What Does it Mean When Puppies Bite Hard?

Playtime

• When a puppy is young, it does not know how hard it bites. Puppies get excited during playtime, and need boundaries. Without boundaries, the puppy does not understand that hard biting is wrong. When a puppy bites too hard during playtime, let out a loud cry and stop playing immediately. Startling reactions to bad puppy behavior makes the puppy realize that hard biting is not OK.

Scared or Frightened

• Fearful biting occurs when a puppy is in a dangerous or scary situation. Biting is an instinct that is natural in puppies. A puppy bites hard in frightening situations because biting is its strongest defense. When a puppy is scared, you must observe it. Many puppies are simply frightened because of a new situation. When a puppy bites too hard because it is frightened, you must slowly ease the puppy into the situation. If the puppy has the same reaction, eliminate the problem completely. However, desensitizing the puppy to the situation is the only way to ensure that the reaction does not happen into adulthood.

Poorly Trained

• Not all puppy owners train their puppies properly. A poorly trained puppy continues biting hard if the biting is not addressed at an early age. Relaxed training with puppies allows negative behavior. Hard biting shows that the puppy does not have any sort of bite inhibition because it was never trained to understand that hard biting hurts. You must address hard biting as quickly as possible. Once a puppy realizes that hard biting hurts, it eventually stops the behavior.

Aggression

• Playing with the puppy too hard or purposefully irritating it are situations that often result in a hard bite from the puppy. Rough play triggers natural aggression in the puppy because it does not understand the difference between playing and actual fighting. Purposeful irritation while the puppy is sick, tired or hungry triggers a warning effect in the puppy which results in a hard bite. Previously abused puppies are also susceptible to aggressive hard biting. For example, if a puppy was abused by a man in a hat at one time and the puppy later sees a man in a hat in its new habitat, the puppy may act out in aggression by giving the man in the hat a hard bite.

Typical Puppy Behavior

• Biting is typical puppy behavior. Puppies bite out of hunger and for attention. Puppies also bite during teething because of aching or painful gums. Biting is a natural instinct for puppies. Instead of exploring the world through touch like human babies, puppies use the mouth. When an object or person is interesting to a puppy, it explores the object or person through bite. Typical puppy biting is when owners must begin training the puppy not to bite.

Breed

• Certain dog breeds, such as herding breeds, display biting more than other breeds. Herding breeds often nip at the ankles of owners as a way of getting the owner in order. Many smaller-breed puppies display more biting tendencies than larger dog breeds. In smaller dog breeds, biting at the heels is a habit started in puppyhood and carried over into adulthood. Smaller dog breeds are often not reprimanded for biting behavior the way a larger dog is. When a smaller puppy is not properly reprimanded for bad behavior, the puppy quickly develops small dog syndrome. This syndrome implies that the puppy is dominant over the owner or any other dogs in the house. The behavior is not punished and the puppy continues believing that it is the alpha dog in the family. This type of behavior needs changing from an early age.