How to Make Sure My Dog Won't Bite Someone

Biting is often triggered by fear.

Dogs bite for different reasons, including fear, to protect their territory, pain or over-excitement. Biting is undesirable behavior, and you should have your dog trained from early puppyhood and taught not to bite. While it's impossible to guarantee your dog will never bite anyone, you can train it to avoid this behavior.

Things You'll Need

• Chew toys
• Whistle or noise-maker
• Muzzle

Instructions

1. Socialize your dog as early as possible, so that it gets used to being around other people and dogs and won't bite out of fear.

2. Give your dog chew toys. It is natural for teething puppies to chew and bite, so give your puppy safe toys to bite on.

3. Make a loud, unpleasant noise if your dog bites you. Use a whistle, a noise-maker or your voice. The noise will startle the dog and it will learn to associate the noise with its actions and may avoid biting to stave off the unpleasant noise. Make the noise immediately after the dog bites, because otherwise the dog won't associate the biting with the noise.

4. Ignore your dog after it bites you, so that it learns that you don't approve of its behavior.

5. Teach your dog the command "Leave it!" and show your dog what you expect it to do. You may use this command to stop your dog from biting or to withdraw from other undesirable activities.

6. Don't initiate games such as wresting or tug of war, which only encourage the dog to bite.

7. Avoid places or situations that provoke fear in your dog, because these may lead to biting.

8. Use a muzzle while you train your dog not to bite. Put the muzzle on when you are expecting guests or when outside.

9. Avoid overstimulating your dog while you play with it, because dogs may bite due to over-excitement in play. Calm your dog before you start to play, and if you see your dog gets overexcited, ignore it for a couple of minutes.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't use physical punishments on your dog, because it may develop fear and aggression over time, and this may result in biting you or other people.

• Instruct all members of your family to apply the same treatment when the dog bites, so that it learns this is undesirable behavior.

• If your dog has been trained not to bite and the biting behavior has a sudden onset, see a veterinarian. Your dog may be aggressive and bite because of pain caused by an underlying medical condition.

• Neuter or spay your dog. Male dogs in particular are less aggressive, less territorial and less likely to bite after neutering.

References

• Canadian Federation of Humane Societies: Dog Biting and Aggression
• Perfect Paws: Dog and Puppy Biting
• Dog Obedience Advice: Dog Training to Stop Biting