Every puppy owner has gone through the phase of having bite marks on their body by their little teeth monster. What we got home as a little angel with paws turned out to be a devil with canines! If you’re a part of the bandwagon that’s waiting for their puppies to grow up in the hopes that they’ll mellow down once they mature, you’re in for a Looooong wait my friend! “When will my puppy stop biting” is a question that only you can answer.
Puppies start teething as soon as their baby teeth develop. Their need to bite into different things is far more than mere play. For all those who’ve been at the receiving end of a set of razor-sharp puppy canines and wondering how to stop puppy biting, keep calm and read on.
Before we begin, here’s a quick tip to get your puppy to be more gentle around the human hand. Do this exercise everytime your puppy gets mouthy when you try to pet him –
7 easy ways to curb puppy biting-
1. Redirection is the key
Your puppy explores the world around him through his nose first, followed by his mouth. Picking stuff up in his mouth and biting it to sense its texture is the only way he knows to play. It’s important that we do not take the mouthing away from him at this point in time.
A simple redirection goes a long way in ensuring continued play for a longer duration with your puppy. Always have a toy handy while interacting with your pup as what can start as soft mouthing can quickly turn into aggressive puppy biting. So, when he starts biting out of excitement, you have something to redirect his biting too and continue the play with him.
The stuff that your dog bites the most, is probably his favorite texture. If you constantly see your puppy going back to biting the table leg, wood is probably is favorite texture to bite on. Get more toys with a woody surface for him to play.
The stuff that your dog bites the most, is his favourite texture
2. Don’t stop puppy biting, aka, Bite inhibition
A lot of pet parents do not mind it if the puppy continues the mouthing behavior, as long as it’s not hurtful. In such cases, the puppy must be taught bite inhibition. It means training the puppy to control the force and the pressure he applies while play biting. This also goes a long way in teaching the dog to control his excitement while playing. It yields quicker results in training the puppy to stop biting as you’re not taking away the mouthing altogether.
While playing, when the dog starts biting, continue to play till the bite doesn’t hurt. As soon as the bite starts hurting, make a sudden sound like “Ouch” or “Aah” and stop momentarily without taking the hand away. The sudden sound should startle your puppy enough for him to immediately release all mouth pressure. After a few seconds, start the play again. Repeat when necessary.
Consider giving a time out if the biting gets too overwhelming to control. However, when the dog is given a time out, make sure he doesn’t get busy with something else, else, the time out loses its importance.
FURTHER READS: EASY AND EFFECTIVE WAYS TO CALM A PUPPY DOWN
When the dog is given a time out, make sure he doesn’t get busy with something else, else, the time out loses its importance.
3. Practice Handling at a young age
The act of getting a puppy used to being handled by human hands is called handling. The best time to do this exercise is when the puppy is tired or sleepy as you’ll face the least resistance at that time.
To begin, take a chew stick or a bone that your puppy likes to chew on. Hold one end of it while the puppy chews on the other end. While he’s chewing, keep petting your dog. Start with the head, moving on to the ears, neck, mouth, back, belly, tail, fore and hind legs and paws. Pretend to clean his ears, apply gentle pressure on his paws as you would while trimming his nails, check for ticks or fleas and check for coat and skin health.
FURTHER READS: HOW TO PROPERLY RAISE A RESCUE DOG
This video by McCann Dog Training excellently shows how to effectively handle a dog at home.
Apart from getting him comfortable with being handled, this exercise also opens up your dog to being groomed and vet examinations. 5 minutes of handling a couple of times a day is vital. Having a bone or a chew stick in the scenario not only adds a positive association to the exercise but also teaches the dog to share his most prized possession with his best friend.
Here are some popular edible bone options that are safe for puppies –
Bully sticks make the perfect edible chews for puppies. Bully sticks provide the same high protein and dental health benefits for puppies as they do for adult dogs.
2. Nylabone healthy edibles for puppies
They’re highly digestible and specially formulated with DHA for puppies. Most edible bones shouldn’t be consumed by puppies until they reach the age of 6 months. These bones can be safely consumed by puppies.
3. Yak bones
Yak and Himalayan chews are fully digestible, long lasting, not too stinky, and won’t stain your carpet.
FURTHER READS: 8 BRAIN GAMES AT LOW TO NO COST FOR PUPPIES
4. Use the leash to control your puppy biting your kid
Kids can be an easy target for a puppy to nip and rough house as they can get away with it most times. As a pet and kid parent, it’s your job to control the interaction between your kid and the dog. Make sure your puppy is on leash when he’s at his most active. It’s not necessary to hold on to the leash; let him walk around with it. Use it only when you need to control your dog’s hyperactivity.
Using the leash is a lot better than tugging on his collar as that will definitely make him turn around and bite you. If you catch your puppy biting your kid, teach him to calm down and then allow him to get back to playing. Repeat this exercise every minute if necessary. Once your puppy gets it, he’ll be a lot more fun and a trustworthy company for your kid. Read here for more tips on puppies biting kids.
When training a puppy at home, have a short leash on your dog that’s easy for you to control anywhere, anytime and won’t get stuck anywhere when your pup is roaming around.
5. Physical force will make the behavior worse
A lot of dog parents use methods like hitting the dog on the nose, yelling, pushing the dog away, shutting his mouth, etc to stop puppy biting. These methods can be averse and can result in fear in your puppy.
Biting comes as naturally to a small puppy as vocalization to a small baby. Punishing the puppy for play biting will just result in confusion in him as it’s a behaviour he cannot stop. It simply has to be redirected.
In certain cases, a boisterous pup will perceive hitting and pushing as a new way to play and will bite more when such methods are applied.
Biting comes as naturally to a small puppy as vocalization to a small baby.
6. Do you think you have ample chew toys? If no, double it. If yes, double it!
While selecting chew toys for a puppy, it’s important to pick up a good number of it as puppies look for textures and surfaces while exploring their surroundings. Instead of picking up 5 rubber chew toys, get one rubber toy, a soft toy, a cloth toy, a rope toy and maybe an interactive feeder toy. Go for toys that make different sounds like squeak, crackle, funny etc.
If your dog is one of those many who gets bored quickly of a toy, try some all-natural chews like coconut husks, sock bottle (bottle inside a sock), bark of a tree, an old shoe etc. However, make sure you’re keeping a vigilant watch on your puppy to avoid any kind of ingestion.
While selecting chew toys for a puppy, it’s important to pick up a good number of it as puppies look for textures and surfaces while exploring their surroundings.
Here’s a starter kit of puppy teething toys of various shapes, sizes and textures. Click on individual images to check them out on Amazon.
7. Feed meals through interactive toys and time light play sessions after his meal times
Feeding your dogs through interactive toys and feeders is an incredible way to ensure physical and mental stimulation as your puppy is eating and relieving his chewing needs simultaneously. This is a thorough canine enrichment activity.
Furthermore, when you time your play sessions just after your puppy’s mealtimes, you’re catching him at a point when he has already burnt some of his energy and is halfway through the process of tiring his mouth out. The play biting that happens during this time is a lot softer and easily manageable.
Humans respond to most bad behaviors in dogs in a similar way – by restricting their access to their favorite resources and only giving rewards when they have earned them through good behavior. In play biting, you are the reward for the behavior. Make yourself accessible only when you get your desired behavior from your pooch.
[…] CLICK HERE to read on easy ways to stop puppy biting. […]
My 4 month old puppy actually lunges and bites and holds on! We have ample toys and exercise what do we do about this?