HELP! My Puppy is BITING!

The worst part of puppy hood is the little needle sharp teeth. I cannot wait for them to fall out and for their adult teeth to come in – except during that transition the puppies become little baby sharks who are seemingly out for blood. It is so frustrating.

But for puppies, the biting is necessary. They are exploring the world with their mouths, they are biting to communicate, to entertain, to get attention, to play – and it is up to us to be clear what is an appropriate use of their mouth, and what is not.

For me, I stand by the rule no human flesh in the mouth. I came into the world with ten fingers and I plan to leave the world with ten fingers. I don’t encourage my puppies to play bite in general, if they are reaching for my hands, feet, clothes I redirect them to a toy, and keep that toy between us. Sometimes it needs to be a big toy to almost act as a shield, but, using a toy we can play and tug and even do some wrestling, as long as the puppy realizes it is about the toy, not my body parts. If I feel teeth on me, I freeze, if the puppy goes back to the toy, great. If not I might try to redirect to the toy, but if they keep coming back to parts of my body I end play. I don’t worry about yelling “no,” “stop” or anything, I simply drop the toy and leave – in my home teeth on people make people leave.

Sometimes the teeth come out unexpectedly – you are out on a walk and your puppy just seems to transform into a sharknado and goes for your shoes, your pants, the leash – that is not about biting, that is about the puppy’s state of mind. Likely your puppy is either overstimulated, overwhelmed, or overtired. Go home, give them a chew and settle them down for some rest. If you cannot interrupt the sharknado drop some treats on the ground to see if that can interrupt the behavior, and then head home. Remember, they are not being disobedient or dominant – they are a cranky toddler losing their cool in Target; nothing productive will get done, there is no reasoning with them, gently escort them from the store because they need a nap, or a snack, or to go potty, or maybe all three. You probably do to. Puppies are exhausting.

An important part of raising a dog is acknowledging – puppies do need things to chew, especially when they are teething. See my other post HELP! My Puppy is Chewing! To find out more on that. But I am going to give you the best thing I ever learned from another trainer and German Shepherd breeder – get a bagel, let it go rock hard stale, and freeze it – best puppy chew ever! It is hard, cold, and you can leave them with it without worrying about choking. Saying it is the best thing I ever learned from another trainer might be a slight exaggeration but when you are in the throes of puppy teething, it is a miracle.