What Should I Do If My Puppy Bites?

If you have a puppy of your own, there is a good chance you were enjoying it quite a bit -  until it started biting you, and you started wondering why it were doing this and how you could get it to stop!

If you are dealing with a "biting puppy," the first thing you need to realize is that this is natural behavior, and it is not something to be especially concerned (or upset) about. At the same time, however, this is behavior that needs to be "trained out of" your puppy; this does not mean that it is behavior that should be corrected or punished, but you do need to understand how to get your puppy to stop biting, lest you end up with a dog who bites!

You essentially have taken on the role of the puppy's "mother" by being its owner, and as a puppy gets older, the mother begins to train it to understand the "right" and "wrong" actions; biting can be a form of affection, but the mother will not tolerate it as the puppy gets older.

Training your puppy

Puppies will also naturally bite when they are playing with their litter mates generally speaking, this is a light, playful bite, but if a puppy bites its litter mate too hard, the litter mate will squeal out in pain, and will then stop playing. When you are trying to train your puppy to not bite, this is the best approach to take; treat your puppy the same way its litter mate would treat it, by making a noise of pain, pulling away your hand, and refusing to pet or play with your puppy for several minutes.

It can be difficult to "ignore" your puppy for a few minutes, with how cute it undoubtedly looks, but this is necessary if you want your puppy to stop biting; it will quickly associate "bites" with "loss of privilege," and this will cause the puppy to correct its behavior

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