Many dog owners have to ask how to stop dogs from biting, at least once in their dog’s lifetime and it can be very stressful trying to determine what it takes to control that behaviour. A dog that bites is obnoxious at first, but as they age, they become dangerous, both to strangers and to your family. If your dog bites, no matter how old they are, take action quickly to stop it.
How
to Stop Dogs from Biting as Puppies
The easiest and most important time to
pinpoint this behaviour and stop it is when the dog is still a puppy. A puppy
under six months of age is very easy to retrain because it is still in the
formative years of its life, when dogs generally learn how to bite in the wild.
The big problem here is that many people
assume their puppies are merely playing or teething and not really trying to
hurt them. Unfortunately, what is really happening is that your puppy is
learning how to assert its position in the pack, using its teeth to show who is
in charge. If you want to know how to stop dogs from biting, it starts right
here, when they are still very open to learning.
There are many ways to stop your puppy from
biting. Most of them will mimic how the puppy would be treated with its litter
mates and mother. A light nip on the neck, a whining noise when you are bitten,
and replacement therapy where you hand the dog a toy instead of your hand are
all good ways to teach the dog that biting other people is not acceptable. If
you have trouble teaching your puppy to stop nipping, you should go to an
obedience school or hire a trainer.
How
to Stop Dogs from Biting at One Year
If a puppy is allowed to nip and bite and
show that it is in charge of the household, it will move on to play biting when
it is a teenager at around one year of age. Any number of factors can
contribute to this behaviour. You should stop playing physical games with you
dog right away. No wrestling, tug of war or other dominance related games.
Additionally, stop allowing your dog the
run of the house. Give them boundaries, cut them down to a specific range of
motion, even crate training them if necessary. A good obedience training
program can be very helpful with a teenage dog that bites.
How
to Stop Dogs from Biting as they Age
If your dog continues to get away with
their biting behaviour, eventually it will evolve into a big problem as an
adult. The dog might “turn on” their owner, but in reality, the dog always stays
himself as the leader of the pack.
If your dog bites or nips at anyone after
one year of age, you need to find a professional immediately because there is
serious danger here and the dog might choose to assert its dominance at any
time with an attack.
When learning how to stop dogs from biting,
you need to start at as early an age as possible. With only a few exceptions
for disease or mental disorder, dogs who bite as adults had issues as puppies
that could have been resolved.
