Behaviour

Puppy biting and mouthing

Puppy biting is normal, it is not aggression, and it is also not something you have to simply endure for six months. Most of it is overtiredness, and most families are accidentally rewarding it.

The short answer

Sleep first. A puppy needs sixteen to eighteen hours of sleep a day, and the biting nearly always spikes when it is overtired. Add a nap routine, redirect onto a toy, and end the game calmly when teeth touch skin. Do not squeal, wrestle, or pull your hands away fast, all three make it more exciting.

Puppy biting and mouthing, Harlow Dog Trainer

The overtired puppy pattern

Late afternoon shark hour is almost always a tired puppy that nobody has put down for a nap. Enforced naps in a pen or crate, roughly one to two hours awake then a sleep, remove most of the problem in a week.

What to do in the moment

●Have a toy in reach, redirect the teeth onto it before they land on you.
●If teeth touch skin, the game stops, calmly and without drama.
●Do not use hands as toys, ever, and tell visitors and children the same.
●Give something legal to chew for the teething months.

Children in the house

Children move fast and squeal, which is exactly what triggers grabbing. Give the puppy a gated area, supervise every interaction, and teach the children to stand still and be boring rather than to run.

When it is not normal

Stiff body, growling over food or resting places, or bites that break skin in a puppy over five months old are worth a professional assessment rather than another week of hoping.