Here’s how to stop your dog’s excited biting and the key things to remember:
Why Excited Dogs Bite
- It’s a natural expression of happiness, like a human smiling. They don’t mean to cause harm.
How to Stop Excited Biting
- Don’t Intimidate: Avoid scolding, hitting, or grabbing the dog as this can worsen the behavior.
- Soft Toy Defense: Redirect biting towards a soft toy, making it less fun to bite you.
- Cue Word “Stop”: Train your dog to associate the word “Stop” with ceasing the biting.
- Distraction: Toss treats away to immediately shift your dog’s focus.
- Brief Time-Outs: If needed, calmly put your dog in a separate space to cool down before rejoining you.
What NOT To Do
- Yelling or Hitting: This builds fear and mistrust, not calm behavior.
- Encouraging the Biting: Playing rough and letting the dog chase can make the problem worse.
- Biting Back: Your dog doesn’t understand this, and it could escalate the situation.
Is It Aggression or Excitement?
Excited biting is playful, unlike aggression which involves growling, tense body language, etc. If unsure, consult a professional dog behaviorist for assessment.
Key Takeaways
- Excited biting is normal, but training helps your dog express themselves safely.
- Be patient and consistent with positive redirection methods.
- Never use punishment, as it damages your bond with your dog.
- If you’re concerned about aggression, seek professional guidance.
Why Does a Dog Need to be Stopped from Biting?
Being dog owners, we all have come through that difficulty when our dog bites when excited. They usually do so because they don’t have the sense that their biting can even 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 kinds of fatalities in the future, it’s better to train the dog to stay calm at the time it gets happy. Hence a dog shall be stopped from biting.
Why Does an Excited Dog Try to Bite?
As per the research done by the 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 possess any intention to harm their owner when they bite them, and 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 that an owner shall follow to make their dog behave properly and stop them from nipping at the time 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 or 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 also to distract your dog from the fact of biting can be helpful.
For using a soft toy as a defending shield, all you can do is take a soft toy and put it in front of your dog’s mouth and let him bite the toy.
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 thing which they are provided regularly. It doesn’t matter if it was behavioral training or a workout session; the pet will always follow what the owner has taught him after getting good practice.
To control your dog’s overly excited behavior, the owner can introduce a cue word like “stop” and use it 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, all the owner has to do is take a handful of its favorite treats and throw it at a distance from you.
After getting the smell of its favorite food, the pet will stop nipping abruptly. Hence this is one of the best options to go with.
Make a Barrier Within the Excessive Excitement
Most dog owners often use to keep their dog away from a place that can cause them excitement as a training procedure to make the pet learn that if he keeps on biting, then he will not be allowed to take part in any happiness-causing the incident.
It is quite an excellent option to go with, but not all the time, as this can make the pet saddened.
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 to follow.
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 that 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 hitting the puppy shall be strictly avoided by the dog owner.
Entice the Biting Behavior
This is one of the most important facts that a dog owner shall never avoid while making the pet learn to stop biting.
As per the research done on the behavior of dogs during over-excitement, most of the dogs used to chase 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 the dog owners that they shall 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 the 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?
Barking, growling, and biting are the most common responses that pets use to show when it gets over-excited. This type of 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. In that case, the owner can go for a certified dog trainer and a canine behavior consultant.
They will make the dog learn how to behave at a time of excitement and make you understand what dogs’ aggressive behavior looks like.
This will help you avoid further confusion in the future about your dog’s aggressive and playing behavior.
So here we are with the complete advice if you are thinking about stopping your dog from biting due to excitement.
We hope that this article has helped you clear all your doubts regarding how to stop your dog from biting when excited and won’t give you any more chance to complain.
