again.















If you´ve made it this far, my biggest advice to you at the end would be to stay persistent and don´t give up . ♥

Your puppy is very little still and has a lot to learn, he is not hurting you on purpose or to mess with you.

Be very patient, if you train with your puppy about 5 minutes 0nce or twice a day like explained above, you should be seeing first results very fast.











































































