How To Stop A Dog From Biting When Excited - Causes And Tips

The first step to knowing how to stop a dog from biting when excited, is to know why they do it. By understanding the causes of this behavior, we can prevent them doing it in the future. Although we usually associate biting with aggression in dogs, there are actually a wide range of reasons they will do this. It isn't only limited to when they are excited. By paying attention to a dog's environment, behavior and routine, we can see the reasons a dog bites in the first place.

1. Teething puppies

Just like a human toddler, puppies are keen to put almost anything in their mouths. In the first phases of their physical and cognitive development, puppies tend to bite everything. This is mainly because they experience many changes in their dentition as their baby teeth fall out and their adult teeth come through. Biting helps to relieve the discomfort and pain caused by this sensation.

2. Exploring their environment

Relieving discomfort is not the only reason puppies bite. A puppy will bite to better understand their environment, investigating different stimuli and testing their boundaries. However, as we will explain further below, teaching your pet pal to manage their biting is essential. This needs to be done from at least the third week of life, otherwise they may assimilate this behavior as something positive when they become an adult.

3. Poor socialization

If a dog becomes an adult and does assimilate excessive biting as a way to interact with other dogs, animals and people, it is due to poor socialization. In other words, the dog has not understood that this behavior shouldn't be part of their social life and form of communication. They do not understand the repercussions of their actions and ca be aggressive with others. Socialization is a vital part of a dog's development and will allow them to live a happy and positive life with others.

4. Defense against negative stimuli

Even a well socialized dog will still have it in them to defend themselves if they are in danger or encounter other negative stimuli which threatens their security. In these cases, biting behavior is understandable in the context. However, if the dog bites or growls because they perceive something as negative, even though it isn't, this can be dangerous. An example might be if someone tries to take something away from them, a stranger walks past them in the street or someone tries to pet them. If a dog bites when you try to take something away from them, they could be possessive and are showing a misplaced protection of resources.

5. They think they are playing

A dog may bite when they get excited because they think they are playing. This is linked to poor socialization. Although they do not mean to hurt anyone, they don't understand the limits of play and take it too far. The dog will get excited and think it is OK to bite, but they do not know where to draw the line.

Do dogs bite unprovoked?

Similarly, it is worth noting that a dog will not bite ‘out of nowhere’. They will give prior warning when they feel threatened or uncomfortable in a situation. A dog will usually only bite as a last resort or when it feels like they are under extreme duress, even if that is not the actual situation. Unfortunately, it is not always easy to determine the signs a dog is giving. These signs are known as calming signals and it is the method canines use to communicate with others.

What can often happen is that ignorance of these calming signals, body posture and facial expressions means a person approaches a frightened dog. The dog is in defensive position, but the person does not realize what is happening. In turn, the dog feels like their calming signals are being ignored and will bite as a form of self-defense.

Health reasons for biting

There are some other reasons for biting, but it is not something we can simply blame on the dog's nature. Even if it can be difficult to determine, there are reasons why a dog will bite. Before we determine if our dog is exhibiting any of the above behavioral issues, we also need to rule out health reasons. Some diseases or conditions such as hyperthyroidism can cause negative reactions in our best friend. They can be the root reason why the dog is excited in the first place.

When a medical cause is ruled out, we should go to a dog trainer or canine ethologist. They will be able to help us determine the reason for the dog biting as well as offer practical guidelines on how to help an individual dog.