Help, My Puppy Keeps Biting Me Aggressively!

Why Is My Puppy Biting Me Aggressively?

"Help, my puppy keeps biting me aggressively! What can I do to stop this behavior?" asks the new puppy owner. I ask in replay, "When does the biting occur? What is the accompanying body language? How old is the puppy? What's its breed?

"Puppies rarely bite in earnest until they reach the age of about seven months, unless the provocation is extreme or they have a genetic make-up that makes them likely to bite," claims Gwen Bailey in the book Perfect Puppy: Take Britain's Number One Puppy Care Book With You!

So, if not true aggression, why is your puppy biting you so aggressively? What can be done about it? Here are some answers to these queries.

1. Playing Aggressively

If you have a young puppy who is eager to bite you with those awfully sharp puppy teeth, you may assume your puppy is aggressive. The truth is that puppy biting is normal puppy behavior. What often looks like aggressive behavior turns out, in most cases, to be just a puppy whose nipping has gone a little over the top.

Here's the thing: When you open your heart and home to a puppy, you likely imagine a cute puppy who chases butterflies and rushes after toilet paper rolls rolling down a flight of stairs (like a popular commercial has portrayed for many years).

Reality is quite different. Many puppy owners miss out on seeing what a pup's chapter in life was like back in time when the pups were in the breeder's home with their littermates and mom. Here's a little recap. Before landing into your home, your puppy and his littermates were likely wrestling all day and mock fighting with accompanying growls. These play fights were the order of the day.

Once into their new homes, it's natural for these pups to want to engage with their owners in a similar fashion. They'll bite to engage you to play (like they did with other puppies in the breeder's home). They'll grab your pants and growl as they play tug. They'll chase your legs and nip hard as you walk. This puppy biting is therefore totally normal and something that all happy and healthy puppies do.

2.Teething

Have you ever seen babies who cry and keep their fingers in their mouths when they are teething? Puppies go through something similar.

Puppies often bite and chew on various objects, including their owners, due to teething. This behavior is a normal part of their development as they transition from baby teeth to adult teeth, which typically begins around 12 to 16 weeks of age. During this period, puppies experience sore gums and discomfort, prompting them to chew on anything they can find to relieve the pain

The puppy teething stage can be quite long in dogs. They first have to deal with their baby teeth falling out before the permanent teeth start emerging. The process may last up until the puppy is seven to eight months of age, although the desire to chew will persist into adulthood.

3. It's Genetic

All puppies bite, regardless of breed, but some puppies belonging to certain dog breeds are more predisposed to biting, and they bite with more intensity. This is especially the case with dogs breeds bred for herding livestock. Shelties and Australian Cattle Dog puppies bite a lot, and many German Shepherd puppies bite a whole lot, too.

These dog breeds were selectively bred for herding large livestock with a tendency to be stubborn. So, when you take a cute, fluffy puppy bred for this purpose and welcome him to your home, he'll be predisposed to biting unless you provide him with outlets for these natural, instinctive behaviors, loads of redirection, and lots of training.

4. Overstimulated

Many puppies struggle when they are exposed to more stimulation than they can handle. This is because they lack the ability to self-soothe and settle. After all, this skill takes time to master and comes with maturity.

Puppies, just like toddlers, may be reluctant to put themselves to bed unless you help them. So what happens when puppies become overstimulated and tired? They get cranky and more predisposed to biting!

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5. Defensive Biting

True aggression is rather rare in a puppy under four months of age. But it is not unheard of. Most dog trainers have encountered a truly aggressive young puppy. I have seen young puppies resource guard food and bones. This can be seen as early as six weeks; however, many times it can be challenging to distinguish normal puppy behavior from abnormal.

Recording the pup's behavior and showing it to a professional is important for an accurate assessment. Warning signs of trouble are puppies who stiffen, growl and bite in specific contexts, such as when they protect food, a toy or a sleeping area, or when they are approached, restrained, handled, groomed, moved or picked up. Puppies may also be triggered by being exposed to unknown people or children.

If you notice this type of defensive biting, prevent exposing your puppy to triggers that evoke the behavior, inform your breeder (if reputable, he/she should want to know when there’s an issue with one of their pups) and consult with a force-free dog trainer/behavior professional (you can find one on the Pet Professional Guild website).

6. Not Wanting to Be Touched

In the meantime, if you're dealing with puppies nipping due to not wanting to be touched or picked up, read these articles on how to get puppies used to handling and used to being picked up and have a professional help you out in person.

• Teaching Puppies to Tolerate Touch: 12 Body-Handling Exercises
• How to Pick up and Hold a Small Dog or Puppy Correctly

If dealing with resource guarding, then read the book Mine by Jean Donaldson. The author explains how to identify and handle resource guarding. Also, read How to Stop a Dog From Biting When Taking Something Away.

Last but not least, consider that the saying "prevention is worth a pound of cure" goes a long way. Even if your puppy is not guarding his food, you may find it helpful to take steps to prevent resource guarding in puppies.

How to Stop a Puppy From Aggressive Play Biting

Now that you better understand your puppy's behaviors and his underlying motives, it's time to roll up the sleeves and work on trying to reduce this form of biting. Of course, these tips are for the less serious forms of biting. Once again, for more serious biting, you want to enlist the help of a professional so to prevent things from getting out of hand.

1. Avoid Punishment

Punishment-based corrections such as grabbing the puppy's muzzle, tapping on the nose, delivering a scruff shake, pushing the puppy away or even yelling or grabbing the puppy by the collar or picking him up and placing him in a crate may turn a puppy's playful biting into defensive biting with all its troublesome repercussions (a puppy who was biting just for play, now starts biting defensively).

2. Teach Hands Aren't for Biting

Puppies learn what you teach them. If you allow a puppy to play roughly with your hands and feet, he'll come to seek this type of interaction. Instead, start from the right paw by not encouraging your puppy to play roughly with your hands or at least teach him to interact with your hands in more gentle ways.

Hand targeting is a great way to teach your puppy that hands aren't for biting. If you want to play with your puppy, teach games that don't specifically involve roughly biting your hands, but catching and biting toys instead (fetching, tug-of-war, etc.).

3. Remove Temptations

You want to set your puppy up for success by preventing him from rehearsing the over-the-top nipping behaviors. Don't sit on the floor with your puppy if that makes him continuously grab your shirt. Don't wear shoes with shoelaces, pants with loose ends or long skirts.

If you really want your ankle-biter to stop biting your feet, ankles, and legs, wear tall rubber boots which are hard to grab and most pups will lose interest eventually.

4. Redirect to Something Enticing

Many puppy owners try redirecting to toys, but they don't always succeed. This, once again, is because toys are static when puppies seek movement and resistance.

Instead, try redirecting to something that moves (tossed ball or flirt pole), toss some kibble to chase, or offer an edible long-lasting chew to keep him busy (bully stick, puppy chews, or a peanut-butter-stuffed Kong). Some owners redirect with remote-controlled cars and drones! Whatever you use, keep it handy so you can redirect your puppy at a moment's notice.

The key is to provide something that keeps your puppy engaged rather than ignoring it and having it come back to bite you. Redirection works best if you can catch your puppy before he is actively biting, so redirect as soon as you notice an intent to bite. Once he has latched on, it may be too late; he may be having too much fun to pay attention.

5. Become Boring

Puppies, as mentioned, are attracted by movement. Every time your puppy bites your hand or leg, you'll likely move because it's painful. Your movement, though, attracts your puppy more and soon a vicious cycle is established and you just turn into a fun pin-cushion that squeaks in pain.

To prevent this, the moment you see your puppy approaching you with the intent to bite, become boring like a tree. In other words, freeze and stand still. Easier said than done, though, with those sharp puppy teeth! To keep your skin safe from teeth scratches and bite marks, wear long sleeves and tall rubber boots. The rubber boots provide nothing to grab on and puppies may quickly lose interest.

6. Provide Teething Relief

When puppies are teething, their gums are irritated and chewing helps them get relief. Coolness can help them feel better. You can try to feed frozen carrots, frozen strawberries, frozen bananas and/or stuffed frozen Kongs. Avoid giving ice cubes to chew as they can damage the pup's teeth.

Offering a variety of toys of different textures can help too. Make sure to rotate them on a daily basis so that your puppy gets renewed interest in them.

7. Provide Enrichment and Training

When your puppy isn't crated or kept in his playpen, it is up to you to provide an environment that will keep your puppy busy and happy. Brain games, training, puppy-safe chews and food dispensers like the Kong Wobbler are great ways to keep your puppy entertained.

In particular, puppies thrive with a mix of highly stimulating activities, such as fetch, chase and play with other pups, followed by low-stimulation activities, such as sniffing, treasure hunts and chewing on toys.

8. Provide Downtime

Many puppies tend to bite more and more roughly when they are overly aroused and overstimulated. Rougher biting is often just a sign of higher arousal. This can happen when they are allowed prolonged free time in an overstimulating environment (too many exciting things going on, prolonged play).

Puppies, just like toddlers, struggle to regulate their emotions, so when they are overstimulated, overly excited or frustrated, they are more likely to lash out using their mouths and throw the equivalent of a child's tantrum.

Help set your puppy up for success by giving him a break from overly exciting situations or prevent them from occurring by using management options such as keeping your puppy in a crate, tethered or in a playpen when there is too much activity going on.