Puppy Biting – Teaching Bite Inhibition
It’s normal for puppies to bite when playing. They do it when they play with each other and you’ve probably discovered they do it to you too. While this can be an uncomfortable activity for you, it’s an important part of your puppy’s development.
When puppies play with each other, if one bites too hard his playmate may yelp or stop playing all together. Over time, puppy learns to use his mouth more gently, to inhibit his bite, in order to keep play going. If a puppy is not given plenty of opportunities to learn about controlling his jaw pressure, normal day-to-day scuffles with other dogs can turn into fights resulting in injury.
It’s especially important that puppies learn to inhibit their bite with humans. While you may not want your adult dog to put his mouth on you, it’s important your puppy learn that human skin is fragile. Puppies 6-18 weeks old should be allowed to bite occasionally when playing as long as it’s not too hard. Sometimes your pup may need a calm time-out but sometimes you just need to redirect your puppy to a toy. They don’t have the best co-ordination yet! If you don’t allow your puppy to bite at all,you can’t give her feedback about what is too hard. Hard bites should result in a calm time-out. Stop play, and leave your puppy alone or gently put her in a time-out area for one minute. Each week ask your puppy to bite a little softer by timing her out for her hardest bites.
Rate how hard your puppy bites:
1 – You can feel it, but barely
2 – There’s some pressure, but you barely flinch
3 – Wow, those little teeth are sharp, but it’s tolerable
4 – Ok, that hurts a bit. It might even leave a mark.
5 – Ack! That hurts and your hand is now bleeding. (always results in a time-out)
Resist scolding your pup as talking can get him more worked up just quietly, calmly lead him to his time out area.
Common times for puppy to bite:
- When they’ve been playing for too long
- When they’re hungry
- When they’re tired
- During a growth spurt and/or active teething
- At 4:00pm! We call this the witching hour – puppies use up all of their good brain cells in the morning. This is a great time to place them in a crate with a chew item such as a stuffed Kong that contains part of their dinner.
