Puppies are cute and fluffy but without the right rules, puppies can become frustrating here’s the simple way how to stop a puppy from biting and save your hands from those tiny sharp teeth!
Why do puppies bite in the first place?
Puppies bite simply because they’re young and don’t understand that biting our hands is not appropriate. It’s up to us to show our puppies what is appropriate and what isn’t.
How to stop puppies from biting the simple way
The simplest way how to stop a puppy from biting is through redirecting your puppy from your hand to an appropriate object, essentially telling your puppy not my hand but this instead.
Redirecting
As puppy owners, one concept you have to understand is redirection which is essentially guiding your puppy’s attention from one thing to another.
When it comes to owning a puppy allot of what you will be doing is redirection and managing what your puppy puts his time and energy into.
Remember when you bring a puppy into your life it’s your job to teach them how to behave because puppies have no previous experience on what is and isn’t appropriate it’s up to us to show them what to do with all that puppy energy!
In short, you simply tell your puppy “don’t do this, do this instead”
How To Stop A Puppy From Biting
We vaguely touched on this at the beginning of the article, one of the simplest ways how to stop a puppy from biting is simply giving your puppy an alternative object to bite on.
Again applying the concept of redirection.
So every time your puppy tries to bite you say no and then provide your puppy with the appropriate toy bite on.
When your puppy bites on the toy be sure to praise your puppy to let your pup know that he is doing the right thing.
Over time you’ll start to realize that your puppy will stop biting you and instead reach for his toy.
For this to work you must follow a couple of guidelines:
Be Consistent
Consistency is key you want to be consistent in redirecting your puppy and showing your pup that biting with your hands isn’t acceptable
Don’t Rough House With Your Hands
Until your puppy has learned that biting you is not acceptable reframe from using your hands to rough house and play with your puppy.
In the beginning, you want to make it as easy for your puppy to understand that biting you is not good and that the toy is great.
Be preemptive
Don’t wait until your puppy tries to bite you to introduce the appropriate toys, you want to be prepared to provide your puppy with a variety of appropriate toys that he’ll enjoy to ensure your puppy is set up to succeed from the very beginning
For some great toy options read our complete guide on puppy chewing!
Manage what your puppy puts his energy into
As puppy owners you want to manage what your new puppy puts his energy into, remember the more your puppy practices a behavior the more it will become a habit.
To ensure that your puppy creates good habits you want to be aware and manage what your puppy puts his time and energy into.
Conclusion
Owning a puppy is a fun and exciting experience and taking the right steps early on ensures that your puppy doesn’t develop bad habits
The easiest way to stop a puppy from biting is simply giving your puppy an alternative outlet for the behavior your pup wants to perform.
Redirection is key when showing your puppy what is and isn’t appropriate!
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