|
Bite Carefully, Please! |
|
When puppies play together
they do a lot of biting. They may lie
next to one another, mouths in constant action with each other. Usually there is a lot of growling and
lip curling and they appear to be ready to kill one another. What is going on? Those puppies are learning
bite inhibition and it is a very, very important lesson indeed. Those needle sharp puppy teeth can quickly
cause pain but most of the time the game goes on for minutes at a time. Clearly the pups are maintaining control of
those teeth. If the bite control
machinery fails there will be a sharp yelp and that could well end the
game. The pup without control finds
herself playing alone and that isn’t nearly as much fun. When pups are given a
proper start in life they get to practice that same behavior with mom or
another adult dog as well as litter mates.
Mom or the tolerant adult allows the pup the chance to play so long as
there is self control on the part of Mouthy Mable. Biting too hard, not responding to a well
spoken Yipe!, ends the
game. We need to learn from that
behavior. There are people that
severely punish a pup for practicing on human flesh but, unfortunately, that
system can backfire big time. Most of the time, in
fact, the pup leaps right back into the game biting harder than before! No,
I am not advocating allowing M. M. to scrape, puncture and leave you with
blood running down your arm! What I am
suggesting is to teach your pup proper use of those needle sharp puppy
teeth. Allow – no, encourage! – puppy mouthing of your hand. Just your hand! At the moment that the biting gets too
rough let out a really high pitched yelp.
A puppy that has had the opportunity (and ALL puppies should have that
opportunity!) to learn from litter mates and mom will back off for a moment
and may well lick your hand or otherwise indicate a
Oops! Sorry. I didn’t really mean to be so rough. If Jaws does not respond appropriately give
him one more chance, really yelp for all you are worth and leave the pup
alone for a couple of minutes. Return
and repeat the performance until the light goes on: Hmmm.
I bite, hear that yelp and I find myself
alone. That’s no fun. Enter bite control! It is not only inadvisable
to punish a pup for puppy mouthing but it may end up in a serious bite later
because the warning signs have been punished.
Many people will state that a dog bit “with no warnings” – usually
because the growl or other advisory signal was punished – not the bite that
followed! Puppies that learn bite
inhibition are most unlikely to bite hard should they be pushed too much in
some future situation as an adult.
And, all dogs can be pushed over threshold! When this program is
clearly working it is time to introduce a Leave it! cue.* After all, there
are definitely times when you do not feel like playing the game and a
turn-off switch is needed. Teach Leave
it! with food tidbits and toys before using it with
the biting game. The reason is that
M.M. needs to learn the lesson when she isn’t aroused and focused on
playing. Once she understands the game
present the Leave it! once in awhile when the pup
starts the play biting game and then once every 3 or 4 times that play biting
is started by the pup. Gradually build
up to being able to say Leave it! any time that you
do not want to play the game. But, do
not totally discontinue the play biting game because for a dog to maintain a
soft mouth occasional practice is imperative. Pups over 6 months of age
should never make contact with human flesh if properly socialized and
trained. One important tip: Difficult as it is do not grab your hand away from the pup when the biting gets too
rough because the pup is certain to reflexively grab for your hand and you
are most likely to suffer scrapes from those puppy teeth. *Short course to teach
Leave it! Place a piece of food in one
hand and a tastier piece of food in the opposite hand. Let the pup see/smell the first piece of
food, close the hand as you say Leave it!
You will get sniffing, licking, nibbling, pawing, etc., as the pup
makes an effort to get to that tidbit.
The INSTANT the pup looks away say YES! and
give the food from the other hand. Repeat
a dozen times or whatever it takes for the pup to instantly look away from
the hand when you say Leave it! Then
switch hands. B |