How To Get A Puppy To Stop BitingWe all know puppies are the cutest thing ever when we first bring them home. That is until they start to develop some bad behaviors like biting. Learning how to get a puppy to stop biting should start right away. No matter how cute it can be when they are nipping or biting at you or something, you have to realize that this behavior can lead to dominance and aggression issues as they get older.

Puppies that are around their brothers and sisters for the first eight weeks of their life usually do learn to stop biting early. If they bite one of their siblings, they will get bitten back. This helps them learn right away that biting is bad. However, sometimes they don’t get the full eight weeks to learn. This then becomes the job of the owner who adopt them to learn how to get a puppy to stop biting.

The Early Days

If you do end up taking a puppy home before it has been with its litter for eight weeks or if it just didn’t learn that biting and nipping is bad during that time, you need to immediately take steps to stop this biting behavior.

First and foremost you should never hit a puppy when they bite. That may lead them to become afraid of you which can lead to serious phobias and anxieties which can then make them aggressive later in life.

To really learn how to get a puppy to stop biting you have get down to the cause of this behavior. You can do this by encouraging them when they do something good and discipline them when they do bad things. You should never play in an aggressive way like wrestle with them, play tug of war, or chasing games. This can only confuse the puppy and can lead to aggression and nipping.

Like many training tactics, learning how to get a puppy to stop biting will take patience and most of all you must be consistent. Don’t scold him for doing something one time and then let it get away with the behavior another time because you feel bad or you’re fed up.

The Training

Enrolling your puppy into obedience or socialization classes can be very helpful. Some classes are specifically for teaching a puppy not to bite. The trainer copies the behaviors that the puppy’s mother would have and teaches it that biting is not socially tolerated. Having your puppy be social from the beginning is just good in general. I actually regret that I didn’t do that more with my Weimaraner because sometimes even today (8 yrs old) she doesn’t respond well to other dogs when we are on walks. They can get a little aggressive toward other dogs when they are not used to socializing with them.

From the start, when implementing these strategies of how to get a puppy to stop biting, you should divert their behavior to something that is fine to bite like a chew toy or bone. Just scold them by saying “No!” then give them that toy so they can associate that with being ok to chew on.

Another thing you can do is pretend that it hurts when the puppy bites or nips you. Say “ouch” so it kind of startles him a little bit and he knows to leave you alone. They will associate this response with what they learned when they were with their litter mates. If he were to bite another puppy they would have whined or yelped a little and he would know that he was causing them pain and therefore would refrain.

Carrying out these methods of how to get a puppy to stop biting is a crucial part of their relocation process. The best scenario, by the time they are 10 weeks old they should know that biting is not a good behavior. This will make your life and his less stressful and the risk of being aggressive will be much lower in their adult life.

Recommended Reading

The Kingdom of Pets site covers every type of behavior problem in their Secrets To Dog Training program. If you really want to know how to get a puppy to stop biting for good plus prevent many other behavior problems, you will learn everything you need to know here. I highly recommend you check them out:

Click Here To Learn More About ‘Secrets To Dog Training’ & Stop Your Puppy Biting Now!

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