Summary
Excited biting is a natural expression of happiness in dogs, not aggression. To stop it, avoid intimidating your dog with scolding or hitting. Redirect their biting onto a soft toy. Train a “Stop” cue word. Immediately distract them with tossed treats. If needed, use brief, calm time-outs. Never yell, hit, encourage biting, or bite back. Consistency and positive redirection are key. If you’re unsure if it’s excitement or aggression (indicated by growling, tense body language), consult a professional dog behaviorist.
Why Does a Dog Need to be Stopped from Biting?
Being dog owners, we all have overcome that difficulty when our dog bites when excited. They usually do so because they don’t know their biting can harm their owners. But dog training can go a long way.
As per cynologists, if dogs bite a human, then the bacteria present in the teeth of the dog can get transmitted to the human being,
which can further cause severe viruses like tetanus, rabies, sepsis, etc. So, to avoid such fatalities in the future, it’s better to train the dog to stay calm when it gets happy. Hence, a dog should be stopped from biting.
Why Does an Excited Dog Try to Bite?
As per the research done by cynologists on the behavior of dogs during their excitement, the information came out that the biting of dogs when they get excited is a natural response that comes from their body to express their feeling of joy.
Like humans used to smile when they got happy, dogs also used to jump or bite their close ones when they got excited or happy.
The dog usually doesn’t intend to harm their owner when they bite them; they just used to do this to share their happiness with them.
How to Stop My Dog from Biting When Excited?
A dog owner might go through various difficulties while training their dog to behave correctly and stop excited puppy biting.
The steps an owner shall follow to make their dog behave properly and stop them from nipping at times of excitement are discussed below.
Avoid Intimidating the Dog
To stop the dog from biting during excitement. At first, the owner has to skip behaving intimidatingly with their pet.
This is because, as per research, if the owner scolds, muzzles, grabs, or pushes the dog away to stop him from biting, it can adversely affect the owner.
The pet will try even more to bite the person who has pushed him away to defend himself. So, most veterinarians suggest that dog owners must avoid intimidating behavior with dogs when they try to bite.
Use a Soft Toy as a Defense Shield
There is a belief that dogs might often bite their owner because they find it fun to chase them. So, using a soft toy to defend yourself and distract your dog from biting can be helpful.
Using a soft toy as a defending shield, you can take a soft toy, put it in front of your dog’s mouth, and let him bite it.
This will eventually lead to stopping the dog’s nipping as the pet will realize that he is not getting a funny reaction from the owner after his biting.
Train the Dog by Introducing the Cue Word ‘Stop’
Dogs often get used to the things that they are provided regularly. It doesn’t matter if it is behavioral training or a workout session; the pet will always follow what the owner taught him after good practice.
To control your dog’s overly excited behavior, the owner can use a cue word like “stop” whenever it tries to bite you in over-excitement.
Create Some Distractions at the Moment
It is quite an easy step for dog owners to follow and very effective in stopping a dog from biting during its over-excitement.
To create some distractions, the owner has to take a handful of its favorite treats and throw them away from you.
After getting the smell of its favorite food, the pet will stop nipping abruptly. Hence, this is one of the best options.
Make a Barrier Within the Excessive Excitement
Most dog owners often keep their dogs away from a place that can cause them excitement. This training procedure teaches the pet that if he keeps biting, he will not be allowed to participate in any happiness-causing incident.
It is quite an excellent option, but only sometimes, as this can sadden the pet.
To create a barrier, all the owner has to do is keep him in a cage with his favorite food and make him feel like biting is wrong with certain expressions.
This will make the pet realize that biting can stop him from participating in the happiness of its owner.
Follow Systemic Setups
Most dog owners often follow systemic setups to keep their dogs in control. As we all know, the arrival of guests is the happiest moment for a dog, where the level of oxytocin reaches its peak, which makes the pet behave differently.
Following systemic setups like keeping the pet in a separate room when the guests enter the house and letting him be there until the guests leave can be an excellent step.
All the steps mentioned above are best to go with, and a dog owner can entirely rely upon these steps to stop their pet while they try to bite their owner due to excitement.
What Things Should a Dog Owner Avoid While Stopping Their Dog from Nipping?
A dog owner must take care of all the necessary things while trying to make their dog stop nipping due to excessive excitement or jumping.
The steps a dog owner should avoid while trying to stop the playful mouthing nipping of its dogs are discussed below.
Yell or Hit the Puppy
A dog owner shall never shout, yell, or hit the puppy when it tries to bite off over-excitement; as we have discussed, excited mouthing nipping is a natural process of dogs that comes out as a response from their body against the excessive excitement they only show to their close ones.
So, if you yell or hit your dog at that time, it will cause specific adverse effects on your bond and make your dog think about you as a source of pain who used to hit him when he gets happy. Hence, the dog owner shall strictly avoid hitting the puppy.
Entice the Biting Behavior
This is one of the most important facts a dog owner should never avoid while teaching the pet to stop biting.
As per the research on dogs’ behavior during over-excitement, most dogs chased things that tried to escape from that place when they tried to bite it of happiness.
Removal of a thing the dog wants to bite always causes more desperation in dogs, which can sometimes be dangerous. So, it’s suggested to dog owners that they should never entice the biting behavior of dogs.
Bite the Puppy Back
Biting the puppy back might sound awkward, but many dog owners used to do puppy bites as a fun process and make the situation even worse.
It is suggested to all dog owners that they strictly avoid biting back the dog when it used to do so, as your pet is aware that you are not an animal like him.
If you bite back your dog, the pet might get afraid of it and try to defend itself by biting you even harder.
Is the Puppy’s Nipping When Excited a Sign of its Aggressive Behavior?
When it gets over-excited, barking, growling, and biting are the most common responses pets use when this behavior can sometimes seem aggressive to dog owners, but that’s not the fact.
But suppose the owner still feels that the pet is behaving aggressively. The owner can hire a certified dog trainer and a canine behavior consultant in that case.
They will teach the dog how to behave at a time of excitement and help you understand what a dog’s aggressive behavior looks like.
This will help you avoid further confusion about your dog’s aggressive and playing behavior.
So here we are with the complete advice if you are considering stopping your dog from biting due to excitement.
We hope this article has helped you clear all your doubts regarding stopping your dog from biting when excited and won’t give you more chances to complain.
