How to Stop Your Puppy from Biting in Ukiah, CA

If you have just gotten a puppy, you and your pet are probably doing all kinds of work on different kinds of training skills. Puppies need to get housebroken, and they need to learn to be with other pets in the house and walk on a leash. You probably have a lot of work to do every day to teach your pet all the skills that they need to know as an adult dog.

However, sometimes these more basic concerns get sidelined because your puppy starts biting. Biting is one of the things that can be toughest to attend to when you are training a puppy. Puppies will often be persistent about biting once they start, which can make it tough to get this behavior under control. Knowing how to get your puppy to stop biting is key if you are training a young dog to join your household.

1. Provide Enough Exercise

One of the most common reasons for puppies to start biting is boredom and an excess of energy. If your puppy is not getting enough exercise and interaction each day, they can start biting. This can be almost impossible to attend to if you do not start giving your pet the exercise that they need. Getting mad at your puppy for biting when they are not getting enough exercise will usually be pointless.

Be sure that your puppy gets to play or walk more than once a day. This will help greatly with biting, and it might even stop the behavior in its tracks.

2. Provide Toys

Your puppy will need to go through the teething process, and they will also need to have an outlet for their boredom. Providing your puppy with things that they are allowed to chew on can make all the difference when it comes to biting behaviors. Giving your puppy safe and appropriate toys can also help to get their attention back onto the right kind of object for this sort of attention. It can be much easier to teach your puppy not to bite you if you offer them something that they are allowed to chew on instead.

Puppies will always need to do some chewing to help lose their baby teeth, and you will need to offer them safe toys to use to facilitate this process. This is often when biting starts, and your puppy will not stop wanting to bite until they have lost all their baby teeth. Providing the right toys for this need can make the biting problem go away right off.

3. Let Your Puppy Calm Down

Crate training can be a really great way to help your puppy to calm down when they are overstimulated. This can happen for so many reasons, and puppies can frequently end up being overly tired or overly excited as they get used to living in a new home. Think of excited or frustrated biting as the same kind of behavior that small kids can show when they need to take a nap.

Puppies can be much less likely to bite if they are placed in their crate to take a little rest when they start biting. Don’t make this a punishment and instead, think of this as a time for your puppy to take a break and recharge. Puppies can get tired much more easily than people realize, and the crate can be a great place for them to hang out and rest when they are biting due to excitement.

4. Put Them Outside

Sometimes puppies are not sure how to tell their owners that they need to go to the bathroom. Puppies often get the attention that they need from their mother dog and their compatriots by nipping. This can lead to issues when talking with the humans in their life, and puppies often make this mistake when they are being potty trained or shown how to do other new skills.

If your puppy is biting, you will want to be sure that you put them outside so that you can rule out this simple problem that might be leading to their biting behavior. Plus, puppies need to go out to use the bathroom regularly when they are little, so it’s always a good idea to just put them out whenever you think about it.

5. Make Sure They Are Not in Pain

While biting in puppies is often not related to pain, it can be the result of something that is hurting them. If your puppy is prone to biting when you pick them up, or they are not eating or drinking well, you might want to take them to the veterinarian to rule out some kind of injury or other issue that is causing them pain. Puppies that are in pain might be hard to diagnose on your own, but the vet can help you to figure out what is causing the problem.

Training Puppies Not to Bite Doesn’t Have to be Hard

If you have been struggling with your puppy biting, you need to check out this guide to make it easy to get this behavior under control. Biting can be a real problem later in life for your dog, and you do not want to allow this issue to go unchecked. Your puppy could be biting for health-based reasons, or you might need to work on their exercise needs or quiet time needs.

Training your puppy can be really rewarding, and even the work done to stop biting can be a great way to build a bond with your puppy. If you need some help with your puppy training process, you can always reach out to a trainer for some support. There is no shame in learning more about the training process and doing the right kind of work to stop your puppy from biting. Getting your puppy to stop biting will be beneficial for many reasons, and you will be glad that you took the time to teach this to your puppy.

Do you have questions about your puppy’s wellness and care? Give Mendocino Animal Hospital a call at (707) 462-8833 or book an appointment online!