When you bring a new puppy home, you automatically expect for them to nip, chew, and teeth on everything in sight – even your toes. So, you tell them “no”, you buy them chew toys, and you do everything that you can possibly think of to get them to stop teething on your feet.

But every now and then, you might actually get a puppy that thinks it’s ok to really bite. Depending on the age of the puppy, this can be just a play bite that got a bit too carried away. While this will happen, you need to make sure that your puppy knows right away that is not acceptable behavior. If you do have a puppy that is play biting or nipping hard, make sure that you and your family keep your faces out of reach so that your puppy doesn’t bite you there.

Of course, some puppies can make really aggressive bites that will hurt and possibly draw blood. If this happens, you need to immediately stop the play or activity and let your dog know that hurt you and they are in trouble. You want to stop this behavior right away so that it doesn’t turn into something worse as your puppy gets older. If the behavior continues, look for some classes or programs on dealing with aggressive dogs so that you can start down the right path to keeping your dog from becoming too aggressive as they grow up.

If you notice that your puppy is biting as an aggressive act, it is a good time to start working on being the dominant one in the relationship. For example, if you are already very dominant in your relationship, your dog may be biting out of a submissive state. Or they can be trying to prove their dominance to you by biting you if they feel that you aren’t dominant enough. There are a few ways that you can deal with this type of biting, such as using the “Alpha Roll”. This is where you roll your puppy on their back and hold them there until they submit, or lie there quietly.

If you find that your puppy reacts badly to this instead of it actually helping, you can try the “Submission Shake” where you shake your puppy by the scruff of his neck – not hard, but enough to get their attention.

There are plenty of ways to deal with a growing puppy that is biting and if your dog is still having issues, it is time for obedience training to ensure that he or she doesn’t seriously hurt anyone in your family.