"How to Stop Puppy Biting Behavior"

To stop Puppy Biting Behavior can be difficult if you do not know the right techniques.

Puppy biting is often referred as nipping or mouthing. When a puppy is younger, the action of biting your hands or fingers can be cute sometimes. In general, mouthing or nipping are natural behaviors for all dogs especially during the time the puppies are growing new teeth. But, this behavior can go out of control when the puppy is growing up and the bite can be painful.

The problem starts when the puppies are growing up and the owners are still allowing their puppies to continue the biting behavior.

What they do not understand is that if they do not stop puppy biting behavior, this issue can be serious and could contribute to more serious issues like dog aggression in future.

In general, there are 2 types of puppy biting. A puppy or dog can bite when he is scared or panic. This is called as Fear Biting. For example, there is a stranger comes to your house and your puppy is hiding under a table. If you try to get him, you will get a bite! You can not force your puppy to get over his fear. There are a few dog breeds such as Border Collies, Dalmatians and Great Danes are more prone to develop this fear biting behavior. However, if you really take care of your dog in the first 8 weeks of his life, then, the likelihood of this phobia can be greatly reduced.

The other type of puppy biting is called as Play Biting. As mentioned earlier, this type of biting happens in a younger age especially when the puppy is teething. But, this biting behavior should be stopped when the dog grows older.

Picture shows a puppy is nipping his owner's fingers

Stop Puppy Biting - Fear Biting

If your dog already has Fear Biting issue, here are some solutions that you may apply to help your dog.

• Discover what triggers your dog to have fear biting. For example: A stranger in your house, sound of thunder, sound of some machines, or even your shadow.


• You need to teach your dog to overcome his fear by facing his fear. If he is scared of stranger, put him on leash so that he can not run away to hide under a table. Then, ask the person to come into your house. When he tries to run away, hold him and command him to stay. Ask the person to come nearer to your dog.


• When your dog has calm down and shows no sign of fear, ask the person to give him food treat to trigger the positive reinforcement. If you run through this for a few times, the fear biting will be eliminated completely.


• You can apply the same techniques to other situations.

Stop Puppy Biting - Play Biting

Play biting is also called as nipping. If you have seen a pack of puppies, the chances are you see they like to play with each other (biting). This is a way of communication among them. If you trace back to the history, this play biting behavior also acts as a hunting simulation for dogs. The puppies treat their mates as games and learn how to hunt.

But, this play biting is unnecessary in the current world where dogs are family pets. So, you should learn how to teach him that this behavior is not allowed in your house, especially when your puppy starts to grow up. If not, the biting behavior could turn into dog aggression in future.

If you want to stop puppy biting - play biting, you may apply the following tips.

• When your puppy nips you too hard, you should give him a warning with a command of your choice. Eg: The sound "Shhh!" with a finger pointing. If you do it correctly, your puppy will pay attention to you. When he sees your serious face expression, he understands that this behavior is not allowed. Over the time, your puppy will slowly practice bite inhibition - a soft bite that wouldn't hurt your hands.


• DO NOT play tug-o-war with your puppy. Personally, I think that tug-o-war is suitable for some special trained dogs like guard dogs, police dogs, military dogs. Home pet dogs are not suitable to play tug-o-war as it might make the puppy to develop biting issue.


• DO NOT hit/slap your dogs/puppies when they bite you. They do not understand the reason you punish him. If you punish him, you will only create a fearful dog that could develop other dog behavior problems.


• During play time, DO NOT encourage your dog from focusing on your hands. You should give him some toys to play or bite instead. This is a good method to stop puppy biting problem.

"How to Stop Puppy Biting Behavior Summary"

The best way to stop your puppy biting behavior is start to train your puppy/dog as young as possible. The older the dog, the more effort you need to put in and more time are required to train him to stop biting. You also should be consistent in your training and use the possitive reinforcement techniques rather than punishment to stop the biting behavior.

Move to the top of the page.

Return from Stop Puppy Biting to Dog Behavior Modification


Return from Stop Puppy Biting to Puppy Training Tips Homepage