How to Stop Puppy Biting and Nipping

German Shepherd puppies learn to use their mouths correctly from their littermates. Removing them from canine bite school means you need to fill that role.

Would you be surprised if you were to learn that the best way to stop puppy biting and nipping is to allow it? Most people are.

When you bring your puppy home at 8 to 10 weeks of age they are taken away from their mother and their littermates. In short they are removed from canine school.

One of things they learn in canine school is how to use their mouths correctly and since you removed them from school it is your job to fill in for their mother, brothers and sisters.

When your puppy is playing with their brothers and sisters they learn how to bite with the appropriate amount of force. If they bite too hard the puppy being bitten will yelp and ignore them for a little while.

If they bite with the right amount of pressure nothing happens and the pups continue to play. It is the moments where the pressure is too hard that you must learn to use as well.

Teaching your puppy bite inhibition is a two step process. First you will teach them how much pressures is too much and then you will teach them how to minimize their biting.

If you have an active biter then you may want to work on these two stages at the same time but you must first teach your puppy how to have a "soft mouth" before you can stop puppy biting completely.

How to Teach Your Puppy to Inhibit Play Biting

Punishments are not necessary. A simple, "ouch!" or getting up and leaving the area leaving your puppy all alone will usually get the job done. For the more pushy biters you may want to get up and leave and make sure they cannot follow you. In short, they are in a brief time out because of their inappropriate biting.

Getting up and leaving the room is remarkably effective at teaching your puppy that they bit you too hard. Trying to restrain them or "scruff grab" them or any other physical punishment can quickly escalate the situation and your puppy may start biting you harder with more intention. A simple rule to remember (this goes for all training/behavior) is to never fight the dog.

So your puppy gives you a really good nip on the end of your finger you say, "Ouch!" and get up and leave for a moment. Then you return and start playing again. If they bite you hard again you say, "ouch!" then you get up and leave again. Soon they will learn that biting hard makes you go away and what was an enjoyable play session has ended. They want to play so they will start to use a softer bite each time you react with "ouch!" and leaving the room.

You do not want to remove them from the room or put them in a crate. You should get up and leave instead. You getting up and leaving sends a clear message to your puppy that yes, biting hard was why I got up and left. Please don't do that anymore.

Eliminating Bite Pressure Completely

The next step in teaching your puppy to have a soft mouth is to eliminate bite pressure completely. While you are playing with your puppy wait for a bite that is slightly harder than the rest. Even if it doesn't hurt say, "ouch!" and get up and leave.

Each time you do this wait for a bite that is ever so slightly harder than the previous ones. Eventually you will wait for a short period and respond to even the slightest pressure.

This teaches your puppy that any pressure at all will result in you getting up and leaving. They want to play with you so they will quickly start to bite softer and softer each time you say, "ouch!" and leave the room.

Stage Two: Decreasing the Frequency of Biting

Once your puppy has learned to have a soft mouth it is time to teach them that biting is okay but they must stop when asked to stop. You should begin by teaching the "off" cue to your puppy.

Teaching the off cue is fairly straight forward. Take a piece of food and put it in your hand. When your puppy paws at it or tries to bite at it give them the "off" cue and wait a second. If they do not attempt to get at the food say, "take it" and give it to them. As they start to leave it alone you can then add more time between the "off" and "take it" cues.

If at anytime they try to take the food before you are ready to give it to them start over again from the very beginning.

Once your puppy has mastered this simple task you can start to use a food lure to lure your puppy away from biting you. Say they are biting on your pant leg, you would say, "off" and wiggle your hand to entice them to let go of your pant leg and focus on your hand. The moment they let go you respond, "take it" then give them the reward.

You might be asking, "Isn't this rewarding them for biting my pant leg?" The answer is no. You are rewarding them for letting go of your pant leg.

With consistency and repetition your puppy will start to let go with more speed each time. As they start to learn you will want to eliminate the food lure and reward them every so often to keep them from forgetting the cue.

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