Our dogs are a part of our family. We love them as much as our children and would do anything for them, right? But what happens when your four-legged friend starts to show some irritating behavior?
Why does my dog flea bite me? Dogs will flea bite to show affection, boredom, curiosity or sometimes its behavior picked up when your dog has fleas.
Keep reading for a deeper explanation into why dogs will flea bite, and a few ways you can teach them to cut out the bad behavior.
Table of Contents
Why Does My Dog Flea Bite Me?
What is Flea Biting?
Flea biting is when your dog nibbles at their skin with their teeth. There are a few different names for it including:
Flea biting – This is because it is the same action they use when they are trying to relieve themselves of a flea itch.
Nibbling – because they don’t actually bite, they only use their front teeth to nibble at their skin, some people call this nibbling instead of flea biting.
Baby biting – Again because your dog isn’t actually biting with the full force of their jaw, it can be referred to as baby biting.
Why Is My Dog Flea Biting Me?
Your dog might genuinely have fleas. If this is the case your dog will simply be flea biting you because they are a bit confused about where they end and you begin!
If your dog doesn’t have fleas, then this behavior might be a sign that they are acting out because they are bored or under-stimulated. It can happen with a lack of activity or outlets for their energy.
Another reason they might be doing this is as a sign of affection with other members of the “pack”.
If your dog has or has had fleas on them before they instinctually use their teeth to get rid of them while grooming themselves.
In their own way, they are trying to keep you clean of any fleas. However, it might be annoying to you, know they are not doing it for that, they are doing it because they love you!
How To Fix Flea Biting In Dogs?
If your dog is doing this because they have fleas, you are going to need to treat your dog for fleas. You can do this by visiting the vet and then go to the pet store for some flea treatment.
You will also have to treat your furniture and bedding (and any other pets you have in the home).
If you think your dog is doing it because they are bored try taking them for more varied walks (including areas they haven’t been to before and interesting places with lots going on) and using stimulating toys when they are left home alone.
These can be purchased online or through pet stores and will help keep your dog busy and stimulated instead of getting bored.
Finally, if your dog is doing it as a grooming behavior to show they love you simply tell them no and reward them when you say no and they respond.
Over time you can slowly decrease the treats as your dog stops doing it, this way you stop the behavior and you won’t encourage it by always giving them lots of treats for doing it and then stopping.
What If It Persists?
If your dog’s behavior persists then it might be worth going to a professional that has dealt with similar dogs.
Whether it is a vet to check for skin conditions or other ailments that might be causing them to do this.
Or a pet behaviorist if nothing is wrong with their physical and there is something more mental to fix like bad behavior.
However, these are the extremes the other solutions on this list are much simpler and can do the trick.
Conclusion
We hoped we answered your question “Why does my dog flea bite me?”. Remember that while it is a negative behavior, it isn’t always their fault and there are always ways to fix it.
Dog behavior can be very complex and there are lots of reasons why your dog might be acting out. If you can’t isolate what the reason is then why not find a local animal behaviorist and see if they can help.
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