Almost every puppy parent runs into issues with keeping a very natural, but often annoying, even painful, puppy instinct in check - puppy nippiness and play biting. If that sounds like you and your puppy, you're in the right place.

In these 3 guides, certified positive reinforcement trainers and Dogly Advocates share what you need to know about why your puppy is biting/nipping/chewing to begin with, then how to help your puppy learn more appropriate and rewarding behaviors instead.

Here's a quick look at each guide to helping your puppy's behavior go from mouthiness to better, more rewarding behavior...

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Puppy Nipping Guide 1: 2 Tips to Make Puppy Biting Stop

Mouthiness, from puppy play-biting to nipping to chewing, is just part of normal puppy behavior. That doesn't mean you shouldn't help your puppy learn alternative, more appropriate behaviors to alleviate the nipping behavior before it becomes a habit.

In this guide, certified positive reinforcement dog trainer and Dogly Advocate Brooke Fagel shares the why behind your puppy's nipping and pro tips for what to do about it.

What you'll learn in this guide:

• Why you want to teach your puppy good, non-biting skills now (before it becomes a habit as an adult dog)
• The two main reasons puppies nip
• What to do if your puppy is teething (includes recommendations for appropriate chew toys to help teething puppies massage their gums.)
• What to do if your puppy is biting to engage with you

1) Preempt puppy nips with enough engaging exercise.

Brooke explains how to plan your exercise sessions to expend excess energy and promote even, calm behaviors throughout the day.

2) Use treats + basic manners training to replace biting with other good behaviors.

In the guide and the accompanying video, Brooke takes you step by step (working with her puppy Spirit) through the 5 step behavior modification plan to do it:

1. Have bite-sized treats your pup loves ready to go so you can deliver treats instantly to reinforce the behavior you want to see. (You can see in the guide's video Brooke uses a treat pouch to make it easy.)
2. As soon as you see body language that looks like it might become play biting or nipping behavior, ask your puppy for an alternate behavior your dog already knows - sit, down, come!, or touch, for example.
3. When your puppy does the alternate behavior, immediately mark (clicker or YES!) and treat.
4. Practice this sequence at every opportunity when your puppy might otherwise resort to puppy bites or nipping to make it a solid, reliable behavior.
5. In the process, you're further teaching your puppy these alternative behaviors are highly rewarding (with high-value treats). Be sure to teach your puppy a couple of simple, solid behaviors in advance (sit, touch, down...) so they're an easy go-to in the moment. You want your puppy to already own the alternative behavior so he/she won't think twice.

Up next, how positive reinforcement dog trainers use something called "bite inhibition" to teach puppies the gentler way to use their natural mouthing instincts...

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Puppy Nipping Guide 2: How to Stop Your Puppy's Biting

Most new puppy parents are surprised to find their puppies are tiny little biting and nipping machines. They bite hands, feet, shoes, furniture... you name it. Of course, that's not behavior we want to see continue - both as puppies or as adult dogs with a dog nipping habit that might lead to actual dog bites or situations where dogs nip around other dogs.

So how do we get our pups to stop nipping? We can't just say NO BITING - we need to teach our puppies to use their mouths and jaws the right way. That's the process of teaching what dog trainers and behaviorists call bite inhibition. In this guide, certified professional dog trainer and Dogly Advocate Melissa Dallier teaches you how to teach it to your dog.

What you'll learn in this guide:

• What is bite inhibition
• Why you need to allow some biting and nipping
• Pro tip: size up the degree of your puppy's biting to make the best plan to stop puppy biting. Included is a 5-point descriptive scale to determine the level of each bite.
• Why helping your pup learn bite inhibition matters

5 Steps to teaching your puppy bite inhibition

1. Always try to redirect your puppy onto a toy the first few times your puppy bites hard.
2. If your puppy continues to try to bite your skin, then calmly give your puppy a brief “time-out” in a playpen or behind a baby gate.
3. Return when your puppy is a bit more calm and try again.
4. Give your puppy a chew toy (or several) as an appropriate outlet at all times.
5. Don't phase out play-biting altogether until your puppy is reliably biting softly.

You'll also learn:

• 4-step training plan to bring your puppy down gradually from level 5 & 4 bites to reliably soft level 1 bites for normal puppy play-biting and other acceptable uses of softer mouth behaviors.

To get all the details of teaching bite inhibition with Melissa's step-by-step guidance, jump into the full guide here. And up next, your most common puppy nipping questions answered...

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Puppy Nipping Guide 3: Common Puppy Biting Questions Answered

Do you have questions about your puppy's nipping - what's normal, what's not, when you should be concerned that it's too much, and what to do about it? You're in good company.

Just about every puppy parent shares your questions on mouthy behavior. In this guide, we've rounded up the common puppy biting behavior and training questions we often hear. All answered and expanded upon by certified dog trainer and Dogly Advocate Ruby Leslie.

What you'll learn in this guide:

• Why do puppies bite?
• How should we react when puppies bite? (includes how to react - and which reactions are counterproductive that you always want to avoid.)
• What are thresholds and how does my puppy's threshold affect behaviors like biting?
• What should you do when your puppy does bite you? You'll learn what to NEVER do (punishment of any kind) and what TO DO: how to remove yourself from the scene (to remove the attention your pup wants), redirect to better alternative behaviors or calming games (like the bucket game, orientation game), and set up reward stations around your home to preempt biting or help your training for behavior you want to see in the moment.
• What is "management" and how can you use it to set up your puppy for success in getting past biting behaviors?

Includes:

1. How to manage your puppy's surroundings and training to make it easy for your puppy to make good behaviors a habit with step-by-step tips
2. How to manage your handling style to keep your puppy calm and happy
3. How to use the "consent test" to give your dog choice in handling using his/her body language

You'll also learn:

• Tips for all-important consistency across all family members (and other important people who interact with your puppy)
• Why and how to match your puppy's sleep and exercise to what puppies need to be at their best

Includes how to calculate your puppy's exercise need and ways to use enrichment for mental exercise along with physical exercise.

If you're ready to dive in with your puppy, you can get all the details of these questions and answers and pro tips in the full guide here.

Next up in the Puppy Channel on Dogly

Once you've been through all 3 guides on puppy nipping behaviors, you and your puppy should be well on your way to replacing mouthy issues with better ways to engage with the world. Next up, to learn everything you need to know about the training at the top of all puppy parents' minds - potty training - check out the 4 guides up next in the Puppy Channel here on Dogly.

If you have any questions about your puppy, just ask in our Community Discussion. And continue in our Puppy Channel where you'll learn everything you need to know for your puppy from our community of Dogly Training Advocates.

Or if you need more personalized dog training tips, you can get started in your dog's plan any time.