Shiba Shake

Dog Tips, Care & Training

Puppy Biting – Managing Excitement and Self-Control

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To a puppy, everything is new, interesting, and exciting. This means that our puppy will try to bite, play with, and chew just about anything that he sees.

In addition, puppies have the infinite energy of youth. Like the Energizer Bunny, they can keep going, and going, and going. After a nap, their engines rev-up from SLEEP to GO, faster than you can catch your breath and shout “Stop!”.

Sound and movement are especially irresistible to a puppy.

The more we shout and move our hands, arms, or feet around, the more likely our puppy will get excited, bite, jump, and act even more crazy.

A very important part of training my puppy involves managing his excitement level, and teaching him self control. By doing this, I set my puppy up for success, and reduce out of control biting and jumping, before it occurs.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
~~[Benjamin Franklin]

Husky Puppy biting on a stick while getting a tummy-tub.
Managing Puppy Excitement and Self-Control

1. Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF)

Girl training Husky puppy and Shiba Inu (focus exercise with rewards).
1. Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF)

NILIF stands for Nothing in Life is Free. It is a great way to train a puppy, build a strong bond with him, and remain sane in the presence of our bouncing ball of fur.

NILIF is simple – we just ask our puppy to do something for us first, before we give him anything in return. This includes food, toys, freedom, and yes, even our affection.

First, I train my puppy to do some very simple commands. Here are three simple commands –

Husky puppy doing a down command together with attention focus.
Look simply asks puppy to give you eye contact for a short amount of time.

1. Look

Look simply asks a puppy to give us eye contact for a short amount of time.

  1. I train this command by showing my puppy that I have a piece of food.
  2. I say “Look”, and bring the food up to the level of my eyes.
  3. Puppy will naturally follow the movement of my food-enhanced hand, and look-up at me.
  4. As soon as he looks, I mark the behavior (Good!) and reward him with some food from my other hand.
  5. As my puppy improves, I get him to look at me for longer, before rewarding the behavior.

2. Touch

Touch asks a puppy to gently touch our hand with his nose.

  1. Again, I let my puppy see that I have some food in my hand.
  2. Then, I close my hand, move it a short distance away from my puppy, and say “Touch”.
  3. Puppy will naturally follow the food. At first, he may try to mouth or lick at my hand. I ignore these behaviors and wait until he touches my hand with his nose.
  4. As soon as that happens, I mark the behavior (Good!) and reward him with some food from my other hand.

3. Sit

Sit is a useful evergreen command. Even after our dog has matured into an adult, we will still find this command to be very handy.

  1. To train a Sit, I show my puppy that I have some food in my hand.
  2. I close my hand and move it over and above my puppy’s head. He will naturally want to follow my hand, which will cause him to turn his head up and move his rump down into a sitting position.
  3. Some dogs may move backwards instead of sitting. That is fine. I just repeat the motion until I get a Sit. However, it is important not to repeat the verbal command. I only say “Sit” once.
  4. As soon as my puppy sits, I mark the behavior (Good!), and give him a treat from my other hand.

Once my puppy understands these simple commands, I ask him to do something for me, before I do anything for him in return. For example,

  • Ask for a Look, before giving a puppy affection or tummy rubs.
  • Ask for a Sit, before we open the door for our puppy to go on his daily walk.
  • Ask for a Touch, before we give a puppy his interactive food toy.

This teaches our puppy that the best way to get what he wants, is to do what we want first. When my puppy bites, I no-mark the behavior (Ack-Ack) and give him an alternate command (e.g., Sit). This not only teaches our puppy what not to do (bite), but also what to do instead (sit).

Husky puppy Lara doing a Sit in her little puppy pool.
Siberian Husky puppy Lara doing an awesome Sit and patiently waiting for her reward.

2. Drag Lead

Husky puppy chewing on soft-dog-toy while lying on her side (wearing drag-lead).
2. Drag Lead
Siberian Husky puppy Shania chewing on a bone toy.
By using a lead, I can easily control and stop my puppy from jumping and biting.

Sometimes, puppies get so excited while playing, that they are no longer able to listen to us. In general, I try to step in and have a play break before this happens. However, we may sometimes miss our window of opportunity, and our puppy becomes so excited that he will not stop biting or jumping.

In such situations, I find that it is extremely useful to have a drag lead on my puppy. By using a lead, I can easily control and stop his bad behavior.

Often, when a puppy bites, our instinct is to try and stop him by using our hands and arms. We push back, shout, and move-around a lot. All this hand and arm movement will only get him even more excited, because he thinks we are playing with him. Furthermore, rapid movement may trigger a dog’s prey drive and get him to bite more, and bite harder.

To stop a puppy from biting, it is important to stay calm, don’t shout, and not move in a fast and erratic fashion. Instead, I calmly pick up the drag lead and move my puppy into a quiet area, where he can calm down.

I use a flat collar with the drag lead. Do not use an aversive collar such as a choke chain or a prong. Such collars are risky. Some choose to use them during supervised walks, but they should always be removed at the end of the walk. I also cut the loop of my drag lead, so that it does not catch on furniture or objects in the house, while my puppy is running around. I only use a drag lead when I am around to supervise.

Husky puppy Shania playing ball with Shiba Inu Sephy (both wearing drag-lead).
Siberian Husky Puppy and Shiba Inu playing ball. Both have drag leads to manage excitement level and puppy biting.

3. Lots of Exercise & Play

Husky puppy doing a flying leap-attack on adult Husky (playing).
Lots of Exercise and Play

Puppies are extremely energetic and curious. As such, they often need a lot of activity and play time.

If we do not provide interesting and supervised activities for them to do, they will figure out their own activities which will rarely appeal to our human sensibilities. Bored puppies will start chewing on books, curtains, furniture, and people.

To reduce puppy biting, make sure to provide him with a lot of physical and mental stimulation.

Interactive food toys are a big favorite with my dogs. Instead of presenting food to them on a silver dog bowl, I put some of their food into interactive food toys. In this way, they are motivated to work on the toy, and they get mental and physical exercise while figuring out the best and fastest way to get at the food.

Daily walks will also help to drain a puppy’s energy. Make sure that a puppy has had all of his shots before taking him to areas where there are other dogs, and where there is poop from other dogs.

Puppies also love playing with other puppies. Nothing burns quite as much energy as a fun puppy chase and wrestling session. I make sure that all my puppy’s play-mates are balanced, healthy, and have had their requisite number of shots.

Other fun puppy games include soccer, catch, fetch, tug, and flirt pole.

Husky puppy Lara (on-lead) playing with adult Husky and Shiba Inu in the backyard.
Nothing burns quite as much energy as a fun puppy chase and wrestling session.

4. Rules and Routine

Three dogs doing a sit together (group reward training).
4. Rules and Routine.

Puppyhood is the best time to teach a dog new tricks. Puppies learn quickly, and are usually eager to please.

I set up a fixed routine for my puppy as early as possible, and also start enforcing a consistent set of house rules. My puppy routine includes food time, play time, walk time, chew time, grooming time, training time, and most important of all – sleep time. Puppy sleep time is when I get some much needed time-off, away from Energizer puppy. *Hooah!*

In the beginning, it is best to institute more house rules and to address them consistently. In this way, our puppy does not develop any bad habits, which will be hard to break later on.

My dogs have the following house rules –

  • No getting on furniture.
  • No biting on people or people stuff.
  • No pawing on people.
  • No guarding of toys or food.
  • No bullying of other dogs.

Congratulations on your new puppy! Puppy time is precious and passes very quickly, so enjoy yourself and take lots of pictures. 😀

Siberian Husky puppy play-biting with adult Husky.
Puppy time is precious and passes very quickly, so enjoy yourself and take lots of pictures.

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Comments

  1. Hi there.
    I have a 10 month old pup. And theres a bit of a story to this.
    He was a rescue pup, he was stuck in a kennel for 18+ hours a day, and due to his previous owner, he had lost his eye, and thats how i got him.
    he was about 5.5 months when I got him.
    and i have tried everything to make him stop biting and jumping. Hes gotten to the point that he bites to play and my poor mother is bruised to high heavens. I walk him, i reward him for good behavior, take him to the dog park with other dogs, what more can I do? I love my little guy, very much, but his attitude is terrible! Please help!

    Reply

  2. Hi I have an 48 days old german shepherd it keeps byting and does not play with toys but it prefers hand finger and foot if i leave it in cage it keeps shouting kindly suggest what has to be done

    Reply

  3. Help please. I have a 12 week old Siberian Husky puppy called Phoenix. I make sure she is well cared for, played with everything, but lately she has started to bark at me and family member and even tries to bite you if you don’t back down at her. She has been trained in how to sit, and that she doesn’t get a reward unless she has done something good. Feels like I am doing some thing wrong other than this little problem she is a great dog, very friendly to strangers and loves being around children.

    Reply

    • What do you and other family members do when she barks or bites at you? In what situations does she bark or try to bite? What is her daily routine like? What are her house rules?

      My Huskies do well when there is structure and a fixed routine. I set up a set of consistent rules and keep to a regular schedule. I also follow the Nothing in Life is Free program. I talk more about these things in the article above.

      What I do when my Husky puppy tries to bite at me.
      I also do bite inhibition training with my dogs.

      Consistency, timing, technique, and repetition are all very important while training my Husky. Everyone in the house uses the same training techniques and enforces the same rules so that there is consistency, and my puppy does not get confused.

      When in doubt, I consult with a good professional trainer because dog behavior is very context dependent. When I was having issues with my Shiba Inu, we visited with several trainers. It was also helpful to have someone there to help me with timing, technique, and consistency.

      Congratulations on your new Husky boy and big hugs to Phoenix.

  4. Hi I have a 7 month old husky called Titan I love him to bits but I can’t get to stop biting I have tried all sort e.g using toys, spray bottle, a loud “ouch” and putting him in is cage for a time out. But still he bites and it is getting harder and hurting I am scared when I have visitors with there children, that he will hurt them xx

    Reply

  5. Hey ,

    I am so glad I found this website !!!
    I got an 8 week old husky puppy 3 days ago , he s name is Skye and he s lovely , but i m really having difficulties in teaching him to not pee everywhere 🙁 , i try redirecting him all the time to the place where he should and i treat him when he does good , any additional tips please??? also when i try to caress not just play but he doesn t stand still and just bites everything on me all my clothes and especially my hands …. what to do:( , i try to say no but he keeps biting…. again any advice please?:(

    Thank you for everything !!!!!
    Regards
    Iulia Neagoe

    Reply

    • Congratulations on your new Husky puppy!

      In terms of potty training, I find that supervision is key. I need to be watching my puppy so that as soon as I see her show any of her potty signals, I can quickly take her outside to do her business. Then, I can reinforce the behavior by rewarding her *very very well* for it with a lot of fun play, affection, and treats. The more successes we have, the more she learns that going outside is the right thing to do. Similarly, if she goes in the house and nobody is there to supervise her, then she will think it is ok to go in the house.

      I also set up a fixed routine for my puppy, so that her potty schedule also becomes more regular. Here is more on what I do to potty train my puppy.

      As for puppy biting, this is what I do when my puppy bites on me. My puppy also does better when she has a consistent structure, rules, and a fixed routine. In this way, she knows what is expected of her and also what to expect from me. I follow the Nothing in Life is Free program with all of my dogs. I talk more about what I do in the article above.

      Here is a bit more on how dogs learn.

  6. I have a 3 month old Boxer who has aton of energy but the problem I have is the leash. She loves to bite it and it get wrapped around her legs. She also has this thing about grabbing my pant leg and going to between my legs when outside walking. How do i get this under control? Please help

    Reply

  7. I have a 4 month female Labrador , I don’t know if you know about them much but she is quite a handful and sometimes it gets annoying. She does not obey my command or when she actually listens to sit is when I have food in my hand plus she has a bad biting problem with just me she also tries to grab my legs and does not let go and she’s super hyper … I don’t know what to do . Please help.

    Reply

  8. Hi there,

    I need some serious help. I have an almost 4 month old husky puppy that we got when she was 2.5 months old. Since day one almost she has been a biter and I did a lot of research on Siberian Huskys and found that they we’re great dogs for kids which I have 2 6 and 3 year old girls but I did not see this problem coming as I have never experienced it in other puppys I have owned in the past and biting was corrected fairly quickly. But she is getting to the point where she is inflicting damage. For example my youngest was sitting at the table coloring and I was doing the dishes and she came up to her grabbed her by the arm and yanked her off the chair ( I can not figure out why ) she broke skin, then tonight my daughter was sitting on the couch and the puppy comes full speed out of our bedroom jumps on the couch grabs her by the arm again and pulled her down off the couch and started dragging her I was so petrified because my daughter was screaming but nothing was coming out and I looking at her arm and you could see each individual tooth impression and the fangs punctured her skin again. Now I understand not freaking out pulling your arm away screaming but how are small children supposed to act when being attacked out of no where and it is extremely painful. Also my husband scruffed her because she was not letting go and she turned around and bit him and drew A LOT of blood from him. Here’s what I have done so far stuck with one command for a few weeks NO BITE firmly…No results at all next I tried holding her muzzles for a few seconds for another few weeks no result. I have also tried puppy time outs and she yelps very loudly scratches the door to the point where the paint is coming off. As far as her home life goes I walk her 4 miles everyday, she has an abundance of toys and plenty of attention since I am a stay at home mom. I am at a loss I have tried to yelp and it futher excites her too, but I am so upset because we may have to give her up if we can not get this under control because it has already become a danger to my children since she is breaking skin now and I can’t have that happening no matter how much I love her. I just feel like she is taking over the house because we are all being bitten for no good reason my kids are terrified now because they have taken bite after bite from her and she’s not even four months old. Any Advice?

    Reply

    • Hello Sarah,

      My youngest Husky, Lara, was also pretty mouthy as a puppy. She is very energetic and would often get bitey when she wants to play and interact with me. She uses her mouth to play with my other dogs, and she also tries to play with me in that way. Some things that help with Lara-
      1. I do a lot of bite inhibition training with all my dogs. Bite inhibition teaches a dog to control the force of her bites when interacting with people.

      2. I put a drag-lead on Lara during her training period. I *only* do this when I am right there to supervise, and I make sure to use a flat collar (not an aversive collar). If she gets mouthy while interacting with a guest, I will no-mark the behavior. If she does not stop, I calmly lead her away using her drag-lead. Then, we do simple some obedience commands, which helps her to calm down. I make sure to reward her well for doing commands and being calm. Then she stays with me for a while. When she is fully calm, I let her try again. In this way, she learns that –

      Jumping and biting guests = Don’t get to be with cool new people,
      Sitting and staying calm = Get to interact with people.

      3. I set up a fixed routine for puppy Lara and teach her interaction rules with people and other dogs. To do this, I need to supervise her very closely during interaction. If I am too busy to supervise, I keep her with me in the kitchen or computer room. In this way, I am always right there if she plays too rough, and I can properly correct the behavior in a calm way, and teach her what to do instead. After she learns the rules of play and knows what is expected of her, then I *very slowly* give her more freedom.

      4. I play structured games with Lara – this is a good way to train her to control her bites even when she is excited. For example, when we play tug, the rule is no getting teeth on me and no jumping on me. If she does any of these things, I no-mark and briefly stop the game. I also manage her level of excitement by throwing in lots of play breaks, where we do some simple obedience commands so she refocuses on me and gets a chance to calm down. I make sure to reward her very well during play breaks, so she is very happy to follow commands. After a short break, we start the game again. Playing structured games helps to teach her impulse control.

      5. I follow the Nothing in Life is Free program with all of my dogs. It is a very good way to teach them and motivate them to follow house rules and interaction rules.

      6. If Lara bites or jumps on me, this is what I do.

      7. Giving Lara other outlets for her wrestling and rough-play energy also helps. She got lots of supervised play sessions with my other two dogs, and we also took her to puppy play-groups in a nearby dog daycare center. I visited the daycare place first, and made sure that everything is well run, clean, all the puppies are healthy and properly vaccinated, etc.

      To stop biting, being calm is very important. If there is a lot of shouting and moving around, that will get Lara even more excited, and she would want to bite and play more. What works best for her, is to be calm, to quickly no-mark the behavior, and to be right there to stop her and teach her what to do instead. Timing, consistency, and repetition are key in puppy training.

      Also my husband scruffed her because she was not letting go and she turned around and bit him and drew A LOT of blood from him.

      This is where the drag-lead is very helpful. In the beginning, I used to grab my Shiba Inu (during his puppy days), and he would redirect his excited energy onto me. He never broke skin because of bite inhibition, but it was not very pleasant. He also got very sensitive to handling because he associated people touching him with punishment. Using a drag-lead helps me to avoid all that, and get him under control quickly. If he is too excited, I just walk him around for a while with the lead, so that he can release his energy.

      In addition, I try to manage my dogs so that they don’t get into a high state of excitement. When they play with each other or are interacting with people, I throw in many play breaks. Each break helps them to calm down and refocus on me.

      For this to work, I also make sure that my guests understand the right way to interact with my dogs. For example, no rough play, no teasing them with food and toys, and no corrections. I correct my own dogs so that there is consistency in their training, and so that they always know what to expect from the people around them.

      Here is a bit more on how dogs learn.

      It was also helpful to consult with professional trainers during my difficult times with my Shiba Inu-
      http://www.apdt.com/pet-owners/choosing-a-trainer/

    • I have the same problem but not that bad. She is a husky too and she is 8.5 mouths old now and still doing it she is getting better. What we did is get her a kneel that will help with your door being damaged and make sure she sleeps in it too. Every time my dog gets excited or starts to bite in the house that’s where she goes and she knows she’s in trouble. But sometimes she bites for other reasons like instead of waiting at the door and she comes up and bites me I try to ignore and then she well usely give up and go to the door and bark and if she doesn’t give up in the kneel she goes

      I really hope this information is helpful I love my dog too it does get better I promise the first three mouths were treable but now she is doing so much better I’m only 14 years old and I have to go to school and then I do volunteer work on the weekends. Then your a stay at home mom you have so much more time that you get to spend with your dog.

      It also helps when she gets all excited that you put a leach on her to have her calm down

  9. I recently brought home my 8 week old Shiba, Kira, and believe that she is the most interesting little thing! She is so entertaining to play with and watch but she likes to chew on EVERYTHING! Especially anything that is hard (metal chair legs/tv stand, concrete, and the wood platform for a chair), along with this she’s starting to nip at people near the face. How should we get this behavior to stop?

    Reply

    • Congratulations on your new puppy!

      With Sephy, timeouts work well for controlling his people biting behavior. Here is more on what I do.

      For biting on furniture and other things, I no-mark, body block him away, and redirect him onto a toy. If he redirects, I make sure to reward him well with a fun game. If he keeps going back to bite on the furniture, then I limit his freedom and keep him in the kitchen with me using a baby gate. In this way, he learns that-

      Bite on toys = Get rewarded with games and attention,
      Bite on furniture = Lose freedom to roam in the furniture area.

      I also follow the NILIF program, set up a fixed schedule, consistent rules, and many of the other things that I describe above.

      Big hugs to Kira!

  10. Hi, I’m really pleased to have found your site, we just re-homed a saluki/lurcher puppy. She is 7 months and came from a home with young children, who couldn’t cope with her anymore. We’re only at day 3, and you tips will really help. They are clear and not complicated like some advice. Looking forward to putting everything into practice!!
    Sarah

    Reply

    • Thanks, we also have a retired racing greyhound called Ash, he is getting to know her, and I just found your second dog section so will be using that too!!! x