Fetch

Play Biting

Puppies don’t have hands. The way they explore the world is by putting things in their mouth and/or biting them. This is a normal behaviour on their part and should be expected of a young puppy. There are however ways to manage this biting and communicate to your puppy what is and what is not appropriate to bite.

The first thing to understand is that puppies are hard wired to stop biting if you yelp like another puppy. Try this the next time your puppy puts their mouth on your hand. Just give a high pitched “yelp” like another puppy would and they should back off. At this point you have taught your puppy what not to do, you must also teach them what you want them to do.  Redirect their biting by giving them a chew toy designed for them to bite. You should have a variety of chew toys in the house especially during their first year so that they can be interested in biting what they are supposed to bite and uninterested in things like your slippers, socks, gloves, chair legs and screen doors. 

It is also important that if your puppy is biting that you make a fist so they can’t get your hand in their mouth. Tell them no firmly and then wait until they stop their biting. By removing your attention the puppy will change from what they think is play to sitting and waiting for you to re-engage with them. Don’t look at them, touch or talk to them until they stop what they think is play. Once they stop their biting, reward them for the desired behaviour by giving them a treat and your attention or some verbal or physical praise.

Teething is different than play biting. Teething dogs will want to chew through and on objects where play biting is more like nipping during play sessions. If you do not encourage play biting through aggressive play, this behaviour will disappear as your dog grows older.

Redirect your puppy to his toys. As soon as your puppy takes interest in biting the toy and not your hand, praise him for it.

• Avoid aggressive play. Wrestling and using your hands for boxing-type games with your puppy will encourage him to bite. Don’t do it. Your hands aren’t chew toys.
• Keep your fingers curled. It’s hard for your puppy to bite a closed fist as opposed to lose fingers.
• Practice a high pitch yip. When your puppy begins to bite let out a high pitch yelp like a sister puppy would. Say the word “yip.” Siblings do this to tell puppies that their bite is too hard. It’s one reason why puppies should stay with their siblings until week 8.
• Use a time out. If a puppy starts play biting and gets too aggressive, give him a time out. Don’t use your crate as you want him to like his crate, rather use another spot to isolate him for a couple of minutes so he can calm down.
• Supervise children playing with puppies. Teach your children the appropriate rules for playing with their puppy.
• Redirect your puppy by telling him what you want him to bite on. Give him an interesting fresh chew toy.

With a puppy for the most part biting doesn't become an issue. If it does, there is a Dr. Dunbar who has developed a system to classify a dog biting that we can use to help. I will use a modified version of it here:

1. Sniff/licks you
2. Places mouth on you without pressure
3. Mouths you with slight pressure
4. Bites you with some pain but doesn't break skin
5. Bites you with pain and breaks skin
6. Death.

So here is how you use this system to aid you in developing a soft mouth for your puppy. You offer a normal quality of treat, some kibble will do, with the expectation of giving the puppy the reward for a level 3 response or less. Observe a 3 or less then open your hand flat and let them eat the treat from the palm of your hand. If you get a level 4 response then remove your hand and treat placing it behind your back. Out of the puppy's sight and smell zone. If your puppy gives you a level 5 response then you need to make the punishment more severe. Now by punishment I simply mean to remove your presence for 10 or 15 seconds so that your puppy is missing all attention. Don't say anything, don't touch them and don't look at them. It's important to note here that we never physically punish our dogs. If we want them to listen and follow our commands they have to like us. Physical pain is not necessary and not effective for training them and will only lead to them withdrawing from you. If when you present your kibble to your puppy and you get a level 6 response. Training is over, that's a wrap! But seriously any dog who is at the level 5 or 6 requires professional help immediately and is dangerous to everyone around.

So over time as you practice this soft mouth technique with your puppy you come to gradually expect a lower and lower number on the classification scale. You may also change holding the treat from the open palm which is harder to nip to the tips of your fingers so your puppy has to be more careful with how he grabs the reward. Another increasing level of complexity is to move your hands so she has to move to get the treat. If you are consistent in your expectations and don't simply give in to the fact that all puppies bite, you will be able to make significant progress with your puppy and ultimately teach it to have a soft mouth.