Biting

We adopted Misty about 2 weeks ago from the city (she was abandoned at city hall). She's a normal playful and happy puppy.

When she plays she nips and chews and I'm having a little trouble breaking her of this. She's got a Kong and a flavored Nylabone to chew on if she feels the need, and she does chew on them. She just wants to nip and chew on us and the other dog while playing as well.

When our older dog was a pup my husband would hold her lower jaw when she'd bite and she learned pretty quickly to stop. Now if she opens her mouth while playing with us she just very gently taps us with her teeth.

Misty still has VERY sharp baby teeth, so holding her lower jaw is a bit painful for me. She often gives kisses before she starts in on the chewing, so I am hesitant to yell or smack her since I don't want to confuse her by going from praises (while she's kissing) to punishment (for the sudden change to bites). I've been pulling my hand away when she bites and I'll say "No biting" or "No teeth", but it doesn't seem to be sinking in at all.

When she plays with our older dog, she bites her too. Abby (older dog) is smart enough not to bite the puppy hard (she just gently taps her with her teeth the way she does to us), but it makes me very nervous to see Abby's mouth wrapped around Misty's neck.

I've also seen Misty bare her teeth and growl when playing with Abby, but she's also bouncing around her wagging her tail so it seems that she's playing. And I've also seen Abby pin Misty to the group as jaws are snapping at each other and Misty has her tail tucked.. But as soon as she pops up she's wagging her tail and running after Abby for more. They seem to love each other, and I don't think either would intentionally hurt the other but I worry that if they still play this roughly when Misty is older that one of them will get hurt.

Okay, that was a bit of rambling but to cut to the chase, how do you properly teach a pup not to bite?

Do a net search on BITE INHIBITION.



Let us know if you have more questions.

Abby will teach her !!! You don't give Misty's age .... but I bet she wasn't with her Mom or litter long enough .

Abby will take care of herself, she sounds like she is doing the right things, she is not trying to hurt the pup she's just telling her to cut it out.

Please don't resort to smacking the puppy for nipping, she just thinks that's how you play, after all that's how dogs play with dogs. Instead of making her afraid to bite (by holding her jaw, smacking her or yelling at her) just make her learn it doesn't work, you can't play with hands if they go away every time you try. So if she bites stand up and turn your back on her and ignore her, don't look, talk to or touch her. Wait about 30 seconds and then go back and play with her using a toy. Eventually she'll learn that she can't chew you because it just does not work, when she tries all the fun ends So she should stop.

Also you said you know when she is going to bite (she starts licking you) so anticipate that and redirect her to a toy whens he starts her licking, sure licking is not bad but it's a predictor. Sorta like you take the dog out to go potty when she is sniffing around because it means she's about to potty, you don't wait until she's already begun to relieve herself if you can help it.

Just make sure you and everyone in your home is consistent in not allowing her to ever bite without you standing up and ignoring her.

Misty was estimated to be 8-9 weeks old when we got her about two weeks ago. Appearantly some woman just dropped her off in front of city hall and drove off :/

I know Abby is definately not trying to hurt her, but I don't think she's really trying to tell her to stop either. Abby is going to be 6 years old in August this year, but she's always been a puppy at heart. Many times I've seen the puppy tire of the games before she does. I think my main concern between these two is that Misty may be teaching Abby bad habits. When they first started to play, Misty would bite Abby's legs but Abby was just pushing her around a bit with her face at the time. Now Abby will randomly bite at Misty's legs with no provocation (gentle bites, but Abby started it). Like Misty will be walking by Abby holding a toy, and Abby will reach out grab one of Misty's legs and trip her so she'll fall down and she can steal the toy. Overall I'm suprised how good Abby has been about sharing her toys with the pup. She didn't even flinch when the puppy started playing with her favorite toy.

Abby is a good dog, but she's not a well behaved dog. She's fearful around anyone she hasn't known since she was a pup, and is usually afraid to go in the backyard alone unless it's the middle of the night and nobody in the neighborhood is outside. I want to make sure Misty doesn't pick up this behavior so I take her out to socialize with strangers as often as possible. Likewise, Misty is a pup so she's got bad habits at the moment, and I'm afraid Abby will pick up on those (last night Misty was chewing on some wall trim, shortly after that Abby started chewing on it). This is the first time I've tried having 2 dogs at once though, so I may just be reading too much in to things. I just want Misty to grow up in to a normal dog, so I want to be sure we don't repeat any mistakes we made with Abby.


I'm definately going to try this. So far the other methods we've tried have just resulted in more intense play from her.

The kisses don't always lead to bites though, so she's not always predictable.


I've been watching the two of them a bit more closely since I started reading the posts here, and I think (at least I hope) I am overreacting. Is there any sort of indicator I should look for to know when I should step in between them during play?