How can I get my puppy to stop biting everyone?

My first recommendation is to find a reputable trainer in your area and sign up for puppy classes.

You don’t mention if she’s biting hands, or people in general. I’m going to assume that she’s biting during play, especially hands.

The first step is to train her to use an appropriate object. Have a favorite toy in your hand and encourage her to focus on it rather than any body part of yours. Praise her effusively when she uses it correctly. Be consistent. No training program will work if you don’t follow the rules all of the time.

The second step is dissuading the unwanted behavior (“swatting” is ineffective). Now that she has an acceptable object as a target – the toy (and you’ve taught her that it’s acceptable), when she slips up and gets a piece of you, have a plan in place – make a sharp, loud, quick sound (some people yelp “ow!”, some use the universally recognized “ehhhh!”), and immediately cease all interactions with her. Drop the toy, turn away, don’t make eye contact, don’t scold, just act as if she doesn’t exist.

The positive reinforcement of the toy, in combination with the “negative” reinforcement of lack of attention will give her the motivation she needs to modify her behavior. Negative reinforcement such as smacking and spanking damage the relationship between you and your dog, and lots and lots of research show that positive training methods work much better, anyway. But as with anything that you’re trying to teach, patience and consistency are the key to success.

If you are having a lot of trouble with visitors or strangers, devise a strategy for dealing with those situations. Start working on her “down/stays”, and reward with a Kong or a rawhide – she’s a baby that needs to start developing self control. Slowly increase her training periods, and eventually you can have a dog that knows to a target area (like laying down on her bed) when guests are in the house. As you can imagine, ignoring new people is very hard for a puppy, so this is a long, slow process.

Now, I’m not saying that corporal punishment is never appropriate – I’m too old school for that. But remember that you’re dealing with what is essentially an infant, at the beginning of a life-long relationship with you. The more work you’re willing to put into her training now, the more rewarding that long relationship will be.

(And please don’t listen to anyone that suggests that you look to Cesar Milan for guidance.)

I tried everything when my Rottweiler was a puppy. I looked like a heroine addict for about 8 months. She finally just grew out of it.

Like @syz said, maybe some good training classes would be helpful?

Our pup play-bit a whole lot when she was very young, but seemed to grow right out of it. We did what @syz said, but I think it was more of her being a puppy than anything else. Now she just mouths you without biting down at all. If she accidentally bites while playing or eating from my hand, she stops and looks at me before continuing. I think of it as a, “oops, my bad.”

Don’t hit her or scream at her, no matter what. It just teaches her to fear you, which can cause her to bite in self defense.

Every time he bites say (or have the other person say, “Ow, ow, ow” in a high pitched voice like it is hurting even if it isn’t. She will learn not to bite. That is how puppies learn.

Get her a rope to play tug of war with. When she reaches for you hand or something drop it and say no biting. She will want you to continue to play and will realize that you stop every-time she bites something she is not suppose too. Also say no biting in a firm voice and look her in her eyes. She probably is teething and gets carried away. Best thing is to stop. She can’t focus on a lesson if she is too excited. So always stop when she gets excited and has lost the ability to follow commands. A tug rope is great for itchy gums.

I did as @marinelife life suggested with my dog as a puppy and he got the idea. He has only bit once and it was an accident/ on purpose. We don’t know which. He was playing tug of war with the person and they would smack him on the face with the rope. Not hard but enough I’m sure to be annoying. He was either just careless in getting the rope into his mouth or he wanted to bite him for being a jerk.

If you have kids, make sure they aren’t doing anything that would confuse the dog. You all need to be on the same page for training for it to work.