Why does my dog bite me?

Why does my dog bite me?

This is a very common question and usually relates to young puppies, you have all heard the phrase puppy biting so why does a puppy or a dog bite the hand that feeds them?

There can be many reasons, I recently took on a 7 month old German shepherd dog who was biting his owner and she told me that he had done that since the very first day she had him.

Where would an 8 week old puppy have learned to bite already?

Hands.

With puppies hands are often the primary source of contact and can be a source of stimulation and control, both of which the puppy may object to.

If the people who visited the litter did a lot of handling of the puppy, picking him up, cuddling, playing and holding on to him even though he was wriggling to get free, thee are all examples of why a puppy might feel compelled to bite the person closest to him.

As a puppy grows in experience, confidence and strength, and the interaction he objected to as a puppy continues and develops, he may well become considerably more stressed and confused which can make the biting worse and this certainly was the case with teh dog I have taken on.

I took him on because after working with him for an hour, in which I was bitten and scratched, I knew most of his behaviour was learned and there is aa really good dog in there, given a change in environment.

We are now two weeks in and he is a different dog, the biting has reduced to the occasional mouthing, this is almost gone now and he is a lovely, much calmer and more relaxed dog.

As a very experienced owner and behaviourist, I was able to understand hiss behaviour and see a way out of it. His previous owner could not because she had lost trust in him and could not see a way forward that did not involve being bitten. I offered to take him and she agreed. she was upset because he is a lovely dog but he was out of her experience and knowledge.

I see so many dogs like him in my work as a professional dog behaviourist and whilst I always offer help, I wonder how many stick to it and how many give up and send their dog to a rescue centre where they may well end up being put down because of their learned behaviour