Ouch! Your puppy just bit you again. While biting is instinctual for dogs, you'll want to discourage puppy teeth on human skin because cute puppies eventually grow into biting adult dogs that can cause injury or worse, lawsuits. Several strategies can help stop puppy biting.
Puppies should spend the first few months of their lives with their littermates and mother. The mother dog will teach her offspring that biting hard in play is not acceptable. Commonly, pups are adopted at six weeks of age when this socialization process has not been completed. Dogs are much like children in that the earlier desired behaviors are taught, the better.
Other dogs can be used to train your puppy appropriate behavior whether they are your own or borrowed. Young canines like to spend time with adults, and this can be an excellent way to teach your new dog how to behave with humans.
Whenever your puppy bites you, say "no" and place a bone or chew toy in his mouth. This will help him to redirect his teeth to the desired object instead of your hand.
Be sure to offer corrections immediately after the undesirable behavior. If your response is not instantaneous, the dog will not associate your displeasure with the biting.
Using bitter apple on your hands or feet is another way to stop the biting. The bitter apple has a terrible taste that should immediately make the dog release your body part. You will probably have to repeat this several times before the dog learns that you don't taste good. The downside to doing this is that your dog may not want to be petted by a hand that smells like bitter apple.
Puppies will guard their food and toys, so train your kids to leave these things alone to avoid bites. Teach your children behaviors that can signal an animal is angry such as laid back ears and growling. Remember that dogs sometimes just want to be left alone, and family members should respect that.
If you want to stop puppy biting permanently, you will need to train your dog. to mind you.
