# Biting VS. Mouthing (bite inhibition)



## denparkin

So I was at a new Dog Park this evening and a Lady freaked at me because my pup was "biting" her dog. I tried to explain to her that they were playing, and she totally lost it on me telling me my dog was out of control and aggressive. I'm not one for confrontation, but just before I left I asked her "how would you like them to play, a game of hopscotch perhaps?"

*Anyhow, after reading some posts recently and my incident at the park I decided to put up something on biting verses mouthing.*

All puppies will "mouth", a behavior that some people mistake for biting. Mouthing is a learning process for puppies while biting is usually a corrective measure that has more force than mouthing. Sometimes while playing a puppy will nip too hard and cause its playmate to bite back. This is part of how a puppy learns and is normal behavior. Sometimes the puppy will nip its owner too hard while playing, the same way it nipped its litter mate. Again, this part of the learning process and should not be confused with intended, aggressive biting.

The best way to prevent puppy biting and mouthing is to teach the puppy the correct way to interact with humans. It helps if the puppy is left with its mother and litter mates until it is at least 12 weeks old. The mother dog will teach the puppy its most important lesson – bite inhibition. Bite inhibition is when a puppy learns to control the force of its mouth and to refrain from using its mouth in certain circumstances.

Sometimes an owner will not be sure if the puppy is being just a puppy or if there are more serious aggressive tendencies. Most young puppies do not aggressively bite. Therefore if the owner is doubtful, that is enough of a warning to seek professional help.

When working with a mouthy puppy, keep in mind that the puppy does not know how to act around humans. The puppy has not had much life experience outside of its canine family. Many inexperienced dog owners will punish a puppy for mouthing. This is often harmful to the puppy's mental well being and teaches the puppy to use aggressive methods to solve problems. Puppies may bite too hard because they do not know better and need to be taught, not punished.

All dogs, and certainly all puppies, chew. They will chew almost anything that they can get into their mouth. Therefore the owner must puppy-proof the area where the puppy will spend its time. Puppies do not know what is safe and what is not safe to put into their mouth.

Providing proper and safe chew toys will teach the puppy what it can and cannot chew. The best products are ones made of rubber and nylon designed for puppies and dogs to chew. Anything else will look, feel and/or smell like the things in the home that the puppy is not allowed to chew. How can a puppy be expected to understand that to chew rawhide is correct but to chew shoes is not? 

If your puppy should put any part of your person in its mouth, gently tell the puppy not to do this and give the puppy the correct thing to put in its mouth. The same applies to unacceptable objects that a puppy might try to chew. Once the puppy takes the correct object, praise it, so that it will know what is good.

Do not try to yank or otherwise pull objects from the puppy's mouth. You could hurt the puppy, even pull out a tooth or two. You will also trigger the puppy's grab reflex which is not what it should learn. Yanking things that are in a puppy's mouth could teach the puppy to have a pulling contest.

When the puppy releases the incorrect object and takes the correct object into its mouth, praise the puppy for doing what is correct. Remember, the puppy does not know what is right and wrong unless it is shown.

If a puppy shows genuine aggressive behavior, such as snarling, raised lips, glaring eyes and body language that is stiff and threatening, the owner should consult a canine behaviorist immediately. If the owner is not sure about the puppy's behavior, it is better to check with a behaviorist than to take a chance. 

Many puppy and dog owners think that unwanted behavior will go away on its own, or they feel that, given enough love, the puppy will change. Some feel that the right type of punishment will cure the problem.

Aggressive behavior will not go away on it own, nor will the dog get better with age. The biggest mistake that owners make is to excuse away aggressive behavior and/or hope that the behavior will be outgrown. The behavior always gets worse with age, because of what the puppy learns as it is growing up.

To successfully raise a puppy to be a well adjusted adult, the dog owner will recognize the difference between mouthing, playing and true aggression. Mouthing is the way a puppy learns. All dogs will chew and carry things in their mouth. Some dogs will even use their mouth to show affection. And all dogs will play using their mouths.

However, the responsible dog owner will not tolerate aggressive behavior from either a puppy, a young adult or an adult dog. A properly socialized and adjusted puppy or dog will not feel the need to act aggressively.

A dog that chooses to act aggressively is a danger to itself and those around it. Aggression can also signal that the dog has a relationship problem with humans. Sometimes a puppy's owner has unknowingly taught the puppy to act in an aggressive manner. In other cases, the dog decides that aggressive behavior is needed when it is not. This is a misjudgment on the part of the dog, indicating that the dog needs training.


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## Linescreamer

Most hunting breeds will play like they are in the WWF or extreme fighting arena!  It's just how they have fun!


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## JillandDan

I agree with the rough playing. We go on a weekly playdate with two male V's (one adorable pup is a member on this board) and they all run into each other nonstop and it does look painful but they seem to enjoy it.


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## Crazy Kian

denparkin said:


> So I was at a new Dog Park this evening and a Lady freaked at me because my pup was "biting" her dog. I tried to explain to her that they were playing, and she totally lost it on me telling me my dog was out of control and aggressive. I'm not one for confrontation, but just before I left I asked her "how would you like them to play, a game of hopscotch perhaps?"


Again another reason why I cannot go to a dog park with Kian. He plays hard and likes to "be the boss". 
I was with two members of this forum last summer at an off leash dog park when I got chewed out by a gentleman because Kian put his full grown Weim on her back... oh well. I believe that is the last time I have been to an off leash corral.


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## laurita

Love your response, denparkin! I have had a lot of people get worried about our dogs playing and I tell them to watch the tails and listen for yelps. If one is yelping and the other one isn't accepting the signal, I intervene. If nobody's yelping but one dog has his/her tail down, he/she may not be having fun anymore. To their credit, I guess it is shocking to watch at first...


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## Suliko

Sophie too takes down bigger dogs including a big, black lab by "biting" their ankles. But it's all fun and games, and I haven't heard any remarks yet! Sophie's best friend GSP Mia makes these awful growling noises when they play together, and many mistake them for "aggression," but Mia is the sweetest dog and it's really just how they play together - so much fun to watch! 

My personal observation - people are a lot more judgmental in dog parks, and it is almost like a competition about whose dog is the best behaved. People in dog training school playgroups seem to be a lot more informed and only intervene when there is an actual potential threat for a dog to be hurt.


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## mishka

So we just got our vizsla puppy two weeks ago (she was only 8 weeks, and now I realize that was too young, but too late). She is a lot of work, but clearly wants to make us happy. The problem is at night when she gets out of control. She seems to have "sun-downers", where she can't stop running around and biting us. If I pick her up and try to cuddle her, to calm her down, she just gets frantic trying to grab my hand or anything she can get a hold of. It's not mouthing, it's biting and it hurts. My kids just scream for help when she gets like this and I usually have to put her in her kennel, which works sometimes but others she just whines and cries. Smacking her on the nose immediately after a bite doesn't seem to do anything except encourage more biting. Will she grow out of this stage? I've found that at other times of the day I can put her in my lap and hold a rawhide chew for her and she'll gnaw on it like a baby with a pacifier. So it's just something about that time of day. Also, no amount of exercise during the day makes any difference.
Thanks,
Amy


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## SerCopper

Hi Mishka,

I got my new V pup just over 3 weeks ago (also 8 weeks old) and we are experiencing the same situation. About 8:00 PM Copper is crazy. Running biting anything in sight etc. It has gotten much better the last week though. I have a trainer who comes to the house and her suggestion (which goes against most of what I have read but seems to be working) is to put puppy in his crate when he bites. No talking, no eye contact completly ignore puppy. The timeout should be short 30-40 seconds but make sure you wait for him to stop whinning/barking before you let puppy out. 

Copper is pretty managable the rest of the time but once 8:00 roles around it's crazy time. I am told this is 100% common and they out grow the behavior, most likely once you start exercising them.


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## kristen

Odin was like this at about 10 weeks. We just kept shoving a toy in his mouth when he tried to go for us or anything else. We had especially good luck with stuffingless toys made by Skinneeez. 

He got over it by about 13 weeks, but now we're at 16 weeks and teething like crazy, and he's back trying too get his mouth around anything he can whilst running around the house like a madman.

We have a puppy kong, that we stuff with a piece of dehydrated lamb lung, which gives us about 15 minutes of calm puppy, or alternately peanut butter which he's mastered and only lasts about 5 minutes. A frozen face cloth only seems to keep him occupied if I am holding it for him, or if he can rip it to shreds. His bed is now a source of fun as he tries to rip out the stuffing, and he is obsessed with going outside and digging up rocks to chew on. (one night he asked to go out 14 times in one hour alone.) We put up a baby gate to aid us in containing him to one portion of the house where we can keep an eye on him, and he tries to eat the gate. Then the baseboard, and yesterday he tried to chew the fridge. YEP... the stainless steel fridge. Looked yummy apparently.

Any hope watching of 8pm television shows has went right out the window!

I am hoping it gets better? But WHEN?! :


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## ctracyverizon

"Eat it first, worry about consequences later!"

I love that on your posts Suliko.

We have a friend with a 7 yo male vizsla (Whiskey) and they attack each other and Summit relentlessly tries to dominate the older dog. They just go at each other until it's time to go home. We monitor the action and make sure the tails are up. It's pretty amazing to watch. We can't bring them in the house because they will tear it up. At six months Summit is already 44lbs and he is fearless of other dogs. I only get him around friends dogs because he plays so ruff with them.

Following what Ian Dunbar teaches to stop a puppy from biting has completely worked for us.
He went from a little terrorist at 10 weeks old, to not biting at all at six months, even when I ruff house with him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vrPDMc-I-k

Sometimes he seems to test his limits like when you are drying him with towels or cleaning his feet with a towel and he gets really excited and will mouth our hands too hard, but just saying "Aww!!" will stop him.

Our neighbors in our duplex must have though we were nuts for a few months, constantly yelling Aww ... Aww. Aww that hurts ... Aww! :-\


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## threefsh

I've noticed that most of Riley's crazy playing with other dogs is a lot of fast movement and noises, but she doesn't *connect* very much with her teeth. She loooooves to play with my sister's tiny little 3lb chihuahua and she spends most of the time putting her gaping jaws over her face and back, but has learned that if she clamps down Sasha yells at her and bites her HARD, then walks off and doesn't want anything to do with her. 

She has crazy times with us early in the morning and at about 7PM every night where she just wants to mouth either us or our clothes or something she KNOWS she's not supposed to. We've been dealing with this by giving her toys to chew on and her favorite is a Kong with some peanut butter inside. I've noticed over the past 2 weeks her mouthing has gotten more and more gentle. She can now hold my hand in her mouth without it hurting at all, but we still discourage this because it would scare any friends/family who didn't know her better. We have NEVER put her in the crate for being mouthy as we don't want it to be a negative space for her. Most of the time, a simple "NO!" or "OW!" works really well. If she's especially crazy, we grab her muzzle gently and she gets the hint really quickly.


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## pippa31

Pippa was a HORRIBLE biter when she was a puppy. The biting/nipping seemed to go on FOREVER. Now, at 6 months, she never bites at all  I think she stopped somewhere between 18-20 weeks, but it got A LOT better after 16 weeks or so....

We did not use the crate as a time-out space, mostly because Pippa HATED her crate from day one and we had to do a lot of work to get her to feel comfortable inside her crate. We used a firm "NO!" and left the room (or stepped over the baby gate we had up). Having A LOT of patience helps 

It is a stage that they will grow out of, thank goodness! It's no fun at all, so hang in there.


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## luv2laugh

Oso on occasion will jump up and nip at our clothes (usually at night) or when hyper. He definitely does it when overtired. He's 14 weeks right now. Whenever he's acting just horribly and I can't figure out why, I now know that I need to put him in the crate and he'll go right to sleep. 

We've been just acting like a tree when he jumps and nips. If we are on the ground, we sit up straight, look away and fold our arms. When he stops, we tell him to sit and lay down and then will play with him for a bit. I"m not sure if that's the right thing to do. I feel like nipping at clothes is just horrible. He doesn't do it too much, but this last week has been a crzy week for him. 

Lately, I've been feeling a lot like I'm not sure exactly what to do. We did "time outs" in the crate for jumping on the sofa and it worked BEAUTIFULLY!! I had heard you weren't supposed to do it, but we were doing "off" and he would get off, but then just jump up again a few minutes later. When he jumps up at the sofa, we just pretend like he asked to go in the crate and say, "Oso, crate" nicely and put him in there. We leave him in there for a minute of no whining. He learned now and doesn't whine, but in the beginning we had to shorten it to 10-20 seconds without whining. After the first couple hours of enacting the policy, he stopped jumping on the sofas. We get it maybe once or twice a day, but he was doing a LOT at first. Like 5-6x an hour. 

Oso is still small enough that other owners just think he is cute and don't want him to get hurt. Puppy playtime is still my favorite thing though, it's been so good for him.


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## luv2laugh

Thank you, by the way for the initial post. VERY informative!


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## KashagLake

Mishka: That sounds EXACTLY how Holly used to be!! Geez I don't miss those baby teeth! lol!


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## Kobi

For all the puppy owners chiming in: Welcome to Vizsla (or just puppy) ownership. For the first several weeks, you will be convinced that your dog is sometimes possessed by the devil. This is normal. If they weren't so cute 95% of the time, we probably wouldn't be able to love them because of that 5%!


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## threefsh

Kobi said:


> For all the puppy owners chiming in: Welcome to Vizsla (or just puppy) ownership. For the first several weeks, you will be convinced that your dog is sometimes possessed by the devil. This is normal. If they weren't so cute 95% of the time, we probably wouldn't be able to love them because of that 5%!


Haha, so true! Riley can be such a crazy spaz, but then she cuddles up to my neck and falls asleep and I find myself saying "She is such a perfectly sweet little girl!". :-*


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## luv2laugh

Love that Kobi and threefsh. 

My vizsla pup sure has me on an emotional roller coaster. Love him, hate him, love him, hate him. At least he makes me exercise more to relieve my stress (see he's wonderful again)


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## Subs

New to the forums and looking for help with our 10 week old. So koda is very mouthy and I feel like we have tried everything and anything. We are waiting for her to finish her puppy shots so we can go introduce her to more dogs and get her socialized that way. We have tried loud yipping when she bites simply going "ow" and that worked for a few days. We have tried gently holding her snout and saying no mouth. We have tried ignoring the behavior but she constantly goes after the back of the knees and the ankles. We have not tried the time out scenario yet for fear that it will negatively impact her crate. We have tried a kong full of peanut butter and put toys in her face to make sure she bites or mouths those objects instead of the back of my thigh. Are there any strategies out there that I am missing? She goes out for plenty of walks and we play with her throwing toys back and forth for about 15-20 minutes 2 or 3 times a night. Can someone please help


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## mswhipple

Hi, Subs, and welcome to the forums! Do you have any photos of Koda that you could post? 

There are many, many threads on this very topic. There is an active thread right now with the subject line "helpppppp! biting pup!" You could read over that one, and also search for others like it. There is a search box in the upper right hand corner of your screen, just above the ads, which you will find helpful.

You aren't doing anything wrong. Koda is behaving like a normal puppy. She will outgrow this behavior. Hang in there! ;D ;D ;D


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## einspänner

Hey Subs,

I agree with mswhipple. Koda will outgrow the behaviour. Just be consistent with how you respond to the biting. It sounds like you're using great methods already! It might take awhile for it to click and for you to see the change, but be confident that it will happen.


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