Teaching Your Puppy to Use Their Mouth Appropriately

So you brought an adorable puppy home and are all excited to bond with your new friend! The only thing is that your new puppy is learning to explore their new world with… their mouth. While we don’t want to discourage their inclination to try new things and encounter new situations, we do want to let them know the best way to go about it – without their mouth.

Using Their Mouth Appropriately

Before we share some strategies, be sure that your puppy isn’t using their mouth to let you know that they’re hungry, tired or need to go to the bathroom. Sometimes they can be trying to communicate with you!

That being said, every puppy parent knows what it’s like to have something stolen or chewed! While the behavior is unwanted, it’s a great way to teach puppies how to trade and direct them to their own toys. The key is staying calm as we don’t want them to think that stealing things they shouldn’t is a game.

If your puppy grabs something they shouldn’t (that is not life-threatening) you should:

• Calmly call your puppy over to see if they will leave the item on their own. If they do, praise them and give them a toy they can play with! 
• If that doesn’t work, get some treats and trade your puppy for the item they are holding on to. If they’re willing to trade, gently remove the item from their mouth and give them something else to play with.

Remember to always offer a toy or treat to trade for the item in their mouth. Make sure to praise your puppy for letting go of the item. We want our puppies to trust us and not become possessive of the items they take!

Decreasing Puppy Biting

If your puppy is also a part-time baby shark, it can be frustrating. Puppies will bite and nibble throughout the day for various reasons. From a lack of something better to chew on, frustration or overstimulation where play gets too rough, let’s go through them all:

Chewing on Your Hand:

To discourage this behavior you should gently give your puppy something else to chew on. Direct them towards a food or a puzzle to keep their mouth active and on something they can chew. If your puppy has enough things to chew on and you can redirect them towards those items then you will notice your puppy is less likely to pick your hands over a toy over time!

Biting When You Say “No” or Remove Something:

Your puppy may get frustrated when they don’t understand the rules of the human world they live in. They don’t know that jumping on counters, grabbing clothes or eating an entire jar of peanut butter is wrong. In their eyes, the fun is being taken away from them so they use their mouth to express their frustration.

To ease their frustration, make sure your pup’s environment is set up for all the things they can have. Puppy proof your home and give them only the right answers to choose from! This helps them learn how to make the right choices later down the road. Putting a leash on or going to their crate should be a fun activity, and not just an end of the fun.

Biting When Playing:

Playing with your puppy is all fun and games until their mouth gets involved! They can get overstimulated by a lot of things, including play. If you notice your puppy starting to go for your hands and clothes during play, then try and redirect them to a toy. If that doesn’t work, then you need to help them understand this is not an acceptable form of play.

You can accomplish this by quietly standing up and walking away for a few moments, then re-engaging with a toy. If that doesn’t work then try standing behind a gate for a few moments before re-engaging. The break in play will let your puppy know that when they get bite-y playtime stops. When they have a soft mouth you can continue to play.

What If Your Puppy Bites Hard?

While true puppy aggression is rare, you should contact a professional if you think this is the case. For the rest of the puppies, it’s ok when your puppy is biting and won’t settle down to place them in a crate or exercise pen with something nice to chew on. We often recommend KONG toys stuffed with peanut butter, treats or bully sticks. This prevents your puppy from practicing biting you and directs their mouth towards something appropriate. Make sure your puppy has many opportunities to explore and exercise during the day (both mentally and physically). This can also help cut down on the biting and chewing and tire them out!

Need more help? Have questions? Reach out to our training team at training@animalwelfaresociety.org. We’re always happy to lend a paw!

Be sure to keep an eye on our Canine Training page for puppy classes as well!