"Nipping" It in the Bud - How to Address Mouthing and Biting at the Root

Whether your dog is a young puppy or a grown adult, nipping and mouthing can literally be a pain in the you-know-what.  Most dogs are not trying to be bad by demonstrating this behavior - mouthing is a natural canine tendency to express a myriad of emotions.  But when our vulnerable skin goes up against those razor-sharp milk teeth or the jaws of a bully breed or excitable large adult dog, it HURTS - and it can often leave our skin damaged and scarred, and create some emotional unrest for us as well.  So what can you do to "nip" this nipping behavior in the bud so you and your dog can better respect one another's human-canine differences?

The first step is in understanding what is driving your dog's nipping in particular situations.  Dogs take a lot of their emotional energy out through their mouths, so whenever your pup is feeling out of balance emotionally, this is often the driving factor behind biting behavior.  Now, with that said, there could be different emotions at play in different incidences... she could be trying to communicate her frustration, her confusion, that she is excited/trying to be playful, trying to solicit attention, that she is overstimulated/highly aroused, or that she is overtired and needs a break/downtime.  If we can take the following steps to make sure we are communicating with the dog effectively and to keep her emotionally balanced, you should see a big decrease in the biting behavior: 

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