11/20/2025
These are all GREAT tips to help with breaking the biting stage! Take a look!
🐾 Puppy Biting Isn’t ‘Bad Behavior’... It’s Normal, Necessary, and Teachable!
(A quick guide for overwhelmed puppy parents & fosters)
If you’re currently living with a “land shark”…
A “piranha in a fur suit”… Or a “teeth-first-think-later” baby dog…
You are NOT alone. 😅💀
And your puppy isn’t broken.
They’re developing bite inhibition, one of the MOST important skills a dog will ever learn.
📣 Here’s what’s actually going on:
🐶 Puppies explore the world with their mouths.
Nipping, nibbling, grabbing sleeves, it’s how they learn.
It’s also how they communicate:
“I’m excited.”
“I’m overwhelmed.”
“I need structure.”
“I don’t know what to do with my body right now.”
Behavior = communication.
🧠 Bite inhibition is taught, not magically known.
Puppies don’t “outgrow” mouthing,
they outgrow it when humans teach gentle mouth skills consistently.
A dog who learns good bite inhibition becomes:
✔ safer as an adult
✔ calmer with frustration
✔ gentler with kids & other dogs
✔ easier to redirect
✔ more confident
💛 If your puppy is biting right now, please don’t panic.
The first 1–2 weeks in a new home are full of:
• decompression
• over-arousal
• new expectations
• mismatched routines
• anxiety they can’t express with words
So that biting?
Often it’s stress, not naughtiness.
🧩 What Actually Helps (and what doesn’t)
✔ Redirect, don’t react
Offer toys, chews, tugs - teach what to bite.
✔ Reward calm like it matters (it does)
If they choose a toy on their own → jackpot.
If they settle for 3 seconds → jackpot.
✔ Short bursts of play → tiny breaks
Over-stimulation = more biting.
✔ Enrichment = sanity
Lick mats, snuffle work, frozen Kongs, puppy puzzles, simple training games.
Mental exercise reduces mouthing more than physical exercise alone.
✔ Be consistent, not emotional
Puppies don’t need guilt - they need clarity.
🚫 Things that DON’T work (and can make it worse):
✖ yelling “NO”
✖ pushing them away
✖ holding their mouth shut
✖ pinning, popping, rolling
✖ letting the behavior go unaddressed
✖ expecting them to “just know better”
All of those either:
• increase arousal
• increase fear
• damage trust
• or accidentally reward the behavior
🐾 If you’re struggling, you’re not failing. You’re TRAINING.
Puppy biting is a phase, not a personality flaw.
Give them structure, outlets, clarity, and time…
and the land shark becomes a sweet, stable adult dog who knows how to use their mouth responsibly.
If you want a quick demo, step-by-step redirection plan, or personalized tips - drop a comment or message us.
We’re happy to help you and your tiny velociraptor. 🦖💗
https://portal.busypaws.app/customers/charlotte-s-corner-behavior-consulting
