How to Stop a Puppy from “Nipping”

Discourage puppy bites.

When you're raising a puppy, it's common to realize that you're doing a bit of taming - this is an animal that doesn't necessarily know why it has the surroundings it has. If you're going to relate to your puppy and raise it into a healthy adult dog, then you're going to have to make sure that you know how a puppy learns, and how you can supplement that learning by establishing a few boundaries.

One of the first boundaries you'll have to set with your puppy is nipping - a puppy does much of its exploring with its teeth and mouth and you'll find it's not uncommon to see a puppy that nips nearly everything around the house, including its owners. Let's take a look at the problem of nipping in puppies and see if we can figure out how to stop this behavior, or at least prevent it in the future.

First, you're going to have to understand puppies. Puppies aren't just little dogs - they're young dogs that are doing a lot of learning in a short amount of time. It's going to take a healthy amount of patience to make sure that you set boundaries for your puppy that are both consistent and clear. If you aren't setting any boundaries, then your puppy won't learn that there are limits to its behavior.

Understanding puppies means that you understand how they learn - they do a lot of their exploring with their mouth. Remember that dogs don't have opposable thumbs: they don't have the ability to pick up objects or touch at it with a set of fingers. A dog's feet are for moving and digging, not necessarily for handling objects. That's why many puppies will nip you - to learn more about this important figure in their life. They're not sure how you'll retaliate, either - learning that will be useful information to them.

In order to make sure that this kind of behavior isn't repeated is to set clear boundaries every single time your puppy nips at you inappropriately.

What's the definition of inappropriately?

Any time that the puppy's teeth make any contact with your skin whatsoever.

Once that occurs, make sure that you loudly and clearly say "no," and immediately change your mood. The puppy will have to tell that you're angry not from the words you're using, but from the strong tone of voice it uses. Make sure you also correct the behavior by moving the puppy away and making sure that it can't nip you again.

Photo Credits: me and the sysop

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