# Ian Dunbar's Teaching Bite Inhibition



## BaxtersMum (Oct 6, 2012)

Dr Ian Dunbar's methods for Bite Inhibition make perfect sense and I have been doing this with Baxter and it's working! Now we are getting the play biting under control I am looking for his method for jumping and nipping! I thought I'd copy and paste this section from his book 'After you get your Puppy' as many are posting about biting so thought it would be useful to post it. You can get a free download of the whole book if anyone is interested!

Bite Inhibition 
Please read this section extremely carefully. I shall repeat over
and over: teaching bite inhibition is the most important part of
your puppy's entire education.
Certainly puppy biting behavior must eventually be
eliminated. We cannot have an adult dog playfully mauling
family, friends, and strangers in the manner of a young puppy.
However, it is essential that this be done gradually and
progressively via a systematic two-step process: first, to inhibit
the force of puppy bites, and, second, to lessen the frequency of puppy bites. Ideally, the two phases should be taught in sequence, but with more active puppy biters you may wish to work on both stages at the same time. In either case, you must teach your puppy to bite or mouth gently before puppy biting behavior is eliminated altogether
Inhibiting the Force of Bites
The first step is to stop your puppy from hurting people: to
teach him to inhibit the force of his play-bites. It is not
necessary to reprimand the pup, and certainly physical
punishments are 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. 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. It is
important to show that you still love your puppy, only that
his painful bites are objectionable. Have your pup come and
sit and then resume playing once more.
It is much better for you to walk away from the pup than to
physically restrain him or remove him to his confinement area
at a time when he is biting too hard. So make a habit of playing
with your puppy in his long-term confinement area. This
technique is remarkably effective with lead-headed dogs, since
it is precisely the way puppies learn to inhibit the force of their
bites when playing with each other. If one puppy bites another
too hard, the bitee yelps and playing is postponed while he licks
his wounds. The biter soon learns that hard bites interrupt an
otherwise enjoyable play session. He learns to bite more softly
once play resumes.
The more times a puppy bites you and receives appropriate feedback, the
better his bite inhibition, and the more reliable his jaws will be in adulthood.
Appropriate feedback to reduce the force of puppy bites comprises: praising
the puppy for gentle mouthing; yelping and having a brief pause from play
when the pressure increases; and yelping and having a thirty-second time-out
from play following painful bites. After each pause or time-out, remember to
instruct your puppy to come, sit, and lie down before resuming play.
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! That really hurt me, you bully!" Your
puppy begins to think, "Good Heavens! 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.
Your pup should learn not to hurt people well before he is
three months old. Ideally, by the time he is four-and-a-half
months old—before he develops strong jaws and adult canine
teeth—he should no longer be exerting any pressure when
mouthing.
Decreasing the Frequency of Mouthing
Once your puppy has been taught to mouth gently, it is time to
reduce the frequency of mouthing. Your pup must learn that
mouthing is okay, but he must stop when requested. Why?
Because it is inconvenient to drink a cup of tea or to answer the
telephone with fifty pounds of wriggling pup dangling from
your wrist. That's why.
It is better to first teach "Off" using food as both a distraction
and a reward. The deal is this: once I say "Off," if you don't
touch the food treat in my hand for just one second, I'll say,
"Take it" and you can have it. Once your pup has mastered this
simple task, up the ante to two or three seconds of non-contact,
and then to five, eight, twelve, twenty, and so on. Count out the
seconds and praise the dog with each second: "Good dog one,
good dog two, good dog three," and so forth. If the pup touches the treat before you are ready to give it, simply start the count from zero again. Your pup quickly learns that once you say "Off," he can not have the treat until he has not touched it, for, say, eight seconds, so the quickest way to get the treat is not to touch it for the first eight seconds. In addition, regular handfeeding during this exercise encourages your pup's soft mouth.
Once your pup understands the "Off" request, use food as a
lure and a reward to teach it to let go when mouthing. Say, "Off" and waggle some food as a lure to entice your pup to let go and sit. Then praise the pup and give the food as a reward when he does so.
The main point of this exercise is to practice stopping the
pup from mouthing, and so each time your puppy obediently
ceases and desists, resume playing once more. Stop and start
the session many times over. Also, since the puppy wants to
mouth, the best reward for stopping mouthing is to allow him to
mouth again. When you decide to stop the mouthing session
altogether, say, "Off" and then offer your puppy a Kong stuffed
with kibble.
If ever your pup refuses to release your hand when
requested, say, "Bully!" rapidly extricate your hand from his
mouth, and storm out of the room mumbling, "Right. That's
done it! You've ruined it! Finished! Over! No more!" and shut
the door in his face. Give the pup a couple of minutes on his
own to reflect on his loss and then go back to call him to come
and sit and make up before continuing the mouthing game.
By the time your pup is five months old, he must have a
mouth as soft as a fourteen-year-old working Labrador
Retriever: your puppy should never initiate mouthing unless
requested; he should never exert any pressure when mouthing; and he should stop mouthing and calm down immediately upon request by any family member.
Whether or not you allow your adult dog to mouth on
request is up to you. For most owners, I recommend that they
teach their dog to discontinue mouthing people altogether by
the time he is six to eight months old. However, it is essential
to continue bite inhibition exercises. Otherwise, your dog's
bite will begin to drift and become harder as he grows older.
It is important to regularly handfeed your dog and clean his
teeth each day, since these exercises involve a human hand in
his mouth. For owners who have good control over their dog, there is no better way to maintain the dog's soft mouth than by regular play-fighting. However, to prevent your puppy from getting out of control and to fully realize the many benefits of playfighting, you must play by the rules and teach your dog to play by the rules. Play-fighting rules are described in detail in our
Play-fighting teaches your puppy to mouth only hands,
which are extremely sensitive to pressure, but never clothing.
Shoelaces, ties, trousers, and hair have no nerves and cannot
Establishing bite inhibition is so vitally important that a good ninety percent of puppy play involves biting each other. Perhaps we should learn from our dogs. feel. Therefore you cannot provide the necessary feedback when your pup begins to mouth too hard and too close to your skin. The play-fighting game also teaches your dog that he must adhere to rules regarding his jaws, regardless of how worked up
he may be. Basically, play-fighting gives you the opportunity to
practice controlling your puppy when he is excited. It is
important to establish such control in a structured setting before real-life situations occur.

Hope this helps


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