Comments on: National Dog Bite Prevention Week

By: BullyFan

BullyFan — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:57:02 +0000

Very informative article. A lot of people don’t understand that they need to teach their dogs to be social so that they know how to react n social situations. Also, I think on the other side of things people need to be more aware of how to approach dogs and some of the warning signs that the dog is in alert mode.

By: Dog Food Comparisons

Dog Food Comparisons — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:28:43 +0000

One of the main ways that puppies learn to not bite (or at least not bite hard) is when they are playing with their siblings. They learn this very early on if they are allowed to spend enough time with siblings before being adopted out. This is one of many big problems with puppy mills that just produce puppies and don’t give them proper socialization with the rest of the litter. They just want to get rid of them as soon as possible and get on with the next batch. Another reason people should only buy puppies from responsible breeders.

By: nycgadgetgirl

nycgadgetgirl — Fri, 23 May 2008 04:28:54 +0000

That’s a good point about teaching puppies bite inhibition! That *should* be part of the training all dogs get, but so many owners have no idea what they’re doing with a puppy.

I know that sheepish look. Twice in his adult life, Snick has spun around snarling with his teeth bared after I startled him and then looked like “ohhh shit, that’s YOU mom! I didn’t mean it!”

By: Debbie G

Debbie G — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:01:14 +0000

Another thing that can help is to remember that biting is an instinctive act for a dog, and one thing that can help turn a potential bite incident into something less potentially dangerous is to teach puppies bite inhibition. You can’t completely teach a dog not to bite. In the right (or wrong, in this case) circumstances, even the best-trained, best-behaved, most-social dogs will snap. Bite inhibition is the difference between holes in your hand or just getting bumped by what quickly becomes a very sheepish dog giving you the look that says “Oh, crap… did I just do that? I’m sorry! I’m sooooo sorry! Please don’t hate me!!”

I have dogs who like to have something in their mouths. (Yay for retrievers… the ultimate canine oral fixationists…) From the day I bring a puppy home, I teach them to have a “soft mouth.” Whether they’re retrieving a bird (’cause that duck’s no good for dinner if the dog chews it up while they bring it back), “holding” my hand (the doggy equivalent of a little kid going “come here! come here! I wanna show you something!”), or being a mouthy puppy, I teach them that it’s not the act of putting their mouth on me that’s the problem… it’s the act of biting down. End result… a dog that even if they snap, won’t generally put any power behind it.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t help much with rescue dogs, who frequently come to us as adults. If somebody didn’t teach them bite inhibition as puppies, it’s unlikely to be teachable as adults. Basically, they have to bite in order to be taught bite inhibition… so you catch puppies during that mouthy stage where everything must be put in their mouth (and when they don’t have enough jaw strength to do major damage with their needle-sharp puppy teeth!), then instead of teaching them not to bite, you teach them to have a soft mouth.

Anyway, that’s my two cents. If you’re lucky enough to be starting with a puppy, teaching bite inhibition is every bit as important as socialization!

Debbie Gs last blog post..They’re here! They’re here! They’re here!!!

By: Kat

Kat — Thu, 22 May 2008 21:06:31 +0000

When I worked at a shelter, we had a dog (min pin) who was a biter. He was food possessive and also afraid of feet if they were in front of his face. Otherwise he was a great dog. One of the ways we were able to help him get over this was to sometimes just stand there, approach without making eye contact, and let him just stare- transfixed on your sneakers. He started out tense, barking, growling, making snaps but after a few weeks he was ok- still nervous but stopped. We also did the typical things like didn’t reach at his head to pet him – and would let him sniff our hands with our thumbs tucked into a fist… didn’t want him to get a finger *ouch!*

We also used a fake hand for testing other dogs who showed a tendency to bite. It worked out well for the most part. Sue Sternberg has some great articles about dogs who bite and theories about them.