Teaching Bite Inhibition to Puppies

Puppies, like children, will never be perfect in behaviors. A certain amount of tolerance is expected, but it is well to understand a puppy’s message so you can react to reshape unwanted behaviors when limits are exceeded.

All puppies are “mouthy” during the teething process, however, there are exceptions in that you will encounter puppies that just won’t take no for an answer and keeps chomping on people’s hands instead of those objects given him to chew on.



First try to understand what nipping means to a puppy. Put yourself in the shoes of a puppy. A six to eight week old puppy finds itself a reasonably confident navigator of its environment. The puppy may try to explore everything it can and uses one tool with which to investigate its environment – its mouth, not much unlike a small human toddler. To a  puppy, its mouth is like a hand used for exploration of its environment. Generally speaking at this time, the puppy is not at all vicious or mentally disturbed because they display mouthing behaviors. In fact, this is a very normal behavior in which puppies use to discover and explore their surroundings.

Puppies direct their first oral attentions to their mother’s soft underbelly where they find nourishment. If a puppy bites its mom too hard during nursing she will rebuke the puppy. This is the puppy’s first lessons in inappropriate “nipping or biting.” He learns to listen to mommy. As the puppy matures mouthing behaviors are directed toward litter mates during play. When one puppy becomes too rough during this type of play the others usually complain loudly and withdraw. The biting puppy learns to be a little easier on litter mate if the fun and games are to continue. The puppy begins to learn bite inhibition. The puppies that are bitten learn to avoid the circumstances that lead to the painful consequence and that withdrawing are a good defense strategy.

Almost every puppy finds itself in a new home without a disciplinary “mom,” and former litter mates. Instead the puppy has doting human owners who must serve as parents and siblings rolled into one unit. What happens when the  puppy wants to play, can’t find its litter mates and nips a human?

A person knowledgeable about puppy matters might react like the mother dog or a litter mate with a sharp rebuke, maybe with words like “Stop it” or “Ouch” or a light tap on the nose with a finger, and/or immediate withdrawal of attention. You might even respond by closing the puppy’s mouth tightly and saying sharply “NO BITE” then place an object that is acceptable for biting into the puppy’s mouth.

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