How to Stop My Puppy from Biting My Hands

Do you know how to stop my puppy from biting my hands? You know what they say about biting the hand that feeds you. No, I don’t. If you bite the hand that feeds you, you won’t get any more food. It means don’t hurt those who you need the most. First, he’s a puppy. Second, I don’t think he’d understand that logic. He’d understand a rolled up newspaper. If he bites you, hit him with it so he learns not to. Won’t violence teach him violence? A quick, immediate punishment will teach him not to do it. It’s better than you getting stitches after he bites you hard and him ending up in a shelter if not put to sleep. That would hurt. Puppies bite for the same reasons babies do, to taste everything and to play. But babies don’t have sharp teeth made to rip other animals apart. Can’t I just yell “No” at him? That’s one possibility. However, you have to yell it every time before walking away and ignoring him for a long time. What message does that convey, except that I don’t love him? If he bit another puppy hard enough to hurt, it would yelp in a way he understands is pain. He doesn’t understand my expressions of pain, either. Yelling “No” links in his mind the word to bad actions with consequences. Walking away and ignoring him says you don’t want to play with him anymore. He’ll get lonely and frustrated. Good. Then he will learn that if he wants to play, it can’t be that way. Won’t alienation breed resentment? Treat it like a time out. After ten or twenty minutes, go back and stroke him. What if he bites me again? Yell “No!” Drop everything immediately and walk away. Hopefully not literally. Yell and then abandon him in the middle of the floor, no more attention. He’ll learn even more quickly that biting you means no more loving.