When you first get a puppy, one of the main things you learn is that puppies like to mouth and play bite. It is part of their natural behaviour – so what’s the problem? It doesn’t even hurt that much really. So we don’t need to teach them bite inhibition right? WRONG.

As renowned behaviourist Ian Dunbar states ‘teaching bite inhibition is the most important aspect of your puppy’s entire education.’ (Dunbar, 2007-2010) This is supported by another expert in the field, Karen Pryor, who confirms ‘If you teach your dog bite inhibition, that training will carry over even if he’s later in a position where he feels forced to bite.’ (Pryor, 2007)

Bite inhibition refers to ‘a learned response in which the dog consciously inhibits the full force of his biting ability.’ (Paw Rescue, 2010)

Puppies begin to learn bite inhibition whilst they are still with mum but we fleshies are also responsible for continuing this lesson…and guilty of potentially exacerbating behavioural problems if we don’t – which I will show later in a case study. So what do we do?

Dunbar believes that teaching bite inhibition should be done by following a two-step process ‘first, to inhibit the force of puppy bites and second, to lessen the frequency of puppy mouthing. The first step is to…teach him to inhibit the force of his play-bites. Physical punishments are certainly not called for. But it is essential to let your puppy know that bites can hurt. A simple “Ouch!” is usually sufficient. When the puppy backs off, take a short time-out to “lick your wounds,” instruct your pup to come, sit, and lie down to apologize and make up and then, resume playing. If your puppy does not respond to your yelp by easing up or backing off, an effective technique is to call the puppy a “Bully!” and then leave the room and shut the door. Allow the pup a minute or two time-out to reflect on the association between his painful bite and the immediate departure of his favorite human playmate. Then return to make up. Have your pup come and sit and then resume playing once more.’ (Dunbar, 2007-2010)

Stopping the game and taking a time out (or leaving the room briefly if needs be) is so effective because dogs love social interaction and contact. This teaches the puppy that if he bites too hard, the fun ends. (As an aside, this is why dog to dog socialisation is also incredibly important, especially for puppies. Older dogs can teach them ‘doggy manners’ and will help teach bite inhibition in the same manner – they will yelp and stop the game if the pup bites too hard.)

Dunbar explains that ‘The next step is to eliminate bite pressure entirely, even though the “bites” no longer hurt. While your puppy is chewing his human chewtoy, wait for a bite that is harder than the rest and respond as if it really hurt, even though it didn’t: “Ouch, you worm! Gennntly!…” Your puppy begins to think, “…These humans are soooooo sensitive. I’ll have to be really careful when mouthing their delicate skin.” And that’s precisely what you want your pup to think: that he needs to be extremely careful and gentle when playing with people.’ (Dunbar, 2007-2010)

You can teach your puppy a ‘leave’ command so that when you say so, the mouthing stops. Obviously you need to reward your puppy when he ‘leaves’ (stops mouthing) to reinforce the behaviour. And the higher value the reward, the quicker the puppy is going to learn that ‘leaving’ (ie. stopping mouthing) results in something very good!

This should be repeated to successfully reinforce the desired behaviour – if your puppy isn’t food motivated, you could always try toys (keep a squeaky ball / tug toy etc for occasions like this when you need a high value reward but its not something your pup gets to play with all the time so it stays extra special!) and make sure you ALWAYS REWARD the behaviour you want.

You are teaching your pup what you WANT him to do, which makes it so much easier for him to understand. There’s no point shouting and screaming when he does something you don’t want him to do as you’ll undoubtedly scare him and he won’t know what he’s done ‘wrong’ anyway!

So WHY is teaching bite inhibition so important?

‘”He’s just a puppy!” or, “He’s sooooo cute!” or, “He’s only playing!” or, “He’ll grow out of it!”….Of course your puppy is only playing — play-barking, play-growling, play-biting, play-fighting, play-protecting a bone, or playing tug-of-war. If you just laugh at him, your pup will continue playing the aggression game as he grows older, and in no time at all, your fully grown adult dog will be playing for real. In a sense, play enables a pup to learn what he can get away with. What you need to do is teach your puppy the rules of the game. And the more rules he learns in puppyhood, the safer he will be as an adult dog.’ (Dunbar, 2007-2010)

As an adult dog, your puppy is going to have very large canine teeth and a strong bite – which will hurt a lot more than puppy nips!

If bite inhibition has been taught successfully, it means your dog will have control over his bites and even in situations which might push him over his bite threshold (ie. a situation has arisen that will cause him to bite through pain / fear etc) he will still employ the use of bite inhibition reducing the likelihood of severe damage to a human or another dog from his bite.

I hear what you’re saying but it could never happen to my dog!

Oh really? Don’t be so sure.

Only recently I spoke to a rescue about one of their lovely fosters who has sadly been returned to them as he had bitten another of the fosterer’s dogs. Not out of any maliciousness or intent to harm the other dog – he was just overexcited.

MEET BILLY…

Billy is living proof that teaching puppies bite inhibition is incredibly important as he has never learned to temper his bites which resulted in an injury to another dog.

Oldies Club explain ‘…unfortunately while he was in his previous foster home, he became overexcited and bit one of the other dogs quite badly. He needs an owner who understands that he might bite another dog hard if he gets overexcited or worried, who will be gentle with him, but make sure he doesn’t get himself into trouble…Billy is an affectionate dog who loves to be close to you and lie by your feet. He absolutely loves his walks and is always really happy when he’s out.’

When I spoke to Oldies Club about Billy they told me that ‘if Billy had learned what sort of bites hurt as a pup, he’d not be in kennels….Sad thing is, Billy had actually made loads of progress at his foster home…He will [continue to] be worked with in kennels & [we are] also looking for an experienced pet free foster who can continue work.’

What is so upsetting is that teaching bite inhibition, whilst it may take patience, is not terribly difficult and if only Billy’s humans had put in the time and effort, this lovely chap would never have found himself in such a sad situation.

Please click here to see Billy’s appeal!

Billy’s story shows us just how much us two-legged, hairless types can potentially affect the lives of our dogs if we don’t raise them properly and teach them ‘doggy etiquette’ to the best of our abilities.

So remember, next time that cute little pupster is nibbling on your hand, or hanging off your pant leg, you need to do what’s best (and safest!) for your dog – Let the bite inhibition lessons begin!!

Bibliography

Dunbar, I. (2007-2010). Common Excuses For Not Socializing Your Puppy. Retrieved May 13th 2010 from http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/common-excuses-not-socializing-your-puppy

Dunbar, I. (2007-2010). Teaching Bite Inhibition. Retrieved May 13th 2010 from http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/teaching-bite-inhibition

Paw Rescue. (2010). Bite Inhibition – an Essential Part of Socialization. Retrieved May 17th 2010 from http://www.paw-rescue.org/PAW/PETTIPS/DogTip_BiteInhibition.php

Pryor, K. (2007). Bite Inhibition Training. Retrieved May 17th 2010 from http://www.clickertraining.com/node/725

Special thanks to Oldies Club rescue and Billy who inspired this blog. If you think you can help Billy find a foster home, please get in touch via their website Oldies Club and follow them on twitter @oldiesclub