Why do puppies bite us?

The answer lies in the many uses of their mouth "multi tool"

First, Let me count the ways….the ways that puppies bite us! ⦁ Reflexively: Most puppy biting is reflexive, meaning that the puppy doesn't really "think" much about it or have complex motivations for the action. Much like a human baby who reflexively puts their fist or your finger into their mouth for a chew, puppies who are biting reflexively simply grab human parts and put them in their mouth. Very often this is triggered by touch, so we pet the puppy and the puppy whips their head around and latches onto us.

⦁ Defensively (without aggression): It seems counter intuitive I know, but puppies often bite defensively but without aggression. While this really doesn't occur in adult dogs (who if they feel defensive will often use more complex distance increasing displays or aggressive behavior to avoid conflict or protect themselves) it DOES occur very commonly in puppies. Puppies come hard wired to bite thoughtlessly to defend themselves from their littermates, who, being puppies, bite a LOT. So, the younger the puppy is the more likely you are to see this type of biting, which can look at lot like the reflexive biting above, the difference being that this type of biting is designed by nature to help the puppy communicate they need something to STOP HAPPENING to them. This is most often their littermates biting them, but it can also be triggered by how we touch and handle our puppy. ⦁ Offensively (without aggression): Puppies can also bite because they want to play and biting is just as integral to puppy play as holding and touching things with hands is to human child play. This is very commonly seen when puppies chase and bite our feet, grab our hand, hair, and bite at our faces. Unlike defensive biting, which our puppies use to try to get something to STOP happening to them, offensive puppy biting is intended to get something to happen (ie start the game) or get something to continue to happen (continue the game) by closing the distance between us. Puppies love to play and they really only know how to play with their mouth when they are young.

Why does it matter WHY our puppy is biting us? Because every behavior has a function (why the behavior is occurring and what the purpose of the behavior is) if we have a good idea what the function of the behavior is, we can actually affect the behavior itself. To affect the behavior itself learn to pay attention to the A-B-Cs.

⦁ A- Antecedent (what happens before)⦁ B- Behavior (what the puppy does)⦁ C- Consequence (what happens after)

We will be paying particular attention to the Antecedent (what happens right before) because this is often where the solution to undesirable behaviors is found. When we change the antecedent that happens before, we will change the behavior that follows. Yay!