How to Train Your Small Dog to Not Bite Your Hands

Small dogs can develop problem biting behaviors because their cute natures often let them get away with bad behavior until it is ingrained. If your small dog tries to bite you as an act of play when you have not invited such behavior, you will need to follow some basic guidelines to stop biting as soon as possible.

The bites from small dogs can, in fact, be quite dangerous, particularly if they choose to bite a child. Bite wounds can easily become infected and cause nasty scars. Children can be traumatized from the bites of even the smallest dogs, ruining their ability to enjoy our canine companions for life.

Luckily, if your dog is a play biter that takes things too far, stopping biting is fairly easy to do! 

Dog biting comes in several flavors, some of which are best left solved by expert animal behaviorists. Folks new to training can sometimes make matters much worse when they attempt to solve the following kinds of biting without professional help:

• Resource Guarding: Biting around food, favorite toys, places or people is called resource guarding. It is a serious and dangerous behavioral problem, common to small dog breeds.
  

• Fear Biting: Usually from past trauma, dogs that bite out of fear need professional desensitization training to be safely rehabilitated.
  

• Aggression: In some cases, small dogs can be quite aggressive. They may bite children, other dogs and even adults as an act of dominance. Do not attempt to solve aggression problems with the methods discussed in this guide.
  

Many dogs try to bite as a form of play, and this is where even the novice trainer can stop biting with basic training techniques outlined below and plenty of consistency. Read on to find out how! 

If you have a young puppy between the ages of 1 week to 6 months, it is important to teach them bite inhibition before you train them not to bite at all. The reason for this is that there may come a time when your dog bites another dog or person out of fear later in life.

If they learn bite inhibition as a pup, they will be less likely to use too much force and break the skin. This method will teach your dog to control the power of their bite, making them a safer dog in the long run. Use this before transitioning to one of the other methods listed in this guide to stop biting completely when your puppy loses their puppy teeth, usually around 6 months.

Once a small dog is an adult, teaching bite inhibition won’t be very useful because the window for learning this valuable life skill has closed. Instead, use the 'Ouch!' or “'Time Out' method (or a combination of both) to teach your small dog not to bite your hands.