What should you do if your pet dog keeps biting your feet

My dog keeps biting my leg or foot whenever he wants something. How can I stop it?

Biting can never, ever work. If biting gets attention, even just once every month or two, he'll keep doing it. Biting gets a stern "NO" and nothing else. No attention, no further scolding, no eye contact. Turn your back, fold your arms, and look away. Put your nose up and refuse to acknowledge the dog's existence. He's biting to get something out of you. And if biting means a reduction in attention, he'll eventually give up and try something else. At first he'll try biting again, especially if biting worked in the past. And the next time he'll try it, just to see if it works again. After time, he'll do it less and less.
You also have to give him acceptable ways to ask for attention/treats/walks. "Don't do A" alone is not enough. He needs to know what he SHOULD do. Imagine you're playing a game and the prize is a $20 bill. But you don't know what to do to get the prize. You are just told what NOT to do. Sound frustrating? It is. Dogs want to make us happy but for some reason we focus too much on telling them what not to do. If we give them something to do instead they're happy to do it.
Years ago a friend had a dog who absolutely adored me. He was a mini Australian Shepherd and his way of greeting me was to bounce up to my face and try to lick me. Having a dog jumping up on me was not exactly fun. It got old quickly. I did the same thing I described above (crossed arms, nose in the air) until he stopped bouncing and then told him to sit. The instant his rump was on the ground I would sit down with him and cuddle him. If he bounced, I stood back up. He learned quickly. Bouncing got ignored, sitting got cuddles. If I hadn't seen him in a week or two he might forget and bounce once or twice but a stern look had him sitting.

Why does my dog keep biting its tail?

Sounds like fleas. Even one flea bite can cause allergic itching. Here’s how to tell if he has fleas.

Roll him over on his back and look at his tummy. It’s the best place to see fleas. I have dark or black dogs so the tummy is the only place where I can actually SEE fleas. You can also rub your fingers between the dog’s eyes.. fleas will leave dirt (poop) and it feels like sand. If black dots are scrambling around the tummy, get him groomed and get a good flea and tick medication and make sure it’s applied as directed. Frontline works well.

Fleas and ticks carry diseases that can kill dogs AND humans. Typhus has reached epidemic levels in southern California. And Typhus KILLS. Tick borne diseases are just as nasty and do kill humans and dogs. I lost my sister to Lyme Disease from a tick bite.

Fleas (and ticks) will also get into furniture and into carpet and lay eggs. In about 10 days they eggs hatch and the cycle starts all over. The best product I have found is Zodiac carpet spray. I spray my house twice a year in March and October. It leaves no residue and it continues to kill for several months. The active ingredients are pyrethrin and a sex/growth inhibitor. I’ve been using it for 30 + years and I never have fleas (or ticks).

I concentrate my efforts by spraying rugs and floors right inside the doors where my dogs enter. Then on their bedding and under MY bed. The rest is easy…it comes in a non aerosol bottle and spritz the whole house. Go outside for 5 minutes and odor is gone and nothing to clean up.

Note: IF you shampoo rugs or wash floors after you spray, you will need to reapply. Soap washes it off.

You can tell if you have fleas in the house by walking around with white socks on. In the morning the fleas will be hungry and looking for a meal and will hop on your socks. They like white things, for some reason. IF you see them and can catch one, crush it between your fingernails. They’re tough and JUMP. IF you see them do the above spraying with the product I mentioned and you’ll beat this nasty creature. But it’s a perpetual problem so don’t be wishy washy about keeping after them. I had sand fleas where I live and it took me some noxious yard spraying to get rid of them.

GOOD LUCK !!! I wouldn’t wait on fixing the problem.

How often does your pet dog bite you while playing? Do you need to get vaccinated for that?

Please specify how old your puppy is, and if it is vaccinated or not.

EDIT: Since the puppy is a year old and properly vaccinated, you have nothing to fear. Just take an anti-tetanus shot periodically. But I am surprised at your question — you are a doctor, right?

How do I get my dog to stop biting while being petted?

You don’t say whether this biting is new or how old the dog is, I agree if it is a puppy mouthing might very well be the issue. However, if the dog is not a puppy and if the biting is new, I just want to discuss another issue. The dog might be in pain. My Australian shepherd/border collie mix would never have bitten me even though she had come out of an abusive relationship before she was rescued. One day though, while laying in bed I reached over and petted her side as I had done many times before. She turned around and literally tore up my hand, I still have the scars. This happened a second time, but only when she was lying on the bed. When sitting on the floor she would beg to be petted. I took her to my vet and spoke to another trainer. The consensus seemed to be that she was acting up and becoming aggressive over dominance issues having to do with being allowed to sleep on the bed. In the end it turned out that she was bleeding inside and lying on the bed caused pain. She told me but I didn’t listen until she continued to tell me as forcefully as she could. I finally did listen to her instead of all the experts and took her back to the vet. She didn’t live because I didn’t understand in time. While I am not saying this has anything to do with your dog biting, I do want to make you aware: If this biting is something new, pain could be an issue and it may not be a training problem.

What should I do if my dog tries to bite me?

First, you should learn the warning signs of an impending bite. They can be subtle, but a dog rarely bites without warning.

The dog's body will stiffen. He will be very, very still. He may be wagging his tail, but it will be completely upright and slow, and it will only be his tail. The dog is trying to say that he is uncomfortable.

The dog may lick his lips, yawn or conspicuously look away from you. These are appeasement gestures that another dog will immediately understand. The dog is trying to communicate that he isn't a threat, and is trying to de-escalate the situation.

If that doesn't work, the dog switches from avoidance to fight.

His body will remain stiff and his hackles may raise - sometimes from neck to tail, all along the spine. He will get “whale eye” - showing the whites of his eyes - and maintain direct eye contact. This is different from a dog's gaze and is a serious confrontation.

He will very likely growl, with or without bared teeth. A growl is the dog's way of saying “back off, now”. It is a real and direct threat of action.

Sidebar - NEVER EVER tell a growling dog “no”. You are telling the dog not to warn of an impending bite. This removes an easily understandable method of communication from him. If a dog is growling, remove whatever is making him growl, or remove him from the situation.

Note that all of these warning signs may be displayed in a matter of seconds, and may be subtle.

As a last resort, the dog bites. The first one is a warning, however hard it may be - he is saying that he will attack.

Second, don't ever put the dog in a situation where he feels like biting is his only way out. He has tried to de-escalate but he wasn't allowed to, so he took the only option he had left. Learn to read the dog, and what he is trying to communicate to you - that he is stressed, that he is.trying to defuse things, that he doesn't like what is happening.

Watch this.

Warning Signs to a Bite

At what age do puppies stop biting?

I teach my clients to aim for bite inhibition by the time the puppy is 5-6 months of age, about the same time they are getting their adult teeth.  What I mean by bite inhibition is the learned inhibition of bite force that develops over a period of weeks to months. At some time in the dog's life he is likely to bite under stress, and this is why it is essential to teach this skill to puppies.

Sharp puppy teeth serve a purpose in causing pain to the person or other animal the puppy bites which provides feedback to the puppy to help him learn to inhibit his bite.

While it's true that puppies learn some degree of bite inhibition from their dam and litter mates, this training must continue with the human owner. The way I teach bite inhibition is to instruct puppy owners to withdraw attention when the puppy bites too hard. This removes reinforcement which in effect "punishes" the puppy for hard biting. Effective punishment, by definition, inhibits the behavior that is punished.

No need to yelp. Yelping to imitate litter mates may actually stimulate some puppies and is not recommended by veterinary behavior experts.

You may also substitute an acceptable chew toy for biting on human skin.  Additionally, I teach Tug as a way to help develop bite control. Done correctly it teaches the puppy impulse control and a skill that can be used as a stress reliever and reinforcement in training.