How to Train a Dog to Stop Biting Hands That Reach for Her

For this in-home LA dog training session we worked with 4 year-old Terrier mix Charlie going over tips on how to stop a dog from biting hands.

Charlie may be one of the most adorable dogs I’ve ever met. I had the privilege of working with her a while ago about her fear of the vacuum.

For today’s session, we went over how to teach a dog to stop biting hands that reach for them.

It’s always important to remember that all dog behavior is trying to achieve something. This includes growling, snarling and biting.

Many people say that their dog is mean or aggressive when they offer those behaviors. But after working with thousands of dogs, I’ve learned that there are very few aggressive dogs out there. Usually it’s a case of the dog communicating that they are scared, uncomfortable or don’t like something while having the human not respond to their warning.

For years, I’ve been telling my clients that when a dog growls at them they should interpret that as a dog’s way of saying “I feel uncomfortable,” or “I disagree.” When you look at it through that lens, you see the dog communicating, versus being aggressive.

One of my favorite things to teach my LA dog training clients is how to read dog cut off signals and signs of consent.

Just like humans, dogs communicate when they like or dislike something. And just like you or me, if someone kept on doing something to you after you communicated you did not like it, eventually you would offer a human version of a dog bite; a stern verbal reprimand, walking away or if unable to walk away, you may push or shove the person. In some cases people resort to punching.

Now of course I’m not condoning violence, whether it’s human or dog related. But I am a firm believer in making sure that we have consent and respecting people when they communicate we do not have it.

For humans, continuing when you do not have consent can turn into a slap or punch. For dogs, that can result in a nip or bite. This is even more amplified in a dog’s home or when they are on the leash as they don’t have the ability to leave. In this case, when someone reaches for the dog, they have no escape. In some cases, this may cause the dog to bite the hand that reaches or touches them.

But the inverse is also true. If a dog communicates it does not like something, and you stop doing whatever that is, the dog does not feel the need to move forward. This is one of the best ways to teach a dog that reaching hands are nothing to fear.

How to Teach a Dog to Stop Biting Hands

Of course, when you have a dog as cute as Charlie is, and you live in a place like Los Angeles, people are going to want to pet your dog.

I pulled out my camera and handed it to Charlie’s guardian so that I could show him a desensitization and counterconditioning exercise to show him how to teach Charlie to stop biting hands that reach out to pet her.

If your dog does not like it when people approach them or nips when strangers try to pet them, you should definitely check out this free positive dog training video on how to condition your dog to stop biting hands.

It was wonderful to see Charlie respond so well to this positive dog training technique. We kept things easy, set her up for success and ended on a positive note.

The most important thing to do with this exercise is to go at the dog’s pace. Many people who use this technique do something I call “practice till failure.” They keep advancing and pushing the dog until it’s past its limit and the dog feels the need to disagree. In Charlie’s case, that meant nipping or biting the hand.

But for this exercise, our ultimate goal is to introduce as much of the activity (reaching for her) as possible without the dog feeling uncomfortable at all. Then after each activity, the dog gets something positive.

You can use a treat, but I have found that using a spoon of peanut butter can be even more effective. Licking and chewing can help dogs relax and may increase the release of calming neurochemicals such as oxytocin.

Since dogs who are nipping or biting are feeling uncomfortable, it’s important to change their emotional response so instead of seeing a hand reaching for them as a negative, they look at it as something that is positive.

In order to achieve that, you have to go slowly. I recommended the guardian practice this exercise with family members or friends that come to visit who will listen to him.

The practice sessions to stop biting hands should only last for one to one and a half minute maximum, followed by something that Charlie really enjoys like belly rubs. When this break happens, it would be helpful for the guest to move farther away so that Charlie can feel comfortable and relax.

After a couple minutes of rest, the guest can practice this trick to get a dog to stop biting hands in a different location for another one or one and a half minute practice session.

I usually like to do this exercise three or four times with breaks in between each practice session. This allows you to maximize your dog’s time with your guest while simultaneously going at your dog’s pace and not overwhelming them.

Over time, you should be able to get closer to the dog’s mouth without any cutoff signals. But it’s important for the guardian to pay very close attention to Charlie when they’re practicing.

Freezing, licking the lips, turning away, ears rotating back, stiff body or eyes not blinking are more subtle communication cut off signals. If you do this right, you should not see any of those signals because you stop the reach distance before Charlie feels uncomfortable. Feeling uncomfortable is when she’s going to show those indicators.

I also went over another exercise that the guardian can have their helper practice with Charlie. This isn’t designed specifically to teach a dog to stop biting hands, but more to engage with humans and strangers.

The game is very simple, give the guest some high-value training treats and each time that Charlie looks at them, they should say the marker word “yes,” then toss a treat a foot or two behind Charlie.

After Charlie has retrieved the treat, they should wait for another look at their face and after marking it, throw the treat a foot or two behind Charlie on the other side.

This helps the dog build a positive association with the person and incorporates breaks and distance to help the dog feel more comfortable. Many dog trainers will teach you to toss the treat between you and the dog, but I much prefer this method.

By tossing the treat behind Charlie, she is approaching the human on her own volition instead of being bribed to do so. This ensures that we have the dog’s consent, gives Charlie the feeling of control and security, and is a super easy exercise to do.

This also gives Charlie’s guardian the opportunity to create another positive association with the guest when they come over. Kind of a double dip when they come over to help him practice the first exercise; to teach Charlie to stop biting hands.

Now just like any other dog behavior modification, this is going to take time and practice. Fortunately for Charlie, her guardian is incredibly patient, nurturing and attentive. Charlie is very lucky to have somebody so awesome looking out for her.

Many people see dogs who bite as being aggressive and try to punish them. But it’s important to remember that this behavior is coming out of a fear response, it’s not an intentional action.

That’s why this exercise to stop biting hands is built around changing Charlie’s emotional response into a positive. It definitely takes time and practice, but because we go at the dog’s pace, we know that the emotions generated are genuine.

While our ultimate goal is to teach Charlie to stop biting hands that reach for her, it’s important to keep things in perspective. Sometimes when dogs have very deep-seated fears and phobias, we can make them better, but not completely fix them. That is OK.

I’m hopeful that these positive dog training exercises will help Charlie learn that new people are nothing to fear, but time will tell. I invited her guardian to follow up with me if he has any questions or problems moving forward.

We wrapped up this in-home LA dog training session by answering a few questions and giving him some homework to maximize the positive dog training tips we covered.

I’m looking forward to hearing how well Charlie responds in the next few weeks or months.

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