How To Stop Puppy Nipping!

Are you trying to figure out how to get a puppy to stop nipping?

Puppy nipping is so frustrating, not to mention dangerous with children. When you bring your puppy home around 8-10 weeks old you are essentially bringing home a baby. Yes, we have dedicated many hours to caring for that puppy and introducing him to new sights, sounds, and smells, along with beginning some training, but they are still very much a puppy and need to be trained! 

Why Do They Do This?

A puppy explores the world with their mouth. Since they don’t have hands they use their mouths to discover new things, and it always amazes me how rough they can be playing with each other. I will often see them tussling and really going at it, with each puppy essentially chewing on the other puppy. This is normal for them and they are used to using their mouths to communicate so it’s our job to teach them other ways to communicate with us.

What To Do About It

When your puppy starts nipping it’s really important to put it into context; Is she tired? Was she just playing with other dogs and is worked up? Is she happy or is she frustrated and getting rough to make a point? I never allow a puppy to nip, I always correct it, but it is helpful to try to understand why they are doing it.

If she has been out playing for a while and starts nipping I might correct it with a sharp “No” or “Ah Ah” to make it clear to her that behavior is not acceptable. It’s easy for puppies under 1 year old to get overtired and start making bad choices, so if I suspect that’s the case then I’ll have her sit or obey a different command she knows to help her get a quick win and then give her some crate time so she can wind down and relax for a little while. I often find when I do this they are asleep within 5 minutes.

Other Helpful Ideas

We have young children and I’m not willing to take the risk that our dogs will jump and nip at them. It’s something that we don’t allow, and our dogs know that, but as puppies it can be tough because they aren’t fully trained yet and still get really excited, and in that 4-10 months time frame sometimes I think they’ve forgotten all the training we’ve ever done. 

If I have a puppy that is nipping I make it very clear to him that it’s not acceptable behavior. I never give treats until they are displaying appropriate behavior, such as sitting or standing without biting. Labs and Goldens are typically food motivated, and have a natural tendency to want to please, so if they know they are getting rewarded for good behavior immediately they are much more likely to stop unwanted behavior. For dogs and puppies that aren’t food motivated they may be toy or touch motivated so use that as an incentive! If they are giving you great behavior I’d be very quick to vocally praise them and then play with them for a little with a toy or give lots of ear scratches.

If you’re having trouble with nipping because they are up in your face I’d recommend using a flirt pole for play time. This is great for little kids because it allows your puppy to play without being so close and having your hands close enough for him to bite. These are easy to find on Amazon, and here is the specific one we use and love.

Consistency is Key

As with all training, consistency really is the key. Dogs are really smart and they know what they can and can’t get away with. Even as a puppy, Lab and Goldens specifically pick up really quickly what the house rules are. If training is tough right now (there are alway ups and downs with training) I’d suggest keeping a house line on him until he has shown he understands and is making better choices. For a house line I just buy a really cheap 4 foot leash, and honestly the cheaper, thinner ones work best, and I cut the loop at the end off. This essentially just makes it a 3 foot leash that he can wear around the house and it gives you easy, quick access to him. 

Consistency and timing are the main components of this! We need to let our puppies know every time that this behavior isn’t acceptable and we need to let them know immediately after they nip. There was a study done that showed how long it took a dog to learn to sit, and they rewarded the dog at different times to see just how much of a difference it made. In one situation they rewarded the dog immediately after it made the right choice, and in other situations they waited 20 seconds, 30 seconds, or 1 minute after they made the right choice to reward them. It essentially showed that the longer you wait to reward your dog the longer it’s going to take to train them, and if you wait too long to reward or correct your dog after specific actions it is impossible to train them that skill.

If my puppy is going through a phase where nipping is a real challenge, I will be extra diligent to correct it, but also work on new skills over that time so we can have some wins. It’s also great to continue teaching new skills so if they are struggling in one area they can be making progress in a different area. A great skill to teach if they don’t know it yet is “place” because that will also give some distance to prevent nipping and giving your puppy another area to relax.

Puppy nipping is really frustrating, but if it’s done due to excitement and lack of self control just know that you will get through it! And if it’s being done in anger, control, or you are seeing concerning signs, or even if you are struggling to make progress, please don’t hesitate to reach out to a trainer to help you on this specific issue! That is truly what trainers are for and they can help us get over specific hurdles in our season of training our puppies.

Training a puppy takes work, but with consistency and clear communication with your puppy you will be able to help your puppy overcome puppy nipping!