Puppy biting can be so difficult to deal with without getting angry and frustrated and it can be so sore! Some pups are fairly gentle and it's only an annoyance and is more accurately described as mouthing, while others are indeed, biting!
Whilst we know that this biting phase is likely to end in due course, how can frustration be kept to a minimum in the meantime?
The first step to any dog struggle is determining why the pup is biting right at the moment. Are they tired? Bored? Excited? Do they have suitable chew toys? or are they defending themselves from something unwanted?
Puppies should be spending 17-20 hours sleeping or resting every single day! That is all night and then most of the day too! If they are not getting enough rest unwanted behaviours such as biting, barking, chewing and toileting inappropriately simply because they are sleepy and making poor choices.
They are babies and cannot regulate their emotions yet, just like a human toddler, sleep is absolutely crucial to their development and goes a long way to minimising mouthing and biting.
So, your first step is to write down the time of wakening and sleeping of your pup and check that they are getting enough sleep, 17 to 20 hours per day. If they are not, utilise a crate (try covered and uncovered), play pen or puppy-proofer quiet room to promote sleep and get in touch if you are struggling to get your puppy to rest.
To encourage your puppy to settle once in their quiet area, sit down near them with some treats or kibble and calmly feed them a little piece every moment that you notice he/she being nice and calm. How calm they have to be depends on how excited they are! So, if they are bouncing around the room to begin with, then when you see all four feet on the ground you say 'yes' and feed. Do that a few times until they stop bouncing. Then perhaps he/she is still shouting at you, so say 'yes' at any moment, however short, when they are quiet. And again, do this a few times until they are remaining quiet between your 'yes' and treat. Next, you could wait quietly for your pup to sit, don't tell them to, just wait for them to adopt this calmer position, mark 'yes' and treat. and so on, until they are lying down and closing their eyes. Success! If your pup is over-excited, it may be that they have too much going on. Too many options to choose from. They could chew the wires behind the TV, chase the cat, bite the baby's toys, mouthe your leg, destroy the sofa, bark at you, hide under the rug or lie down quietly. Out of those 8 choices, only 1 is the choice that we would like, the last one. The chances are, your puppy, who does not yet know how you want him/her to behave, they don't know what is expected of them, is unlikely to randomly choose that option. We can help them out my limiting their options, leading back to encouraging rest - quiet areas, play pens and crates are very useful here. Pop them in there with something to chew, access to water and means to alert you if they need the toilet. They can't get into trouble, can still see you and you can get on with what you need to.
Train your pup to enjoy their quiet space by tossing several pieces of food into their crate/play pen etc. Let them go in and eat the food, wait for them to finish sniffing around then throw a piece of food out of the area and repeat nice and calmly and slowly. Gradually you can feed for remaining in the area for longer, be able to close the crate/play pen door and drop food in from above. Your puppy won't feel overwhelmed by all the options and learning to be comfortable away from you will help prevent separation anxiety issues later down the line too! and of course, they cannot mouthe you if they can't get to you!
An excited puppy is super cute! But very quickly can become difficult to manage when you're just trying to get things done around the house, at work or cook dinner. An excited puppy can also redirect this excitement onto you in the form of lunging at you or biting! One way to deal with this is to provide some mental enrichment, get them to use their brains for a bit and they will more than likely settle down for a nap afterwards! Yess!
You could scatter some kibble among some toilet tubes or other safe recycling or in a snuffle mat to encourage use of their noise. I also find that doing a few easy 'tricks' can be enough to focus your pup and then they are in a better state for rest. Some examples are 'paws up', 'middle', 'touch', 'sit', 'down', and 'paw' along with anything else that your pup knows and is good at. Just 2 or 3 repetitions and then give your pup a chew or a stuffed kong in their quiet place. There are also games specifically for calmness such as the aeroplane game which is wonderful for bring your pups energy level down and the aeroplane game is specifically used for teaching a soft mouth around humans. I always have this tool up my sleeve and it can be found in the ebook which you can download at the end of this page!
Dogs have a need to chew, lick, sniff and shred. If they do not have a suitable outlet for these behaviours, they will perform them on inappropriate things such as your body, your sofa or anything else within reach. These are not behaviours that can be trained out of them, they are natural needs of a living creature. We also have a need to chew - which is why chewing gum is so popular - it calms us just like it encourages calmness in dogs. So to give your pup suitable outlets for these needs, you could spread some doggy paté (not human Paté, too salty) on a lickimat, stuff a kong, scatter feed as discussed above and provide a cardboard box for them to destroy! They love it and you'll have a lovely content pup afterwards!
Finally, this is the one that I find is missed by owners, and that is defence.
Puppies are not born already knowing what is it like to be handled by a human and being stroked or picked up can be very scary for them or simply over-whelming. If your pup is biting you when you are trying to stroke them, please stop stroking them. It is that simple. The biting is the pup telling you that they don't like what is happening to them, please listen or it could escalate into real biting further down the line. Certainly this was absolutely, and sometimes still is, the case with my pup, Nova. It was just too much for her. If I took my hands away she was absolutely fine and would settle down next to me. So I kept my hands to myself, I would try a super gentle, single stroke when she was nice and calm and then stop before she felt the need to tell my hand to go away. Only occasionally, maybe twice a day. With time, Nova became used to being stroked and is now loves a good scratch particularly on her neck/chest. She will still mouthe me when she is overwhelmed, now in her teens it doesn't take much 🙄 and I just take my hands away and wait until she is calmer to get some love. ❤️
I hope this helps you through this difficult stage and feel free to send me a message if you are still struggling with it!
Graphics taken from the Ebook above copyright of Absolute Dogs LTD.
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