How do you stop a dog from biting when excited?

1. 1 Offer your dog a chew toy.
2. 2 Give your dog a command.
3. 3 Say “Ouch!” when your dog bites.
4. 4 Offer your dog a treat for good behavior.
5. 5 Put your dog in a crate or time-out area.
6. 6 Ignore your dog when they bite or nip.
7. 7 Wear gloves with a taste deterrent.

When they’re excited, does your dog grab your arms, legs, shoes, or even hair with their mouth? You might find it adorable and harmless, but your visitors might find it embarrassing and bothersome.

Typically, play, exercise, and when they are overexcited are when they bite and mouth. Some puppies grow out of the behavior, others don’t. You must therefore assist them in stopping this undesirable behavior before it develops into destructive and aggressive behavior.

Here are some great ways to stop your dog from biting when they are excited. Discover why dogs bite when they are excited and follow our instructions to teach your dog how to be gentle with their mouth.

Differential Reinforcement (aka Show Him Something Better to Do)

The “Differential Reinforcement of an Incompatible Behavior” (DRI) method is my go-to strategy for combating problematic behavior. In essence, this means that we will encourage your dog to bite you while performing an action that he is incapable of performing.

When greeting people, the majority of people simply teach their dog to sit. Teach your dog to sit in increasingly distracting circumstances to achieve this.

Most dogs are good at sitting when you’re sitting by yourself in the kitchen in your pajamas holding a ton of treats, so you’re going to need to practice a lot. But can your dog wait when you enter the dog park, when you leave for a walk, or when he spots a squirrel?

Keep at it until he is an expert at sitting through extremely challenging circumstances. When you ask your dog to sit before he’s ready, you’ll only end up frustrated when he ignores you and keeps jumping on your visitors.

Watch out for creating accidental behavior chains during this process. If your dog is still nipping at you between sitting, you might be rewarding a nip-sit combination. Make the situation less exciting, then try again so that you can reward him for sitting without nipping.

Instead of sitting, my personal favorite behavior to use is a hand target. Your dog will learn to press his nose to your hand when instructed by this behavior. This incredibly simple trick allows you to refocus your dog and move him around with ease.

For excited dogs, I prefer hand targets (rather than sitting) for a few reasons:

It’s tough to sit when you’re so excited. Targeting is just easier!

It points the dog’s mouth somewhere specific.

You can ping-pong an excited dog, helping to burn off that adrenaline.

Finally, teaching your dog to greet people while holding a toy in his mouth is a great way to control his mouth when he is excited.

I employ this technique with my own dog because it really helps him chew on something squishy without biting my sleeves.

I first taught my dog the command “get your cow,” and I began to use it whenever he became agitated when someone approached. This works best with dogs who already love, love, love toys; now he does it on his own!

Here is a demonstration video on puppy nipping and adult dogs that nip when excited that I put together a few weeks ago if you prefer to watch videos.

Why does my dog bite my sleeves?

Your dog might be biting your sleeves to begin a required game of tug-of-war. In order to prevent this from happening, try moving closer to your dog when he grabs your sleeves to release any tension and make the game unpleasant for the dog.

Deterrent Sprays

Pet stores sell a variety of sprays designed to deter dogs from biting. While you can purchase canine pepper spray, we do not recommend it, as pepper spray is very harsh and can damage the skin and eyes. If you need a deterrent spray, try one made with citronella oil.

Lemongrass and citronella plants are related, and many animals are repelled by the scent of their natural oil. Because of this, citronella is a widely used natural pesticide and mosquito repellent. The dog should move away from you if you spray some citronella in the air (don’t spray it directly at your pet).

FAQ

Why does my dog bite when excited?

Generally, dogs that nip when they’re excited are high arousal. This is a terse way of expressing that these dogs get overly excited by things easily. These canines frequently respond by barking, spinning, and, you guessed it, biting.

Why does my dog jump and bite me when excited?

Their excessive excitement is the only cause of the biting and nipping. The good news is that jumping is easy to change. In my experience some techniques do not work. A dog will become more enthused if you push them down and yell at them because they will believe that you have started a game.