How to Train Your Dog to Not Bite Your Hands

One of the reasons your dog may bite your hands is because he likes how you taste. Salty skin mixed with food or flavors from your day may be irresistible to your dog. If you teach your dog that you don’t taste very good, they will be less likely to bite or nibble.

Dog trainers have long used flavors that dogs hate to prevent a puppy from chewing during teething, or an older dog from gnawing furniture or other household items. You can pick up an anti-chewing spray at your local pet store, just make sure whatever you choose is safe for pets.

Before you start to play with your dog, or before you walk into your house, make sure to coat your hands with the bitter spray or lotion.

Play with or greet your dog like you usually do. When he begins to bite your hands in play, he’ll quickly release your terrible tasting hand. Continue playing to show that you still want to interact. Hopefully, it will only take one or two mouthfuls of the bitter taste for your dog to learn that your hands are not fun to bite.

It may take several sessions of play or greetings for your dog to remember that human hands make for an unpleasant taste. If there are several family members or friends who play with your dog, ask them to put the spray or lotion on too. This way your dog learns quickly that all human hands are unpalatable.

Make sure to wash your hands with soap and water before giving your dog treats, especially to reward him for good behavior. You don’t want him to associate that bad taste with rewards.

Sometimes dogs bite or nip because they are mouthy, have excess energy, or they get too excited while playing. You can change this behavior by giving them a toy to chew on instead of your hand. If your dog grew out of puppyhood with a biting or nipping habit, this method could work for you.

Does your dog give your fingers a nibble when your attention is on other things? Does he excitedly nip your hands when you walk in the door? Maybe he gets over excited during play time and uses his mouth to play. Determine which situations trigger this bad habit so you can be ready to redirect him with a toy.

After you’ve determined when your pup is most likely to bite your hands, make sure you have a chew toy like a flavored bone, rawhide, or fabric rope accessible. You’ll have to act fast to replace his hand biting habit with a toy chewing behavior.

Tell your dog he’s a good boy once he takes the toy and begins playing with it. Soon he’ll learn that chewing the toy is more fun than nibbling on your hands.

If your dog continues to get carried away when playing or wrestling, consider activities that bring you in less physical contact with your dog. Playing fetch with a chuck-it or frisbee is a fun way to exercise and interact with your dog with little risk of him getting carried away and biting your hands.

This method may be easier to use on puppies who are still developing social behaviors, but adult dogs who never learned that their owners aren’t chew toys can still benefit from this method. The basic idea is to use your voice as a verbal cue to let your dog know that biting your hands isn’t the right way to play.

When you’re playing with your puppy, make a loud ‘yelp’ when her mouth touches your hand and stop playing. She should startle at the sound and stop biting.

After you yelp, let your hand go limp in her mouth. When you relax your hand you stop the play. If you tug your hand away, your dog might still think it’s ok to play bite your hand.

Your puppy was having a ball before she bit down on your fingers. If you stop play for 15 to 20 seconds, she’ll quickly come to realize that biting your hands means all the fun stops, and she doesn’t want that.

After a brief stop, go right back to playing with your puppy. When she bites your hands the next time, repeat the same yelping sound and stop playing for a few seconds again. If you are consistent with your reactions, your puppy should learn within a few weeks that biting hands means play stops.

If you have an older puppy or dog, you may need to up the consequences for biting your hands during play to make sure they understand that this is not an acceptable behavior. If your dog continues to bite your hands or increases how much she bites, give her a time out. When her mouth closes on your hands, say a stern “No,” and walk away from play. Don’t start playing again for five or ten minutes.