Behaviour
Needle teeth, torn sleeves, crying children. Play biting is normal in a puppy and it passes, but not by itself: you teach him how hard he is allowed to bite.
Worth knowing. A puppy who suddenly bites harder, especially when touched on the head or ears, may be in pain (ear infection, teeth coming through badly, something swallowed). If the biting comes with lethargy or he stops eating, see your vet first.
Your puppy is somewhere between ten and fourteen weeks old and your forearms look as if you have been in a fight with a cat. He bites your hands when you stroke him, your ankles when you walk through the kitchen, your child's sleeve when she runs off laughing. At about nine every evening he turns into a small crocodile and nothing stops him. You have read everywhere that it is "normal". That does not help much, because the grandparents are coming tomorrow. Here is why he bites, what makes it worse without you noticing and what a week looks like that actually brings the biting down.
A puppy has no hands. Everything he wants to find out about goes through his mouth: your sleeve, your finger, the table leg, his brother's ear. In the litter, between five and eight weeks, his littermates teach him the basic rule: bite too hard and the other one yelps and the game stops. That is how a puppy learns to soften his bite. Behaviourists call it bite inhibition. A puppy who left his mother at six weeks, or who was the only one in the litter, comes to you with that lesson half-learned. You finish it.
On top of the urge to explore, a few things make the biting harder and more frequent.
Baby teeth start falling out at around four months, and the adult ones are through by six or seven. During those months his gums hurt, so he chews whatever reaches his mouth, you included. You will find tiny teeth on the rug. That is fine.
A puppy needs 18 to 20 hours of sleep a day. Most puppies living in flats get much less, because something is always going on. A tired puppy bites harder, gets a glazed look and cannot stop himself. The evening "witching hour", when he tears round the house hanging off your trouser legs, is usually a puppy who should have been asleep an hour ago.
Children running and shrieking, hands flapping fast above his head, games of grab-the-fingers. To a puppy all of that is an invitation, and he answers with his teeth.
A bite always gets something: a squeal, a push, a look. To a bored puppy, even being told off is entertainment.
A puppy of two or three months eats three or four times a day. On two big meals he spends long stretches hungry, and a hungry puppy bites more insistently, usually around the same times.
In our sessions we often see four-month-old puppies who jump out of the car wild and go home asleep after a search on the grass. Their biting had nothing to do with character. They had plenty of energy and too little work for their nose.
The idea comes from the litter: a littermate yelps and the game stops. With some puppies it works straight away. Many others find the squeal exciting and come back for more. Try it two or three times. If your puppy turns out to be in the second group, switch to ending the game, without a sound.
All of them stop the biting there and then, through fear. And all of them teach him that a hand coming towards his head is dangerous. By eight months you have a dog who ducks away when you reach for his collar and, in some cases, one who bites properly when he is grabbed, because that is how he learned unpleasant things come to an end. Veterinary behaviour associations do not recommend any method based on pain or intimidation for puppies. Neither do we.
A hand that runs away is prey. He leaps after it and catches it higher up, on your forearm. A hand that stays still and soft is boring.
If in the first month you played with him by grabbing his cheeks and letting him catch your fingers, you taught him that hands are toys. There should always be a toy between the two of you.
He learns to avoid hands. He does not learn to be gentle with them. You will see the difference at the vet's, when he needs to accept being handled.
Twenty minutes in the bathroom means nothing to a three-month-old puppy. Ten seconds in he has forgotten why he is there. The time-out that works is short, immediate and repeated.
He will if you guide him. A puppy who bites unchecked until six months has an established habit and a 20-kilo body to practise it with.
Everyone in the house does the same thing. If one person plays with their hands and another stops the game, the puppy only learns that it depends on the person, and he keeps biting whoever gives in.
After 20 to 30 minutes of play or a walk comes sleep, in a pen or in a crate with the door open, somewhere quiet. If he will not settle by himself, take him there with something to chew and step out of his line of sight. Write down for a whole day how much he actually sleeps. Most people are shocked by the number. The evening witching hour disappears within a few days once he gets an afternoon nap.
On the sofa, by the bed, on the kitchen table. When he comes at you with his mouth open, the toy is already in your hand and reaches his mouth before your sleeve does. Long toys, such as a rope or a 40 cm soft toy, keep his teeth well away from your fingers and let you actually play.
Every time, no exceptions. He clamps down, you go still for two or three seconds with a soft hand, then turn your back. If he hangs on to your clothes, stand up and leave the room for ten or twenty seconds, or put a barrier between you. Come back calmly and pick the game up again with a toy. Within a few days he learns that teeth on skin make the person vanish, while teeth on a toy keep them around.
Practise it separately from play, two or three times a day, two minutes each. Bring your hand slowly towards his muzzle. When he touches or licks it, a good treat comes from your other hand and a quiet "good boy". Then hold the treat in a closed fist. If he mouths the fist, nothing happens. If he stops, sniffs and licks, the fist opens. In two weeks you have a puppy who takes everything from your hand with his lips and leaves your hand alone.
Two or three good chews that you rotate are more use than ten lying on the floor all the time. A twisted, wet tea towel kept in the freezer keeps sore gums busy for a quarter of an hour. When you catch him chewing something of yours, do not tell him off. Give him his chew, take the item and next time put it higher up.
A child under six or seven is not left alone with a puppy who bites, however sweet they both are. The rules for children are few and clear: no running around the puppy, no shrieking, no playing with hands, play with the long toy. When the children get excited, the puppy goes for a nap in his pen with something to chew, before the biting starts. To a puppy, a child running off laughing is the best game in the house, and the teeth end up on ankles and sleeves.
Ten minutes of searching for food around the house tires him more than ten minutes chasing a ball. Scatter his meal on a scrunched-up towel, in cardboard boxes or in the grass. While his nose is busy, his mouth has no time for your hands.
| Day | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1 | Note his real sleep hours and his meals. Put a toy in every room. |
| 2 | Start the rhythm: 20 to 30 minutes of play, then sleep. The whole household learns the rule: teeth on skin, game over. |
| 3 to 4 | End the game every time, silently. The gentle hand, twice a day. The frozen towel in the evening. |
| 5 to 6 | Food searches around the house, twice a day. The children get the long toy and the rules. |
| 7 | Count the day's bites and compare them with day 1. If they have not dropped at all, read the section on professionals again. |
A puppy who bites in play is usually a healthy puppy. A few changes do call for a vet visit before any plan:
Tell your vet exactly when and where he bites hardest. A clear pattern makes the visit much quicker.
The puppies in our puppy class bite less after a quarter of an hour of searching on the grass than after half an hour of running around. Searching tires the brain. Running winds it up. At home you do the same on a small scale: food scattered around the house, a game of "find it" from one room to the next, cardboard boxes with a few treats hidden inside. A puppy who has worked his nose for ten minutes sleeps afterwards, and sleep solves half the problem.
An assessment for a puppy is quick and changes a lot. A trainer can see in ten minutes whether it is play, tiredness or fear, and at three or four months everything comes right quickly. In a dog past six months, the same work takes much longer.
What dog owners search for most often on the internet about this problem, with the short answer.
Play biting peaks between two and four months and eases as the adult teeth come through, at around six or seven months. With a sleep routine and the game stopping at every bite, most puppies are gentle with hands by five or six months. Without guidance, the habit stays and grows along with the dog.
Every day: sleep after every 20 to 30 minutes of play, a toy within reach in every room that you put between you before he gets to your hand, and the game ending every time teeth touch skin. Go still, turn your back, leave the room for ten seconds if you need to, then start again with the toy. Everyone in the house does the same.
No. The biting stops through fear, and the puppy learns that a hand coming towards his head is dangerous. You see the result a few months later: a dog who shies away from the collar, the brush and the vet, and sometimes one who bites properly when grabbed. Ending the game gets the same result without those side effects.
A child who runs and shrieks is the best game in the house to a puppy, and the teeth end up on ankles. The rules: children do not run around the puppy, do not play with their hands, use a long toy, and when they get excited the puppy goes for a nap in his pen. A child under six or seven is never left alone with him. If the bites leave marks, call a professional.
In play, growling is normal: his body is loose and bouncy and he comes straight back to you. What matters is a stiff body, a hard stare and a low growl with lifted lips, especially when he is touched or has something in his mouth. If you see those, do not punish them. Film it and ask for an assessment; the sooner, the simpler.
A behaviour that appears suddenly or changes for no apparent reason can have a medical cause. For full details, consult your dog's own veterinarian.
They often come together: the same causes, plans that complement each other.
His first night away from his mother and littermates, alone in the dark in a box. Crying is normal; how you respond in the first few nights decides how long it lasts.
A chewed door frame, a gutted cushion, the third charger this month. He isn't getting back at you. Film the first hour and you'll see if it's boredom or panic.
Chewing, barking, racing round the house at ten at night and still not tired. A dog like that tires through his head, and you see the change within days.
You walk in and his paws are on your chest before the door has shut. Jumping up is a greeting, and he keeps doing it because it has worked every single time.
An assessment session tells you where you stand and which plan makes sense for your dog. The behaviour programme then works step by step, reward-based only.