# Bite Inhibition Training Experiences



## Nelly (Feb 7, 2013)

Hi everyone!

I was just curious to find out how/if bite inhibition has worked for your V pup. 

We have been consistently doing this with little Nelly (14 weeks yesterday) and although we saw a difference within the first couple of weeks of training, the last little while it seems she is exerting even more pressure (breaking skin pressure), lunging, nipping and snapping a huge amount.

The 'ouch!' now seems to rile her up more and, when stopping play and leaving the area she will jump and snap, hang on to arms, legs, feet etc. which seriously hinders the effectiveness of a quick exit to get the point across. 

This is normally at its peak when excited or playing but sometimes she does do it out of the blue and was doing it when being corrected but that seems to have subsided with some amped up leadership on our part. 

Has anyone had a similar experience?

(It's quite apparent that she is growing at the moment with her increased sleeping during the day. She has also started to whine a little again at night after a good couple of weeks of solid night times so I am wondering if it could be down to a phase-type thing as well.)

Advice much appreciated!


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Love the picture!! ;D ;D

At 14 weeks, little Nelly is still very young, and I would expect the nipping and snapping to continue for some time. It's normal. Just keep doing what you're doing to protect yourself, keep your patience, and understand that, over time, this behavior will subside and be gone!! I think the amount of time it takes will vary by individual puppy, but let's just say I've never seen a 2-year old act that way!!


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## Nelly (Feb 7, 2013)

mswhipple - This was her crying to get IN the bath!  She is so funny!

Thank you for the advice. I have also started to keep toys as handy as possible so that this can be swiftly thrust in front of our desired body parts! 

I was worried that we had taken 2 steps back somewhere along the line with the pressure increasing, but we will keep at it!


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## Watson (Sep 17, 2012)

We were in the same boat only a few months ago. We thought Watson would never stop the attacks - and he always found the most inopportune moments to jump, bite and shred our arms and clothes - walking down the street or any place public where he could make fools of us and we couldn't crate him for a time out. He's just shy of 7 months now and his mouth has gone very soft. He seems to turn corners in his development, and I'm sure you'll see the same with Nelly. You're doing all the right things, so just be patient and know she will stop!


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## BaxtersMum (Oct 6, 2012)

Had exactly the same with Baxter. He is now 6 months and his shark attacks were really bad then around 22 weeks he seemed to stop and then last week he started again. Put this down to teething and hey presto since his canines have come out he had calmed again. He still try biting the kids when he wants to play but has never drawn blood but we still say no and off and he stops. 

The one thing that worked from advice from our trainer was that just saying ouch or yelping doesn't have as much effect as screaming at the top of your voice and walking away. Try it, it really works. Baxter used to look so guilty and sorry and he would come to us to make an apology and lock us loads. While he was licking we would praise and say 'nice kisses, good boy' and now if we say kisses he licks us instantly so that's one way we now divert the play biting to something nicer.

He still has his good days and bad days but he is certainly calmin and learning not to do it.

Keep up the good work and one day you'll notice its not happening so much ;-)


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## Nelly (Feb 7, 2013)

Hi Watson, I can definitely relate to those scenarios! ;D 

She also does it to visitors and new people to the point of needing crated (having drawn blood) and then I feel guilty because she is such a people dog, but my goal is to teach her to be patient and calm before receiving affection from anyone especially as we have a lot of young children within the family; jumping and snapping is simply a no-no. 

BaxtersMum, that's lovely and reassuring! We also do 'lovely kisses Nelly!' when she's licking us. We are also teaching her off, leave it and drop it, but it really depends on how hyped up she is as she tends to have selective hearing! 

All that said, she couldn't be more polite with other dogs! :

Thanks for the advice everyone, don't know what I would do without all of you fellow V owners!


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

"I was just curious to find out how/if bite inhibition has worked for your V pup." - Nelly

I am curious as to what you do in regards to bite inhibition training? 

At the end of the day, it is almost impossible to stop the mouthing, but clamping down on bare skin raises at least one red flag. 

Try this, place two fingers in her mouth just behind the canine teeth (not the molar region, yet) and hold. She will put up a little fight, that's normal. Increase time until you can place your fingers in her mouth at will and the dog will not even bat an eyelid at it. 

Ps. Dog saliva may gross you out but get used to it. It's not clean filtered and aside from a few millions of bacterial colonies (not unlike human oral environment) it's all good. A quick rinse will take care of it. 

Hope this helps.


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## Nelly (Feb 7, 2013)

Hi datacan and thanks for replying.

We have been doing the, 'ouch!' leave/stop play bite inhibition method as advised by many including our trainer, vet etc. As I say though, this has started to rile her even more.

I was also trying the hand feeding method: hiding it a little between your fingers and only releasing the treat/food when she is gentle - she happens to be very gentle with this but this doesn't comfort me any as realistically she must learn no biting whether there is food involved or not.

I will try this datacan thank you.

A red flag was raised for me too but it is so contradictory to her nature (as observed so far). She has not shown dominance (apart from the previous grumbles when telling her off - for this couch privileges were swiftly revoked!) and no guarding issues. It does worry me just how much pressure she will put on skin though.

Last night was probably her worst shark attack and it came out of the blue. She would not let go for dear life and I ended up with several tiny puncture wounds on my hand and wrist. 

It might be helpful to mention that she does not do this with my partner (to such a great extent anyway). However it has been me that has done most of her training and been with her the most (due to work arrangements).


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Nelly, these are working dogs. And they do work very well for what they were bred for. 
The dog must and will make a distinction between human skin and other objects with similar texture and feel. 
They learn to sample each object, and essentially, that's what she does with us. It's up to us to communicate properly so they understand. 
They are willing to learn 

If the shark bites are extreme, try to find a pair of inexpensive soft pigskin leather work gloves. Use those at first and when biting is manageable, transfer over to bare fingers. 
It is essential for her to learn human skin feel, texture and taste. She will a avoid hurting human skin, even a child's. 
And as added bonus she may even spare leather seats from destruction. 

Your trainer is right, though. Yelp loud on any occasion she hurts you. 

Just like with any exercise repetition is the key.


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## datacan (May 15, 2011)

Hate the iPhone autocorrect. Sorry for incorrectly placed words. At least the spelling is good.


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## Nelly (Feb 7, 2013)

Haha tell me about it datacan, I do it all the time!

Thanks for that, i'll be hoarse by the time this thing is done! 

We plan to take her to a local gun dog training club with a good rep. when she is older to fulfil her innermost desires but for now we will continue to stalk fluffy ducks on sticks 8)


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## Fluxz (Feb 19, 2013)

Our puppy is 10 weeks old and has become a biting machine. We have tried the yelp trick, and the walk away method without anyway luck at all.


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## Nelly (Feb 7, 2013)

Hi Fluxz! Yes, Nelly was at this age as well. I read recently that the actual 'yelp' may not work on some pups as any sound could be a reinforcement and consequently excite them more.

It's trial and error I think as all pups are different. If you read datacan's post below - I have found that helpful (gloves and fingers in mouth) even over a couple of days doing it at random times. 

As everyone has said it takes time and patience. Are you going to a puppy playgroup? Everyone in our's is in the same boat, not only that you can actually witness it with all different breeds and sizes! Of course the trainer will also give you advice and pup gets some socialisation and mental stimulation. Nelly loves going to playgroup and we learn so much as well. 

We were also told at playgroup that some pups grow up thinking that their name is 'no' (even though it's the first thing that comes to mind when puppy bites or does something undesirable!) instead say something like 'ah-ah!' And ask them to sit. This helped us regain control over excited jumping and snapping and nipping and we found it quite effective in general.

Hope some of that helps!


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## candi30 (Jan 2, 2013)

The "yelp" definitely did not work for us. It had no affect on Darby's shark attacks.
Replacing our hands with a toy worked/works most of the time. And walking away works pretty well too.
I think the real solution is time and patience. Eventually they will stop. Eventually........


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