How To Train Your Puppy To Stop Biting

Puppy biting is completely normal behavior. Puppies are generally curious in nature and often use their mouths to explore the big unusual world around them. However, as owners, it is imperative that we guide puppies to learn when they can and cannot use their teeth to bite. Here are a few techniques that are helpful when it comes to stopping your puppy from biting.

The Bite Inhibition

1. Learn How Puppies Are

Similar to human babies, puppies do a whole lot of exploring by mouthing everything that they see. Always keep in mind that puppies do not know what is appropriate and what is not, therefore you shouldn’t be harsh with a puppy whilst teaching or training them not to bite. We should help ourselves to understand why puppies bite in the first place. Generally, a puppy only starts learning about bites when they are playing with their littermate or their mother. Puppies or mothers who are bitten too hard, often let out a loud noise that startles the biting puppy. This is to indicate the puppy to stop biting and if the puppy continues to bite then the bitten puppy or its mother will stop playing with it. You can use a similar technique to train your puppy not to bite,

2. Let Out A Loud Yelp

During playtime, when a puppy bites or nips on you too hard, then immediately let out a loud high pitched ‘HEY!’. This should alarm the pup and stop the biting. However, if the pup continues to bite then take this opportunity to walk away immediately and to stop all forms of play. Think of this as a puppy timeout for biting. Be sure to only continue playing with the puppy when it’s behavior has improved. Each timeout should ideally last for at least 30 seconds, in which little to no attention should be given. This certainly will take some time for you to start seeing results, so keep at it and don’t get discouraged. With time, the puppy will start to correlate the act of biting with the removal of playtime.

3. Always Praise Your Puppy

In the case that your puppy does back off, be sure to give your puppy a lot of appraisals and continue playing again. People often underestimate the power of verbal praise. It is more than enough to encourage your puppy for keeping up the good work. You can even give your puppy a treat as a sign that you’re happy with the way your puppy is behaving. Repeat this method each time your puppy stops the biting, this will ensure your puppy to continue playing in a manner where everybody has fun.

Redirection Technique

1. Understand How Redirection Works

Redirection is another popular training method that addresses the biting behavior of puppies by switching their attention to something else that the puppy is able to bite on. Chew toys are a great example of items that can be used to redirect the puppy’s attention. It’s important to have hard rubber chew toys and bones by your side at all times for the redirection technique to work.

2. Give Your Puppy The Chew Toy

For the redirection technique to work, it is imperative that you quickly give your puppy the chew toy as soon as he misbehaves. Doing so will get the puppy to understand that it is indeed okay to bite, but only on a chew toy and not hands. Aside from that, to avoid your puppy from biting your shoes or clothes, only use chew toys for your pups to bite on. The minute you use a non-toy material, this will give the puppy permission to chew on anything that isn’t toys.

3. Keep Playing With Your Puppy

One more great redirection technique is to continue playing with your puppy but try playing different types of games. If your puppy is biting too much, try jumping into a game of tug of war or playing fetch with your puppy. Besides that, you can also bring your puppy to the park to make sure your puppy is distracted from the biting. In addition, it is an amazing way for your pup to mingle with other types of puppies and dogs, so they can learn normal dog behaviors. Other dogs have the capacity of teaching your puppy that playing too rough isn’t allowed and playtime will come to a quick end.

Deterrence Technique

1. Discover The Deterrence Technique

This technique is meant to deter bad behavior like biting by applying specific sprays onto your hands when playing with your puppy. The goal is to associate the act of biting with unpleasant tastes that these sprays are able to provide for. Bitter Apple and Cherry are two examples of the type of sprays that can be used.

2. Familiarize The Taste And Smell

The next step is to familiarize the smell and taste of these sprays with your puppy. Start by adding a small amount onto a cotton ball and putting it into the mouth of your puppy. Your puppy should immediately spit it out and start making associations with the smell and taste. Keep doing this every now and then to ensure that your puppy is familiar with the smell and taste.

3. Use The Spray When Playing

The key is to actively incorporate the smell and taste of the spray when playing with your puppy. Should your puppy start to bite, then apply the spray onto your hand and continue playing. Your puppy will quickly correlate the act of biting with the unpleasant smell that is off the spray.

It’s important to remember that dogs become a part of our lives not knowing our customs or languages. They have to adapt to the way we live our life. They are needed to curb so many of their natural behaviors that dogs are known to have, like using their teeth. With that being said, patience is the biggest factor in training a puppy. It takes a whole lot of practice, patience, and consistency in following these steps before seeing the results.