My dog bit me when he was in pain?

SO heres the story. I got a puppy about a month ago, he's turning 3 months next week. Anyways. He's terrible with puppy biting. I always try and correct him but he doesnt seem to learn. Even when he's tired and i rub his belly or pet him he'll open his mouth to bite. Tonight though, i was closing the door and he ran into it and got his paw stuck under it. He started freaking out and i quickly went to get it out, when i was getting it out, he totally just bit me. It was really painful, but i ignored it and got him out. about a minute after calming him down i looked at my hand and saw that 5 of his teeth punctured my skin, and there was a little bit of blood. It rreallly hurt and got all swollen.

So my question is, did he only bite me that hard because it was a reaction to his pain? And any advice on stopping his biting habits. Thanks.

BTW, this is the only time his bite has hurt me, the rest of the time, its just play biting.

to join us, Jhonalid1!
I believe your puppy bit you out of fear and pain. If you were bleeding, I would be more worried about yourself for the moment. Perhaps take a shot for the precaution?

Since your puppy usually just "playing biting", it is not too much of a concern, although in my opinion you should avoid putting your hand near its mouth. It is indeed a bad habit of your puppy which need to be corrected.

I am not a dog expert, so I will let the more experienced dog expert members to answer the details.

Welcome! I am certainly not a dog expert, but from my experience with dogs, it sounds as though he was scared, and probably in pain. That is most anilmals only way to respond to extreme pain or fear. What kind of puppy is he?

Puppy teeth are sharp, very sharp! He probably didn't bite very hard and almost certainly didn't mean to hurt you. It sounds like he was in a state of panic and bit wherever he could in an attempt to escape the situation.

As for the puppy play biting itself, have a read of this - http://petskeepersguide.com/forums/Threa...Ian-Dunbar

(05-06-2012 02:53 PM)Ram8349 Wrote:   to join us, Jhonalid1!
I believe your puppy bit you out of fear and pain. If you were bleeding, I would be more worried about yourself for the moment. Perhaps take a shot for the precaution?

Since your puppy usually just "playing biting", it is not too much of a concern, although in my opinion you should avoid putting your hand near its mouth. It is indeed a bad habit of your puppy which need to be corrected.

I am not a dog expert, so I will let the more experienced dog expert members to answer the details.

I agree, get it looked at if you haven't already. My old dog (I miss him so much) would put his mouth around my hand and very lightly gnaw, but because I have big bones that hurt more than it would most people. But this particular case I would expect yeah he did it out of pain. When I hit my head real hard or get hurt and people flock to try to help I react by yelling at them first for the same reason. I apologize later etc but I assume the same trait is in dogs.

Not an expert here but what it sounds like is normal puppy behavior for him to nip at you or when rough housing clamps down on your hand. Might be a good time to get him to not do that anymore. Now as for the he hurt you, yeah it's just the normal reaction that's ingrained in all animals. He was in pain and panicked when he bite your hand. Would definitely have your hand checked out since infection would be your first worry.

First off, I'm slightly worried that you said your puppy is turning 3 months old next week and you got him a month ago, meaning he'd barely have been 8 weeks old when you got him. Puppies shouldn't really be taken away from their mother's until they are 12 weeks old.

Dogs are very limited in the ways they can tell us they are in pain. If removing his paw from the door caused him more pain, then biting you to let you know is going to be his first instinct, that's the only way he can tell you he's hurting.

As for the other biting, well puppies bite, it's perfectly normal behaviour. And the biting/chewing will increase when he starts teething (if he hasn't already). Just make sure you have plenty of chew toys for him.

Puppies do bite. It's one of those things that you need to be persistent and consistent about. Eventually he will catch on. My dog took until she was 2 1/2 before the play biting stopped. Now a simple "no bite" command stops her.

One thing I've learned is never tease your puppy with your hands. Don't play hand games. It only confuses them. If you are playing, grab a toy and let him bite that. This way he will learn it is okay to play, just not with your fingers. Puppies do forget sometimes. They have a habit of mistaking toy and fingers. And, they sure do have sharp little teeth!

As for the accident and him biting you, I agree with the others that it was out of fear. My dog will do this sometimes. What I try to do is to remain calm and talking soothingly while I work through whatever it is. The more your energy raises, then more they will panic.

Have you started puppy training classes? If you haven’t I’d recommend signing up as soon as possible. As you stated you’ve tried to train your puppy on your own but have had difficulty. A good trainer would be able to answer you queries about your dog biting and may give you some invaluable advice that might nip the problem in the bud, so to speak.