Playful Husky Puppy biting

[Ryan]

Hi we just got ourselves a 8 week old Siberian Husky, Akela. He is very playful and well mannered. However we also watch our sister’s golden retriever and it seems that Akela has now taken up biting and is nipping at hands and sometimes faces when close enough. When he starts biting we pull away and give him a toy to bite and if he persists we walk away but I was wondering if you had any other ideas on how to help him stop this behaviour.

thank you so much!

[Adrienne]

Hi Ryan, 

Your puppy is adorable!

Redirection by giving a toy can work if we are consistent and the puppy focuses on the toy, but often as pups grow, they start getting bored of the toy and will choose hands, legs, feet more and more. Of course, there are toys and toys. If you redirect to super duper fun and interactive toys, chances are your puppy will stick with them and not look back. 

Walking away may work too, until the puppy learns to attach to your leg as you are leaving and you are forced to drag him about, not fun! Of course, not all pups will do this, but several do!

Whether a method works or not is evaluated by measuring the behavior over time. Is it decreasing? Staying the same? Getting worse? This gives us a baseline to evaluate. 

In general, I like to encourage games that focus on creating alternate ways to interact with us and that involve as well some training. Here is an example:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/

You can also find several more tips in the many threads on puppy nipping in this forum.  Don't be afraid to read through the most challenging cases as they can give you several options to keep in mind as you navigate through the puppy nipping phase and encounter any hurdles: