Many new owners are surprised by how much puppies bite, nibble and chew. However, this behaviour is completely normal. Puppies explore the world with their mouths, much like young children use their hands to investigate new objects.
During the early months of life, puppies also go through a teething stage. As their adult teeth begin to come through, they experience discomfort and feel a strong urge to chew to relieve the pressure in their gums.
Due to this, puppies will often chew whatever they can reach, including furniture, shoes, clothing and hands. Rather than trying to stop chewing entirely, the goal is to guide your puppy towards appropriate items to chew and help them learn how to interact gently with people.
Puppies naturally use their mouths when they play. In the litter, they spend a lot of time play fighting and mouthing their siblings and mother. This helps them develop coordination, learn bite control and understand social boundaries.
When puppies come into a new home, they may continue this behaviour with people because they see it as part of normal play.
Some puppies also mouth more than others. Energetic breeds and working breeds can sometimes be more enthusiastic in their play, which may include grabbing hands, sleeves, trouser legs or ankles.
It is important to remember that play biting is usually a temporary phase. Most puppies gradually grow out of this behaviour between three and five months of age as they mature and learn better ways to play.
Patience and gentle guidance during this period are key to helping your puppy learn appropriate behaviour.
The most effective way to manage play biting is to redirect your puppy onto something more appropriate.
Keeping a variety of safe chew toys nearby can help. If your puppy begins mouthing your hands or clothing, calmly offer them a toy instead. Moving the toy and making it interesting will encourage your puppy to focus on it rather than your hands.
Interactive games such as tug can also be helpful when done safely. Using large, soft toys allows your puppy to grab and chew without accidentally catching your fingers.
Teething puppies may also benefit from suitable chews or teething toys that help relieve discomfort.
Over time, puppies learn that toys provide a satisfying outlet for chewing and play.
Puppies often mouth more at certain times of the day. Understanding when this behaviour occurs can help you manage it more effectively.
For example, puppies may become more mouthy when they are tired, overly excited, bored, frustrated or hungry.
Keeping a note of when mouthing occurs can help you identify patterns. You may find that offering playtime, a short training session, a walk, or a chew toy at these moments helps prevent biting before it starts.
Certain items can be especially tempting for puppies. Loose clothing, dangling drawstrings, slippers and dressing gown ties can easily become targets for playful biting.
While your puppy is still learning, it may help to remove these temptations where possible. This reduces opportunities for unwanted chewing and helps your puppy focus on appropriate toys instead.
Puppy play biting can be particularly challenging when young children are involved. Puppy teeth are very sharp, and children may instinctively squeal, wave their hands or pull away quickly when bitten. Unfortunately, these reactions can make the situation more exciting for the puppy and encourage more biting.
For this reason, interactions between puppies and children should always be closely supervised. If active supervision is not possible, it is best to separate them temporarily using barriers such as baby gates.
Children should not be expected to manage mouthing behaviour themselves.
Puppies need a lot of sleep; often far more than owners expect. Just like young children, overtired puppies can become irritable and overexcited, which often leads to increased biting.
Encouraging regular rest periods throughout the day can help prevent this.
Providing meals at consistent times is also important. Hunger can make puppies restless and more likely to mouth. Puppies have small stomachs, so need to eat several times a day.
Finally, puppies need appropriate levels of mental and physical stimulation. Opportunities to play, explore, train and interact help prevent boredom, which is another common trigger for chewing and biting.
If your puppy continues to bite hard during play, you may need to briefly remove them from the situation.
One approach is to calmly guide the puppy away for a very short break from attention. This could mean leading them behind a stair gate or into another room for a brief moment until they settle.
The aim is to show the puppy that biting causes play and attention to stop. Once calm, they can return and try again.
These breaks should only last a short time so the puppy can associate the pause with the biting behaviour.
It is important not to use your puppy’s crate for this purpose, as the crate should remain a positive place where the puppy can relax.
When teaching a puppy not to mouth or bite, certain approaches should be avoided.
Allowing puppies to chew on hands or fingers during play can encourage a habit that becomes painful as they grow older.
Making high-pitched squealing sounds may seem like a way to signal discomfort, but it often excites puppies and encourages more biting.
Punishing or scolding a puppy is also not helpful as harsh reactions can frighten puppies and damage trust. Instead, calm management, redirection and patience are far more effective.
Although puppy biting can feel frustrating (and painful) at times, it is usually a normal stage of development. With consistent guidance, appropriate toys and plenty of patience, most puppies learn quickly that gentle play is the best way to interact with people.
By supporting your puppy through this stage, you will help them develop into a well-mannered and confident adult dog.
