Puppy biting? Teach bite inhibition

What am I supposed to do about puppy biting?

A puppy bite is a natural behavior of a dog.  Often, it is also called a play bite. But even a puppy bites your finger, it hurts.  What are you going to do with this?  Just trying to stop the problem makes the matters worse. 

Why does a puppy bite?

It could be that a puppy is teething and he just has to numb the irritation by biting on something. Also, a puppy needs to learn to control the force of bite (bite inhibition) by receiving feedback from the mother. So puppy bite is super important for the puppy to grow up healthy. 

Instead of fixing the problem, you want to tell your puppy when it hurts.

Don't Scold your puppy. 

A scolding puppy is never a good idea. It will just create more problems for later.  Since most puppies are sensitive, you want to put a method and strategy to navigate around this problem. 

Puppy and play bites are natural instincts. Instead of trying to stop, you want to harness that issue to teach your puppy the bite inhibition. 

Prepare to play a lot with your puppy. 

Don't just throw a lot of toys.  Dogs don't want to play only with toys.  Dogs want to play with you using the toys.  Play many tugs of wars. Let him win most of the time. Make the tug of war fun.  Along with some chewing toys, this will definitely satisfy some of your dog's biting urges.

Prepare a mental message

You want to script a message in your head.  The message should be "I want you to chew and bite the toy but not my finger, hands, or forearms." Your arms should not be "for sale." 

Give feedback on the pressure of the bite.

When it hurts, just give a natural response. Give a gentle and short scream.  Say something like ouch, it hurts.  But make sure not to jerk your hand or make a sudden movement.  The quick jerk will everything more fun for the puppy.  He may be thinking this is just a part of the play.  Your puppy needs to learn to control the pressure and force of the bite.  That way he will know what is too much.

Use Body Block

This is one of the very effective tools for persistent and stubborn dogs.  You have to tell him a message that you don't like this.  Body block is a firm yet gentle correction to your dog without scolding your puppy. '

When your puppy comes to you to nip or bite, you just walk toward your puppy and give a gentle block or just a little push. Make sure not to give a strong push. When you do this, your puppy will be thinking. "Oh-uh, what did I do." You are just using your body to go into your dog's space. It works because this is a very natural way to say no to your dog. Your body block will work a miracle.

Lastly, Patience Patience Patience-Don't get frustrated. 

Dog training and telling your dog something is all about repetition and patience. It is not your dog's problem. The problem is that we, as humans don't know how to communicate with the dog. Make sure not to get frustrated. Your puppy will detect your frustration and impatience right away. Dogs are experts when it comes to reading human emotions.