So you got a puppy and you are so excited to play with them and snuggle them and teach them cool things…. but they won’t let go of your arm long enough to do anything!
Been there... done that... it isn't fun.
But it is normal and healthy behaviour for our puppies. (Sorry!)
We’ll go through the “why” first, but if you want to skip to the “what do I do” section, I will not be offended!
So, WHY do puppies always want to chew our flesh?
Well, just like human babies who don’t have self regulation skills, words to express themselves or ask questions, and don’t know a whole lot about the world at all yet, they learn about life through putting things in their mouth.
Puppies are all born with their eyes and ears closed. They use their senses of smell, touch, and taste to figure out how to drink milk to keep them alive. As they get bigger, they use it to learn social skills such as when it’s too rough to play with your sibling, but there are other things they learn, too.
They learn how to distinguish different textures, temperature, salts, fats, and residues. They use this information to give context such as “Is this alive?”, “Is this edible?”, and “Is this comforting?”
With that feedback, they can decide what’s worth doing again, which can help build food preferences, as well as what is familiar (not just toys and blankets, but also their humans).
They also get reciprocal information! When puppies mouth things that pull back, collapse, or flee, for example, they learn how play works, and cause and effect.
That information, combined with something called Proprioceptive Input (deep sensory feedback to their jaw muscles, neck, and shoulders), is organizing and regulating for the nervous system. This gives emotional regulation data. Mouthing quite literally tells the puppy whether or not something helps them feel better, lowers their excitement (or frustration), and can help them learn what to do with their big feelings.
If mouthing works to naturally regulate, it will be naturally reinforcing, and the puppy is going to continue to do it.
(Wouldn’t you? With appropriate tools, of course…. we’ll get to that.)
But there are other very important pieces of information that puppies get from mouthing. Along with all of the above, they learn what gives under pressure, how much force causes discomfort (like playing with their siblings they used to have a bunch of and now don’t), how pressure changes outcomes (like the toy keeps moving or a person withdraws attention), and how to handicap (self-regulate) their jaw strength.
All of this is the foundation for bite inhibition!
Socially, they learn play boundaries and relationship rules with information like who tolerates what, and how others respond.
So why do they have to bite me??
I mean, from a puppy’s perspective, us humans are warm, smell familiar, move unpredictably (which is fun and innately reinforcing), and react dramatically (we make the coolest, loudest sounds, even if they come with angry faces)!
Basically, we’re sensory jackpots.
We need to stop it, right? I mean, this can’t continue, they’ll be big and strong some day.
Yes… and no. When we suppress mouthing, the puppies lose feedback opportunities and frustration increases, which results in poor bite inhibition develop, and bites may become harder, not softer.
So I just let them bite me?
Now, I didn’t say that! There are SO MANY things we can do to help them learn all they need to learn, and not have to constantly wear long sleeves or buy a bite-sport suit!
What Can We Do?
TL,DR (Too Long, Didn’t Read) Cheat Sheet:
Keep toys within reach (some of my favorites are listed below) Redirect early Reward gentle mouth use Use management (leashes, gates, pens) Prioritize rest Realize that this is normal and healthy
Environmental management is so important and is often overlooked. Crate training, or even just a “calm safe zone” created with baby cates or x pens can be instrumental in teaching puppies self regulation and prevent rehearsals of unwanted behaviour
It’s also a really great idea to remove kids during peak arousal puppy moments, and vice versa. I know it seems counter productive because you want your kids and puppies to play each other out, but it’s important for safety that we do not do that. If for no other reason than when humans move quickly, squeak, grab, and react, it is very reinforcing for puppies… and children are masters of all of those things!
Thankfully there are a ton of things we can do to help our puppies learn things without risking harm to our limbs!
Deeper Dive...
The first thing we’re going to do is make sure the puppy is getting enough sleep. You may be surprised at the amount of hours of sleep a puppy needs to be healthy and grow, both their body and brain.
So “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Let’s get those puppies the sleep they need to grow and learn how to be able to make good choices.
Nobody can learn when they’re too sleepy…
Try to remember: sleep = active brain development (emotional processing, nervous system regulation, and hormonal regulation)
And overtired dogs often look like mouthy puppies, “hyper” adolescents, “stubborn” adults, or “grumpy” seniors.
Next, we will make sure they have a variety of chew outlets. They need to have a “yes” list of thing they can chew.
Fabric toys have so many benefits, but they must be given with complete supervision as we do not want any fabric to be ingested.
(Additional, emergency vet bills? No thanks!)
Things like braided rope toys, stuffed (or stuffing-free) fabric toys, and frozen towels can bring so much relief to teething pups.
They also satisfy a ton of innate, natural needs. (I won’t bore you with those here, but I’ll talk about them in an additional info section below if you want to learn.)
My number one reason is that they are great for redirecting pups from human, saving us from those piranha bites!
Harder toys can be long lasting and self rewarding. Things such as rubber bones, teething rings, balls, yak chews, bully sticks, and coffeewood chews can all be great outlets for that need to work their jaws to release those calming hormones.
Note: it is also important to inspect all of these toys after/before each use. If you find there are pieces missing or breaking, or the chew becomes small enough to be a choking hazard, remove it from their stash and replace it.
For longer lasting toys, we have licki-mats, rubber feeding toys (such as Kongs, WestPaw Toppls, etc) that we can fill with food and (after they get the hang of it) freeze. Doing this can:
help them satisfy their need to chew and lick, which (as we already discovered) supports nervous system regulation (which also helps puppies and adolescents settle after excitement) makes them use their brain giving them sustained mental engagement, adding enrichment without arousal helps to build frustration tolerance safely meets those oral and jaw sensory needs can be used to help build a great association with crates if fed inside of a crate (open at first… I guess I should also create a crate training resource? 
)
Pro Tip: you can wet enough kibble for one of your dogs meals, make it soft, and then fill and freeze. Giving their meal in this instead of feeding from a bowl can help them eat their meal slowly, which reduces gulping, supporting digestion by pacing intake, and won’t give them extra calories
Some favorite things to use are: 
low/no sodium chicken broth – can be used to soak kibble in, or just a little bit poured onto a lickimat and froze greek or plain yogurt (no/low sugar) peanut butter – you can water it down, too… a little goes a long way (it’s pretty sugary). *Xytol is lethal to dogs so check ingredients. Natural peanut butter is best. eggs – raw or cooked. Some people crack it into the feeding toy and then microwave it to cook it (I’ve never tried it myself) cheese – shredded, whiz, spray, melted, sauce… everyone loves cheese cottage cheese – some dogs love it, some hate it pureed natural (not pie filling) pumpkin applesauce pureed baby food leftovers – our dogs love getting some of our leftover human foods, although they can’t always have it, when they can, they love it!
(If you have ideas I didn’t list here, send me a message and I’ll add it to the list!)
Pro Tip: Rotate these toys and feeders. If we keep things a little more novel and interesting, it may reduce human targeting a little bit better!
Sniffing is another one of those nervous system behaviours that help burn some mental energy and help them regulate so let’s also add in some things to satisfy that need. It doesn’t need to be complicated, it can be super simple and still wildly effective.
Scatter feeding in grass, towels, or snuffle mats (supervised so nothing gets ingested), as well as treat tossing and pattern games like “Find it” are all simple, low effort but maximum refund ways to spend your dogs energy and meet their needs so their teeth don’t meet your skin. 
If your puppy wants to always pull on your clothes, teach them to play and love playing tug with you instead. When you play tug, you can still be reinforcing with your high pitched squeals… saying “great job”, “get it”, “you win!” instead of “no!”, “stop!”, “ouch!” will be equally rewarding and the puppy still wins, but it’s a lot more fun for you! It also encourages a bond and connection with some back and forth reciprocal play… yes, that means you should also let your puppy win too! Games are no fun when you never win, even for dogs!
But tug is only fun if the rules are consistent:
– start and end the game in the same way
– tug with toys specifically, never with clothes
– and pause the game if teeth touch the skin, only resuming when the pup is calmer.
What do you do if you pup still connects with your skin?
Let’s learn how to redirect in the moment:
Notice early signs – Look for zoomy eyes, pacing, increased grabby behavior
Preempt – always have a toy at the ready and hand the toy before any teeth touch the skin
If you miss the moment and mouthing still happens – Freeze! Stop moving, stay calm and quiet, slowly present an alternative toy near their mouth before making it more enticing than your body (move it around)
Reinforce the choice – give praise and continue play with the toy. Make it way more interesting that biting you would be!
Note: Timing matters more than intensity.
Long Term
In order to improve bite inhibition, we do not want to stop mouthing. Instead, we want to allow gentle mouth play, but remove attention briefly if pressure increases. Then resume once softer.
Doing this will teach the dog how to control their mouth. If we stop mouthing behaviours altogether, we are simply suppressing an innate need, and it’s likely that they will bite harder and more often.
Many mouthy puppies are overtired or overstimulated, so on top of ensuring they are getting enough sleep with forced naps, it’s helpful to keep play sessions short, have less back-to-back exciting activities (give those babies time to calm down before pumping them back up again), and build regulation skills through pattern games, calm mat work, and predictable routines.
If we can consistently redirect mouthing humans to toys and other behaviours instead, we can teach alternative behaviors. Basically: instead of “don’t bite,” we teach them to grab toy, sit for greeting, go to their mat, carry an object, etc. We call it “incompatible behaviours” because they can’t bite if they’re doing something else instead!
Extra Tidbits
Mouthing is communication, learning skills, and lack of self regulation. It’s easy to just see it as “bad behavior”, but it’s not.
Some peak mouthing phases are:
8–12 weeks: Heavy exploratory mouthing, poor bite control
12–16 weeks: Teething ramps up, arousal biting common
4–6 months: Bite inhibition improving, but regression during teething
6–8 months: Should be much softer with guidance
Adolescence: Can resurface during excitement/frustration
Adults and seniors should have the skills they need to no long mouth anyone…. unless you have a Malligator… which is a whole other story…
When it comes to behaviours of our dogs, usually the ones we don’t like are there for a reason.
We’ve learned some more of the simple things about why dogs mouth and chew, but here are some other reasons… Let’s Get Nerdy!
This is a great infographic from Lili Chin’s doggydrawings.net about natural Predatory Motor Patterns in Dogs:
These are all innate needs of our dogs, engrained in their DNA as, well, dogs. Some types of dogs, as you can see, have less of certain behaviours due to selective breeding, however, that does not guarantee that those behaviours are completely bred out of them.
That said, there are parts that most, if not all, dogs share.
Playing with fabric toys, including rope toys, can fulfill the need to grab, bite, shake, and dissect, which provides a sense of completion and control and is deeply regulating for their nervous system… especially if your pup likes to target seams, tags, and stuffing. Dissecting gives them focused effort, sequential problem solving, and persistence without frustration. Some even prefer to dissect (destroy) toys over fetching!
It also gives them a chance to grip and hold, feeling compression under the mouth, allow full molar engagement (good for those teeth you don’t want to brush), and provide resistance without pain. Nerdy talk: they support jaw strength calibration, propioceptive feedback, and comfort chewing (especially during teething).
When you combine these toys with engagement from you (when you play with your dog using fabric and rope toys), your dog learns cooperative resistance, social play, and they get to practice modulating pressure. It supports their need for push/pull motor patterns, timing and rhythm, and emotional regulation through movement. This is also a great opportunity to work on skills like “leave it”, “drop it”, wait, focus, and more! It’s fun for you both, and when training is fun, it’s a lot less work, but has a much bigger impact!
When you’re not playing directly with your pup, though, these toys still support independence, self-regulation, and downtime engagement through their independent play.
The loose floppy ends of such toys are great for shaking and thrashing, which can be excitement releasing or regulating, depending on the dog.
When dogs get to carry and possess their soft fabric and rope toys, it can build their confidence, they can claim something without guarding it, and they can use it to self soothe. You may even see them grab a toy after excitement or during transitions. (Retrievers especially feel better when they are holding a toy during human greetings or other excitable moments… it’s self regulating for them and helps them put their teeth into something that they won’t hurt.)
My Favorites:
For the first time, I’m giving specific recommendations!
Not all of these images are linked to Amazon, but some are because, just for this post, I opened an Amazon Associate account… but please do not feel obligated to use them!
(I, personally, love Winners for fantastic finds of discounted dog toys and treats!)
Note: As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases. However, I don’t handle customer service, returns, or complaints about products you purchase through me, however, if you buy something I recommend, I would love your feedback (good or bad) about it, so message me!
I sure do love “free” though, so here are some DIY things you can do with some old towels (or towels from the dollar store or Frenchy’s!)
Well, if you’re reading this far down, thanks for hanging in while I ramble about all things puppy piranhas!
I hope you got some useful information here!
You may also find Welcome Home, New Pup and my Skills Learning Library useful in this puppy phase, too!
If you have things to add, or want to share your experience (or favorite things), contact me! I would love to chat!