Aztec Gold Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 I've just read lots of old posts on teaching bite inhibition the Ian dunbar way, or teaching straight away no mouthing humans or clothing etc ever. What is best do you think with two young kids in the house? Under 2 years old. How should we go about it in easy to understand terms? Please help! This is incredibly important for us with our girls! Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 No puppy teeth on human skin- ever. Most bite inhibition is learned with Mum and littermates IMO.You can assist the pups further development of bite inhibition through stimulating chewable toys and objects, appropriate interaction with other dogs/puppies etc. It is very difficult (especially with retrieving breeds) to teach them first that teeth on skin is okay and then change the rules. Also remember what hurts one person will be completely different to what another person can tolerate AND where on the person a puppy mouths (bare skin, through a jumper or shoe) will vary the tolerance level as well- very confusing for the puppy IMO. I have spoken to a number of people who have gone through Dunbar's method and most of them have still not successfully phased out the mouthing- dogs are now adults. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 Cosmolo explained it well. My rule is NO canine teeth on humans. It is dealt with very swiftly and firmly the first time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
**Super_Dogs** Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 I have to agree with Cosmolo. My first few puppies I taught no biting ever. Then my third puppy I tried bite inhibitiion - as it makes sense :-) However it took years to succesfully phase out mouthing. So based on an unsuccesful attemp of bite inhibition last time my pup now we have gone back to no biting ever. If you can find a playmate for you puppy, this will help your pup learn bit inhibition. FYI - my dogs are labs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumabaar Posted August 7, 2011 Share Posted August 7, 2011 I have used the bite inhibition on 5 dogs successfully. They were all working breeds that have had bite inhibition built in though- Kelpies and Finnish Lapphunds- so I believe this played a big role in how easy it is for them to grasp which only took a few months. In dogs that have no history of bite inhibition in the breed I would probably rethink my decision. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aztec Gold Posted August 7, 2011 Author Share Posted August 7, 2011 How do we deal with him when he mouths us then? What do we do to correct him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipsqueak Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 I have spoken to a number of people who have gone through Dunbar's method and most of them have still not successfully phased out the mouthing- dogs are now adults. I'm not meaning to side-track the thread and apologise if I do - PM is fine if you prefer. We adopted an adult dog (mixed breed - retreiver cross ???) who is very mouthy. He has progressed from being mouthy all the time to mouthy when excited. We have mainly just withdrawn attention, but this seems to have any impact on his mouthiness when he is excited - is there anyway to teach him not to mouth??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
**Super_Dogs** Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 How do we deal with him when he mouths us then? What do we do to correct him? Just a firm no and stop play or attention. My pup is 6 months and she now only mouths when she excited, for example when I get home from work, and she grabs my clothes. I make her sit before I pat her. It is a really good habit to get into as who wants a dogs jumping around them, but also is distracts her from the mouthing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pipsqueak Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 (edited) How do we deal with him when he mouths us then? What do we do to correct him? Just a firm no and stop play or attention. My pup is 6 months and she now only mouths when she excited, for example when I get home from work, and she grabs my clothes. I make her sit before I pat her. It is a really good habit to get into as who wants a dogs jumping around them, but also is distracts her from the mouthing. Firm no and stopping play does NOT work when he's excited - we've tried - dog is now 4-5 years old. He will happily sit for a pat, but not when excited. We adopted him when he was 1-2 years old. Mouthy is not painful, but it is something we would like to change. Edited August 8, 2011 by futuredogtrainer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dju Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 How do we deal with him when he mouths us then? What do we do to correct him? Just a firm no and stop play or attention. My pup is 6 months and she now only mouths when she excited, for example when I get home from work, and she grabs my clothes. I make her sit before I pat her. It is a really good habit to get into as who wants a dogs jumping around them, but also is distracts her from the mouthing. Firm no and stopping play does NOT work when he's excited - we've tried - dog is now 4-5 years old. He will happily sit for a pat, but not when excited. We adopted him when he was 1-2 years old. Mouthy is not painful, but it is something we would like to change. Hugo used to be pretty bad with this and he'd be constantly mouthing the chickens as well. Whenever getting excited during play and started nipping us or grabbing onto chicken tails, we just grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, rolled him onto his back and growled "no" loudly at him and then walked away. He never ever mouthed ME again and only gently mouthed the chickens when we weren't looking Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 A correction of some kind will work- but its impossible to advise one specific thing without seeing the dog, they are all difference. The only thing i'd happily recommend online is that a helpful 'side dish' to teaching no mouthing is to teach the dog to target your hand with their nose- closed mouth of course. This generally helps to teach them what to do instead in a way that still allows them to make contact with you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzy82 Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 It's not one or the other. You don't choose between letting a dog mouth you or teaching the dog to not bite humans. When it's a puppy you teach it to be gentle with human skin, and you also let it do lots of playing with other puppies, because other puppies will let it know when it's biting too hard. Thus the puppy learn bite inhibition. When the puppy has learnt to be gentle, you teach it not to let its teeth come in contact with human skin, ever. You do this by saying 'ow' and using time-outs or ending the game etc every time the dog's teeth make contact. Soon enough the dog will stop mouthing and will be very careful during playing. It doesn't want the game to end after all. Teaching bite inhibition doesn't mean that you have to let the dog mouth you forever. Once it has learnt it, it's automatic. So if the dog is ever stepped on or a kid falls on it, and it instinctively turns around and lashes out, bite inhibition will kick in before it can do any damage. Also, if the dog ever gets in a scrap with another dog, it won't do any damage to the other dog. If the dog has no bite inhibition, it's dangerous. Even though the dog has learnt not to mouth humans, you can't guarantee that the dog will never ever lash out when in pain, or that it will never get in a fight with another dog. Bite inhibition is the single most important thing to teach a dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 we just grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, rolled him onto his back and growled "no" loudly at him and then walked away. I wouldnt recomend doing that kind of correction with a powerful or dominent dog....people have had their faces bitten off for that.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dju Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 We don't say it right at his face; since he was pretty tiny at 2 months old, our faces would be at least a meter apart while doing that lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmolo Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 (edited) is a huge assumption to suggest that a dog with bite inhibition won't ever get into a fight with another dog and do damage. Bite inhibition means the ability to control the strength of bite- the dog can still choose to bite hard in a given situation. I understand what you mean Fuzzy but i also find the vast majority of people cannot do this effectively AND that the definition of gentle being so varied from person to person (or within the person depending on clothing etc) is very confusing for many puppies. I think we over estimate how much of an effect we have on bite inhibition too- genetics, socialisation and interaction with Mum, littermates and other dogs will contribute far more than we ever could. I agree that bite inhibition is extremely important- i just disagree that humans are equipped to teach it. Edited August 8, 2011 by Cosmolo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kobi'sDaisy Posted August 8, 2011 Share Posted August 8, 2011 Aztec Gold.. I feel your pain! Our pup was a very mouthy breed, and indeed a very mouthy dog! Took quite a while to stop the behaviour. We tried all the usual "OW', stop playing, leaving the room, spray bottle (although i did not quite like this method), distractions etc. Sometimes you just need to try different methods for a little while and see what works. We found leaving the room (or removing puppy from the room) the best option for us. It's a little time consuming and you really need to do it EVERY time. You only have to leave him for 10seconds or so and they realise that play is stopped and more importantly their favourite person has gone! Another things we taught and which was really just playing on his breed instincts was the word 'toy' and make him pick it up. This worked the best when coming home from work etc. when he is really excited and wanting to mouth you to say hi. Would just say 'where's your toy' and he would pick it up, then we can say hi. He still does this and we found it has helped a lot! Good luck with it all, im sure it can be much more stressful with small children but just be persistent! It all passes.. although each stage feels like a life time! Those piranha teeth will fall out soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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