How Can I Stop a Puppy From Biting?

Anyone who has ever owned a puppy knows that puppies bite. Puppies bite for some of the same reasons that human babies place anything and everything in their mouths: It's how they learn about the world around them. It may seem cute when a puppy is teething on your toes or fingertips when it is still only a few weeks old, but if the biting is not addressed at a young age it may become a potentially serious problem as the puppy gets older.

When to Get a Puppy

Most puppies learn when not to bite from their littermates and their mother. If a puppy is playing too roughly with a littermate and ends up biting it, the littermate will yelp. All play stops when a yelp is heard. If a puppy decides to bite its mother, it will be disciplined immediately.
According to Dr. Ed Bailey, a well-known animal behavior expert, it's best to keep a puppy with its littermates and mother until it reaches at least 10 weeks of age. Fears begin to develop in the puppy during the period between 7 and 9 weeks of age, making this the worst time to separate a puppy from everything and everyone it has known from birth. Once a puppy reaches 10 weeks old and beyond, it has learned much from its mother and littermates (including some valuable lessons about biting), and can adapt to new situations, surroundings and sounds more easily.

Techniques to Stop the Biting

No matter when you got your puppy, if it likes to nibble and gnaw on you, the first thing you can do is take a cue from its littermates. If your puppy bites you, let out a puppylike yelp. This communicates to the puppy that what it just did has caused you pain and will teach the puppy that humans are too delicate to bite.

Another technique is to stand up and walk away from the puppy when it bites you. Puppies crave attention, and when you suddenly withdraw all of your attention from the puppy after a bite or nibble, it begins to learn that it did something wrong. After the puppy calms down, you can return attention to it.

Keeping chew toys on hand is another good idea. If a puppy bites or chews on you, redirecting that teething urge to a chew toy can give it something to focus on and release all of the biting and chewing energy it has. To direct a puppy to a chew toy, offer it when the puppy starts to nip or chew, and then pet the puppy and scratch its belly once it begins chewing on the toy. This lets your puppy know that it is allowed to chew on that particular item and will direct further biting and chewing toward the permitted chew toys.

Finally, it is a good idea to socialize your puppy. The more people and places it experiences, the less chance there will be that it may bite out of fear or anxiety.

References

• Doggone Safe: Stop Puppy From Biting