Puppy Biting SOS

Puppy Biting 101

·    Meet your puppy’s needs

·    Sleep – young puppies need to sleep 16-18 hours a day (tired puppies are cranky!)

·    Food – does your puppy become more ‘bitey’ close to meal times? Check the amount you are feeding is adequate to your puppy’s age and weight; how many times a day do your feed your puppy? Puppies under 3 months old would benefit from 4 meals a day, puppies 3-6 months old will benefit from 3 meals a day.

·    Thirst – puppies should have access to fresh clean water 24 hours a day, they may forget where their water bowl is (especially if they are playing), so make sure there is a water bowl in every room your puppy hangs out in.

·    Toileting – some puppies might bite when they need a toilet, keeping a toileting diary will help to identify this!

 Puppy Biting Do's:

·    Teach your puppy what is acceptable to bite – toys!

·    Puppies need to play, so schedule short play sessions into your day.

·    Play by the rules:

·    Start play BEFORE your puppy starts biting.

·    Play with long toys (so those sharp teeth are away from your hands)

·    Those long toys are special! They are only available during interactive play sessions and do not live in your puppy’s toy box.

·    Don’t play for too long – 2-3 minutes will be enough for young puppies.

·    Finish play with a calming activity.

·     Have a selection of toys that your puppy can pick up – praise your puppy whenever you notice them picking up a toy. Have a variety of shapes and textures.

·    Rotate your puppy’s toy every few days to maintain novelty

·    Make sure you check your puppy’s toys for signs of damage and remove them, should they become unsafe for your puppy.

3 Calming activities:

·    Sniffing (snuffle mats, scatterfeeding)

·    Chewing (edible and non-edible chews)

·    Licking (Kongs, likimats)

Try and utilise your puppy’s daily food allowance for these activities.

4 Have a Zen Zone

A room where you want to relax and watch TV in is NOT the room to play with your puppy in.

5 In the moment, If the puppy bites you:

·    Stop (if you can), movement is more likely to excite your puppy and they will bite more.

·    Call away – if there is another family member there, they can call puppy to them (they can then reward the recall and redirect puppy onto an alternative activity)

·    Ask the puppy to perform a known behaviour, a ‘sit’, for example, (if no-one else is available) – you can then reward the sit and redirect puppy to a different activity (a toy or drop a few biscuits on the floor).

Avoid these common mistakes:

·    Shouting ‘ouch’ or ‘no’ – a lot of puppies will find it exciting!

·    Allowing puppy to bite hands in play (long toys will help with that)

·    Play with puppy when they are overtired (choose a calming activity instead).