Bite Inhibition
Puppies are very mouthy, as I’m sure you’ve already learned. This is an
important part of development for them though. Puppies are born with strong jaws
and they get even stronger as they grow older. They bite each other to figure
out how to use these incredible tools soft enough for play.
For Example: Sparky and Scout are puppies and they are playing. All of a sudden
Scout yelps and runs away. Sparky realizes he was biting too hard and that’s why
he lost his play partner. Since puppies are forgiving, they come together and
play again but this time Sparky is going to use a softer mouth.
It is important that puppies give each other this kind of feedback because when
they lose their teeth at around 18 weeks, they can’t adjust the hardness of
their bite anymore.
Exercise: Get your puppy excited and try to get him to put his teeth on
you. As soon as he bites too hard, I want you to yelp your best puppy yelp and
stop playing with him. Pull your arms up and don’t let your puppy keep playing.
After ten seconds, you can bend down and keep playing until he bites you again.
Get everyone in your family to do this so he gets feedback every time he bites
too hard.
Interesting Fact: The level at which a dog bites when his teeth fall out,
is the level he is going to bite with for the rest of his life. That means, if
Sparky gets into a fight when he’s 2 years old, he’s not going to inflict a lot
of damage because he will remember his play sessions with Scout and keep his jaw
soft. He may only bruise his partners and no matter how old he gets, a bruise is
the worst it will be. But maybe a third dog, Max had no socializing when he was
younger and his mouth is very hard. He may puncture when he bites and this is
very dangerous because you can always expect this kind of damage with Max’s
bites.
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Frequently Asked
Questions - Bite Inhibition
Do I have to let him keep biting me forever?
Of course not! You only have to do this exercise
until he loses his teeth around 18 weeks. Then, you can make the rule that I use
which is teeth are never allowed on me or it’s an automatic time out. Hang in
there, it’s only a few weeks!
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Green Paws Training Options
We absolutely love puppies, mostly because they're cute but also because we have
the opportunity to prevent bad dog behavior from ever happening with them.
How wonderful! To accomplish this we offer
Puppy Manners Class, Puppy
Playgroups,
New Owner Consultations and
Free Puppy Seminars every other
week. We also offer our premium
Green Puppy Academy!
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Books and Tools
Before and After
Getting Your Puppy By Ian Dunbar
Crate Padding and Blankets at
www.petdreams.com
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