Bite Inhibition (Puppy Nipping)
It is very important to remember that all puppies need to be able to bite and chew so they learn about the strength and power of their jaws and teeth and, most importantly, learn how to control them. It is very important that they have safe and appropriate outlets, such as chew toys, for the very normal mouthing and chewing behaviours. Chewing and performing natural doggy behaviours is enriching and enjoyable for them.
Lesson #1 in Puppyhood: No Painful Bites
If you’re playing with puppy and he hurts you, say “ouch!” or make a little yelp sound and stop playing for a moment, keeping your body still and removing your attention from puppy (but keeping him in the corner of your eye so you can observe his reaction). Most puppies will stop what they're doing and look at you, and if he does this, praise him and resume playing with an appropriate toy. Sometimes yelping excites the puppy, in which case it will be more effective to just stop playing briefly, and then redirect to a toy, without using any verbal indicators.
If during play puppy gets carried away, leave the room for a moment: just 3-5 seconds at first, and then increase to 5-10 seconds if the nipping behaviours continue when you return. Puppy will learn that if he bites the fun play time stops, and he will start to learn to better control his mouth.
The best set up for this is to play near a door, baby gate, or X-Pen so you can stand up and leave puppy on the other side of the baby gate for a brief moment. The quicker you can leave, the more the puppy will be able to make the connection between nipping and the "time out" (pause in play). Remember that puppies have short attention spans and even shorter memories.
Remember: ALL puppies nip, this is very normal in puppy development, and a necessary part of their social and physical development. They will grow out of this phase with patience and consistent redirection. Puppies also start to lose those very sharp teeth around 3 months of age, so the mouthing behaviours will be less painful, provided the puppy is learning bite inhibition through socialization and play before then.
If puppy gets over-stimulated and follows biting at your feet, or otherwise continues nipping, leave the room out of his sight for 10-12 seconds. Return and resume playing, but get up and leave briefly again if he resumes biting. Very short mini "time-outs" and an opportunity to try again help the puppy learn that the person leaving is a direct result of his behaviour.
It's also totally okay for the human(s) to need and take a "time out" from puppy as well. Provide a safe space, such as an X-Pen, for puppy to hang out in while the humans are not supervising. When you need a break from puppy, this can help puppy learn to entertain himself and gives puppy some needed downtime too. Don't forget, puppies need a lot of sleep and rest, they are growing little pooches!
Lesson #2 in Puppyhood: Appropriate Items
If puppy is using your arm or leg as a chew toy, getting up and leaving is still an option. Another option is to (after you've removed puppy from your appendage!) offer an appropriate item for chewing. This can be a rope toy, squeaky toy, Kong, etc. We have a blog post all about stuffing and preparing Kongs for puppies and dogs of all ages to enjoy :) We also have another blog post called "Boredom Busters" for further ideas for keeping your pets entertained at home.
Puppies need options for doing the right thing so that they know what they can and cannot chew on. When puppy makes the right choice, celebrate! Praise him, play with him, show him that chewing on the toy will allow fun and play to happen.
Important: Do Not "Bite" Back
Although it can be tempting to punish puppy for this behaviour (those sharp puppy teeth hurt!), this can cause one of two problems: either puppy becomes afraid of you or puppy thinks you're playing roughly and comes back biting even harder.
Puppies need opportunities to learn that their nipping hurts and that people won't play with them if they bite. Puppies need opportunities to play using their mouths so they can learn to use them softly without hurting.
Puppies also need to develop a trust and bond with their people and if they become fearful they may develop aggression issues as they mature as a result of feeling the need to defend themselves. Puppies are not trying to hurt us intentionally, they have poor impulse control and a poor sense of the strength of their mouths, so it's up to us to teach them what is acceptable.
Aggression begets aggression: if we are rough with our puppies, they are more likely to be rough with us. While it certainly can be very enjoyable to wrestle and play tug with our puppies, it's important to set up boundaries for these activities and be consistent in maintaining those rules during play time, and to give puppies breaks to settle when they get overly excited.
Whether or not you have any behavioural concerns, we highly recommend ALL puppies attend a positive, well-run puppy socialization class. Puppies have a short window (called a critical period) for socialization and a good puppy class will help your puppy create positive associations with as many things in their world as possible. Please feel free to email us at Jillian@PawsitiveCare.ca for a recommendation.
Dog Stair Daily also has FREE books on raising puppies available for download:
If you have children in the home, always supervise their interactions with puppies. Even small puppies can cause injury to children completely by accident, particularly because children often get down to puppy's level and are frequently nose-to-nose, creating a greater risk for a facial injury. Likewise, children can cause fear or harm to puppies completely innocently as they do not always understand how their behaviour impacts the puppy. It's important to have a "safe" zone where puppy goes for a rest and for a break when he can't be supervised by an adult.
Finally, if your puppy is driving you crazy (we're human, it happens!), try some of our boredom buster ideas: http://pawsitivepooch.blogspot.ca/2015/10/boredom-busters-for-dogs.html
And if you need some tips for housetraining, visit our potty training blog post: http://pawsitivepooch.blogspot.ca/2015/07/puppy-potty-training-house-breaking.html
Jillian Enright, CPDT-KA
Visit our website: PawsitiveCare.ca
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