Really cool tips for biting hands

So our four month old puppy Oreo has been doing the usual nibbling and biting of our hands.

We have tried the following;

Proactive / Positive Reinforcement - Holding treats in my hand which he tried to take from me and rewarding him with one ONLY when he backs off when I shout 'off'. He has learned this commend well in training and responds to "off" OCCASIONALLY when he attempts to bite my hands.

Redirection - When he attempts to bite my hands I grab a puppy toy for him to chew instead. Also I give him plenty of praise when he spontaneously chew's his toys.

Ignore unwanted behaviour - If he does not respond to "off" and there are no toys near by then I simply but my hands behind my back and completely ignore him. I dont make eye contact. I dont speak to him. He usually HATES this and will give up.

Punitive / Punishing - When all the above has failed I have tried an assertive 'NO'. I have tried this before with a sharp finger jab to his neck. I have found this the least effective. Anything punishing escalates his biting and he becomes agressive, as if its a game he must win.

Aversive Conditioning - This one is a WINNER and works ALL THE TIME - EVERY TIME. We put tabasco sauce on our fingers. He went to bite - backed off IMMEDIATELY. Screwed his face up and did not go to bite again. I know its not practical to have Tabasco sauce on you hands all the time and some may disagree wit use of this. Only a suggestion.

Hope these tips help out in any way. It certainly is challenging dealing with this behaviour, but a firm and consistant approach appears to work best.

Good luck guys \\\\\\\\m/

Thanks for that!

Jamesss wrote:Ignore unwanted behaviour - If he does not respond to "off" and there are no toys near by then I simply but my hands behind my back and completely ignore him. I dont make eye contact. I dont speak to him. He usually HATES this and will give up.

I've always found this to be the most effective method long-term.

The tabasco sauce is always a winner!
Used it on my mates spaniel and my GOD did that animal flee! Never bit me again though

@ Skullkandi - Awesome - glad to hear someone else has used this! I thought I was being cruel at first but I guess its similar to having that horrible nail stuff we use on our fingers to stop nail biting.

@ Caryll - I think the ignoring unwanted behaviour is a really powerful one as often when they are nibbling, biting - they are trying to elicit attention, care, affection. So ignoring them sends the message that this is not the way to do it.

Interesting it worked on your dog we did the same on Harry and Louis when they kept eating the furniture ! They developed a liking for the stuff !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

@harlou - lol I guess if the compulsion is strong then it may not work! I know when I used the nail biting varnish, I took a liking to it in the end. I still bite my nails today ha

I'm hoping Oreo doesn't start liking the Tabasco!!!

They used too love a nice chicken madras ,wernt keen on poppadoms tho!!!!!!!!!!!!! Olly hates anything spicy,so i guess its down to taste lol

I think the ignoring works best. There is a product called bitter apple that works the same as tobasco but is designed for dogs. It can be used on furniture or anything else you don't want them to chew on as well

Jamesss wrote:
Aversive Conditioning - This one is a WINNER and works ALL THE TIME - EVERY TIME. We put tabasco sauce on our fingers. He went to bite - backed off IMMEDIATELY. Screwed his face up and did not go to bite again. I know its not practical to have Tabasco sauce on you hands all the time and some may disagree wit use of this. Only a suggestion.

I wouldn't use that one unless it was absolutely a last resort! I don't like aversion training, it's too negative & punitive for me.

I did have success with bitter aloe. Put this on furniture as well. Trouble is forgetting you have the stuff on your hands. Can get it in powder form from pharmacy. Also citonella oil.

We have been having problems with our puppy with biting so will try the sauce!!!! thanks!!

Lil_Ruth wrote:We have been having problems with our puppy with biting so will try the sauce!!!! thanks!!

Caryll wrote:

Jamesss wrote:
Aversive Conditioning - This one is a WINNER and works ALL THE TIME - EVERY TIME. We put tabasco sauce on our fingers. He went to bite - backed off IMMEDIATELY. Screwed his face up and did not go to bite again. I know its not practical to have Tabasco sauce on you hands all the time and some may disagree wit use of this. Only a suggestion.

I wouldn't use that one unless it was absolutely a last resort! I don't like aversion training, it's too negative & punitive for me.

Please try other methods first. You could make your pup head shy by doing this - it looks awful when, every time you put your hand near your dog, it backs away!

Caryll I am interested in what you would suggest. Pixee does do mouthing when excited, we were warned about it from the blue cross, and to stop playing when she does that, which we do. Sometimes she takes to biting our hands when playing, what we have done, is to say, No biting, and put a toy in her mouth, it does seem to be working, as she has stopped trying to bite our hands, unless very very excited, so we stop fussing her till she calms down, then we give her a toy, then carry on.

The trouble is, all pups bite. That's their nature & what they do to their siblings. It isn't their fault that they have to learn not to do it to humans, and so I think that aversion training should be an absolute last resort! Let's face it, they soon grow up & with good handling will stop biting soon enough!

I've always given a firm "No!" and then stopped whatever we were doing (play, fuss etc) & make no contact at all with the pup until it's calm again - no eye contact or talking, not even an "ouch" if it bites again! Once they stop, you can give them calm, gentle praise. If they carry on, then just scoop them up & put them out of the room. You don't need to say anything because you've already given your "No" command, which they've ignored.

Again, once calm they can be let back in. Yes, it does take a little longer than aversion training, but the results are much better & the dog isn't made to feel discomfort or even pain (tabasco sauce on a young tongue hurts!).

Thank you for the advice Caryll. At least we are on the right track, Pixee is approx 15 months, and she still will learn new things from us, so thats good. She does hate it when we ignore her.

Rascal is a shocker with biting the kids hands and arms. What seems to work (unless she's overexcited/overstimulated or not been walked enough) is the ignoring tactic. Works really well and she seems to be getting the message that if she wants us to play with her, then jumping and biting is not the way to do it!

As everyone else has said ignoreing works well. one other method I used which works well but makes you sound like a nutball is to yelp or high pitched yip. its what dogs do when play fighting to say "oi that was too rough" maybee a yip and ignore Marley looked at me like really really strange but it worked a treat.

axam102 wrote: one other method I used which works well but makes you sound like a nutball is to yelp or high pitched yip. its what dogs do when play fighting to say "oi that was too rough" maybee a yip and ignore Marley looked at me like really really strange but it worked a treat.

I tried that one with Dempsey - made him 10 times worse!

good tips! I think we mostly did the yelp/ignore thing with Russell... he does still mouth my hands a lot but only gently, but he stops if i say 'no' now. I would like him to stop I wouldn't want him to do it with other people, I have a few friends who are unsure about dogs. and I wouldn't like him to do it to children.


we had a golden retriever who when she was a puppy kept eating the dry wall in the laundry - I think my parents used tabasco or chilli powder, worked great! lol