How to Reduce Puppy Biting?

Touch Tigger anywhere, he bites. If I touch his paw, he will bite, if I touch his tail, he bites. In fact, he wants to chew anything that hangs, anything his mouth can reach, be it our bed sheets, our sleepers, even the ears of other puppies!

Let me tell you something about Tigger. Tigger is 3 months old and very smart and active. Always jolly and full of energy, in fact too much of energy.

Does your puppy do it too?

Table of Contents

• Why do puppies bite?
• What should we do to stop puppy from biting?

Why do puppies bite?

If you are going to get a new puppy or already got one then be prepared.

First thing you should keep in mind is that puppy will bite. This biting habit stays for 7-8 months for the puppies. And by biting I mean biting and chewing anything that his mouth can reach.

There are 2 reasons for that:

• Puppy is teething at this time and
• Puppy engages with the world from his mouth by chewing. That way he explores how the world and things are around him.

What should we do to stop puppy from biting?

Provide positive reinforcement to modify puppy’s behaviour

I am going to tell you this trick that I did. If you do this everyday then it will affect his behaviour. We are doing this trick for a month now.

I have taught a ‘No’ word to Tigger. Whenever I say ‘No’, he stops. You will have to say ‘No’ to your pup continuously. He should understand that when you say ‘No’, it means he needs to stop his current behaviour.

If your puppy stops for 1 second then you need to praise him, i.e. give him positive reinforcement. When Tigger stops I praise him right there, e.g. I say ‘Tigger good boy’, pat his back, give him a treat or something to that effect.

This way he feels that wow something he did was great, and so he should discontinue his nipping.

Do make sure not to hit the puppy, because the pup can get aggressive. It may have a counter effect of enhancing his biting.

Distract your puppy

For his distraction you can use a toy or a ball. Whenever he bites, distract him with a toy or a ball etc.

Stopping the biting instantly and completely is not possible, because naturally your puppy is teething. But this will reduce the instances of his biting.

Apart from these suggestions, I have 2 more tips for you.

Remove yourself or his item of interest from his reach

If you are sitting with your puppy and your pup is constantly biting you even after saying ‘No’ to him or distracting him, then you should get up from there (instead of showing aggression). Don’t give your pup a chance to bite.

Drain his energy

If your puppy still follows you and bites you, it means that the little devil is beaming with energy. So, we will have to make him tired. We can take him out, may be do some running or play fetch game with him etc.

My personal favorite is to wrestle with Tigger (of course in a tender way and preferably on a soft surface like bed or carpet). Just 5-10 minutes of fooling around drains all his energy and soon he’s belly up and tounge out! It means I can live in peace for few hours now.

Winding Up

As a precautionary measure, make sure that any essential chewable item is out of reach of your puppy, especially something that he can swallow. It’s even more so important in the first year.

Though, before winding up, I need to accept that I don’t mind little bit of his biting. It’s kind of cute and it’s not totally his fault that he wants to chew my hand. Afterall, I play crazy claw with him a lot.

Let us know what tricks you have up your sleeves in the comment section. Also, whether you think that we should try to stop our puppies from biting or let them do their thing in the growing phase.