# Your views on bite inhibition



## BaxtersMum (Oct 6, 2012)

Hi

As some of you may have seen I posted a thread, in Puppies I think, about Ian Dunbar's teaching your dog bite inhibition. We started doing it and have found that Baxter's bites aren't as hard as they were, although still hard when he is having his funny half hour (or 2 hours on some days!).

So because of this I asked the dog trainer we are using about it and she said absolutely no way should we be letting our puppy bite us to teach him to bite more gently. She said we need to put a complete stop to biting. I told her that I had read it in Ian Dunbar's book and she said that she has met him and actually questioned his theory on it. She believes that teaching a dog to bite more gently so that if an accident happens like Ian suggests, falling on a dog, treading on a tail or foot etc, it wouldn't bite as hard is a load of rubbish. She said any dog if hurt is likely to bite and wouldn't stop to think 'Oh hang on I shouldn't bite too hard'.

She has told me to continue with what we were doing originally, standing up like a tree and saying off, and if ignored walk away or put him in time out. She also said that a puppy Baxters age (13 weeks) and also of his size should not still be biting like that!

I also brought up the subject of 'off' and said that I had read about the shaking of a can and that we had started doing that and it seems to be working and she disagreed with that as well. She said that should only be used with older dogs and that using it with a puppy could cause a fear of noise etc. She said again continue with saying off, using a treat if necessary and if ignored then time out.

I am getting so confused with all the different training methods and which ones work best. What are your views on this?


----------



## Kermit_days (Sep 24, 2012)

Our puppy is almost 13 weeks so we have much the same problems as you. And I agree about all the conflicting information.

I've decided that most methods probably 'work' as much of the behaviour is linked to the fact they are so young, and that one way or another they will grow out of it (with some guidance).

We try standing still when she's having one of her moments. Fortunately it works quite well with the kids. However when I try it she turns it into a game and bites my feet or grabs hold of my trousers with her feet. Its hard to ignore her when she's doing that. I do put her in timeout when she's being particularly bad, but I do feel bad for punishing her for essentially playing. She is getting better though. 

I have noticed that she definitely uses it as a way to get attention. This can be anything from wanting to play, to wanting to be let out. Obviously there are better ways of asking but it might be worth trying to see if she's 'asking' for something. Although I'm conscious not to 'reward' her behaviour by getting nice things.

Beyond that I'm afraid I'm as clueless as you. 

Good luck.


----------



## oliveJosh12 (Sep 10, 2012)

Olive will be 13 weeks tomorrow. She is getting better with biting but when she does bite we ignore her or if it continues she goes into timeout. 

I have noticed as Kermit_days says that with me especially she will ignore me and try and bite somewhere else. sometimes rolling onto her back and putting her paw out in a swatting way (such a madam!!)

I am continuing with no - ignoring her - if she carries on then timeout.

She gets the message as she comes out of timeout very quiet and plays with her toys.

Baxtersmum - I dont agree with your trainer about their age though - has she worked with a Viz before? I wouldnt worry as everyone on here has exactly the same problems so I'm sure they are all normal (ish)


----------



## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

Ian Dunbar's method DOES work! Riley is living proof. It is crucial to practice bite inhibition because the pup does learn that human skin is very fragile. My hubby & I were hiking with Riley one day & he accidentally stepped on her paw (HARD). She immediately turned & bit him as an automatic reflex, but we were shocked to find that it didn't even bruise his hand. This is the end result of bite inhibition training. A dog who was simply trained not to bite would have drawn blood.


----------



## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

There is something to be said for both points of view. One thing I DO believe for sure is this: The longer the pup is allowed to stay with his mom and littermates, the better his bite inhibition will be. The puppies learn it from each other during rough play. When you adopt the puppy, your family becomes his new pack. Thus, adoption at 10 or 12 weeks is better than adoption at 7 or 8 weeks. JMHO.


----------



## BaxtersMum (Oct 6, 2012)

threefsh said:


> Ian Dunbar's method DOES work! Riley is living proof. It is crucial to practice bite inhibition because the pup does learn that human skin is very fragile. My hubby & I were hiking with Riley one day & he accidentally stepped on her paw (HARD). She immediately turned & bit him as an automatic reflex, but we were shocked to find that it didn't even bruise his hand. This is the end result of bite inhibition training. A dog who was simply trained not to bite would have drawn blood.


That's how I see it but our trainer says it doesn't work like that. We have noticed Baxter is biting more gently now so maybe now is the time to reduce the biting as Ian Dunbar says. He does still hurt when he is having his mad half hour though so not sure?


----------



## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

Most people read different training methods and take from each method what works for them. If one method worked for every dog, it would make things so much easier.
Your going to have to use your own judgement and how your pup reacts to it.
On bite inhibition when a when a dog gets hurt. I personal think it goes back to the dogs temperament with people. My BIL owns a hog dog that has been trained for nothing but catching hogs. She will stand still in the back of a truck to have a cut cleaned and stapled. My Cash that has learned that he can only put his mouth on me easy when playing would eat someone up if this was tried on him. Lucy that has learned the same as Cash would probably just cry.
Shaking the can is a toss up on a young pup. It would be fine with some pups, but not with others.


----------



## redrover (Mar 17, 2011)

I think it can vary from dog to dog. Jasper is a very mouthy dog, and likes to use it when playing. I used Ian Dunbar's method. Jasper will certainly but his mouth on me when we wrestle, but he never really closes his mouth, just has his teeth barely touching skin. It does occasionally go a little too far if he gets riled up (my fault, honestly), but he's immediately apologetic and starts licking where he "hurt" you.

I can say that he has been tread on a couple of times in a busy household, and he has never reacted by biting or even attempting to bite. Whether that's due to bite inhibition, just not being hurt enough to want to bite, or the temperament of the dog, I can't say. He doesn't seem to be a dog that bites in reaction to things like that, since the vets never have a problem doing what appear to be semi-painful things to him.

I'd say do whatever works for you. If that means you're not using the exact method your trainer prescribes, then that's what it means. If your trainer gives you a hard time about it, find a different trainer. Same goes for shaking the can of pennies. FWIW, that's how my friend trained his dachshund, and he is not noise-sensitive at all. He was a little afraid of it at first, then quickly learned that the noise meant that he had done something naughty, not that the scary can of noise was coming to eat his face off. It allowed my friend to immediately express his displeasure in what the dog had done, and he was trained not to jump pretty quickly. But he didn't end up afraid of noises or anything. But again, that probably depends on the dog, particularly their sensitivity. If you're worried about that, just banging pots and pans around, slamming doors, etc. Doing that might make Baxter insensitive to the can, though, or it might not.

The unfortunate part of training dogs is that not every method works on every dog. Some are harder (like mine), while some are softer dogs. You know your dog's personality best, better than even the trainer. If you think a method is working better for both him and you, use it. Use it consistently, and try not to waffle around with it because of what a trainer is saying you should be doing. That will just end up confusing the dog. I ended up learning that the hard way, and now there are a few things Jasper had at about 90% when he was younger that he just doesn't have any more because of too many cooks in the kitchen (agility training caused this--four or five different trainers, teaching different methods of release, for example, all differently, all wanting you to do it "their" way regardless).


----------



## flynnandlunasmom (May 28, 2012)

Ok, this reply is not about Ian Dunbar's method. But, I've seen so many posts about puppy biting lately and it kind of baffles me. I have to say, I just don't recall the puppy biting stage being that bad? Is it just me?


----------



## born36 (Jun 28, 2011)

flynnandlunasmom said:


> Ok, this reply is not about Ian Dunbar's method. But, I've seen so many posts about puppy biting lately and it kind of baffles me. I have to say, I just don't recall the puppy biting stage being that bad? Is it just me?


I am guessing it is because each pup is different. Some are full on sharks for a couple months while others tend to get it and don't tend to bite. My Mac was very sharky with clothes but not hands although still got a few scratches from his teeth running into me. I agree though proper biting is different than plan biting and don't recall there being any proper biting by Mac.


----------



## flynnandlunasmom (May 28, 2012)

That must be it born36. Flynn was over the biting stage when I met him and Luna's just wasn't too bad. Or, maybe I'm just romanticizing it and remembering it being easier than it was


----------



## BaxtersMum (Oct 6, 2012)

Baxter is very sharky when he is in that mood. We tend to move our hand away quickly so not sure how hard it would be if we let him get hold of us. He tends to nip more than full on open mouthed bite at the kids especially with clothes and it's the nipping that tends to hurt and I suppose Baxter doesn't realise how hard he is nipping.

He is gradually getting better, we have more days with no nipping than with now.

The worse time is between 4pm and 8pm. I would say this is when the kids and husband get home from school and work and the excitement levels are higher. We had noticed how much better he was last weekend with all of us together and without everybody in and out.


----------

