My puppies are 8 weeks old and have turned into land sharks. Puppy biting is one of the most common complaints I hear about raising a puppy. Most of the time, we humans give biting a lot of attention, because, quite frankly, it hurts. Yelling and saying no to the puppy may seem like the natural way to respond to biting, but I have a better solution.
By the way, 8-week-old biting puppies are not teething. They very much have their teeth. Teething actually starts at about four months of age. The biting going on at this age is a result of the puppy trying to initiate play and get attention.
Yelling “no” at the puppy gives the biting attention. Marking the biting by saying “no” actually has the opposite effect of what you intend, which is to tell the dog not to do that again. Puppies at this age have no clue what the word “no” actually means. When you say it after they have latched onto your pant leg, you are associating the bad behavior with that word. The word “no,” to them, now means, “Biting the human gets me spoken to and, thus, attention. Even if it’s negative attention.”
The correct way to reinforce your puppy is to reward them with praise and treats when they do not bite you. I never tell my puppies “no biting” because, for one thing, they do not know what I mean when saying it, and there is also never a time when I will reward their biting. What I do is pet them and praise them like mad when they offer me a polite, non-biting greeting.
I also do not redirect the biting by placing a toy in their mouth. My breed is quite clever and will easily figure out that they can bite me and get a toy for us to play with as a reward. My tried and true way of dealing with a biting puppy is to do my best to ignore it. If I am walking from point A to point B and there is a puppy latched onto my pants, I will stop and remove them. I either pick them up and keep walking, then, at some point, put them down without a single word, or I will remain motionless, holding them by both shoulders politely until they settle.
Putting the puppy into what I call a “settle hug” is my favorite way to teach the puppy to dial down their actions while teaching them to regulate their behavior and settle themselves down. I noticed recently that this tip is not as well-known as I had assumed. I was a bit surprised that several people who have been over to visit my puppies have tried to deal with the biting by holding the puppy suspended up in the air, resulting in the puppy struggling to get back to the ground and increasing their frustration. The goal with an overly bitey puppy is to calm them, not add to their overstimulation. I will, if walking, pick my puppies up, hold them close and keep on moving. I say nothing and merely place the puppy on the floor with zero fanfare once they have settled. If I am not walking, I hold them in my lap, pointing their faces away from me, then gently hug and pet them down the length of the spine. Once the puppy settles, I let them go.
Ignoring problem behaviors and rewarding good ones is much more effective than yelling words that have no meaning to puppies. Try teaching them how to settle themselves as an alternative.
If you have any questions, please feel free to email me at heidi@fouronthefloordogtraining.net.
Heidi Clayton started Four On the Floor Dog Training to provide positive, reward-based dog training in South Jersey. She breeds, trains and shows bull terriers under the SoraBully’s Bull Terriers kennel name. Email questions to heidi@fouronthefloordogtraining.net or learn more at https://fouronthefloordogtraining.net
