Bite Inhibition Training – What Objects They Can Chew and Bite

Alongside humans puppies must also learn when their bite is too strong since they can cause serious damage to people and especially children with their bites. The puppies must, therefore, use soft bites with humans and other dogs, which is also known as “soft mouth”. In practice this means that the owner must let the puppies know where the limits lie so that they learn what humans’ pain tolerances are when playing.

If the puppies don’t learn how to inhibit their bites in the above-mentioned time period, it is very difficult and time consuming to teach them later. So that they optimally develop their bite inhibitions, it’s important that they have regular contact to other dogs, for example, at obedience school, and that their owner trains with them. In this case, training doesn’t only mean learning how to control the force of their bite, but also teaching the puppies what they can chew and bite on and which objects and body parts are no-nos.

In order to show your dog that they went too far during a game and bit down too hard, you should end playtime immediately and leave the room. By doing so you teach your puppy that fun time is over when they use their teeth. For those who are slow to learn, you can also take them by their nose and mouth, ideally with a signal word. If your dog bites, hold them and say something at the same time, for example “No”. This is something that the mothers of puppies will also do if they cross a line. After repeating this nose hold several times with the signal word, your dog should understand that they have displayed unwanted behaviour and then in the future you should be able to use the signal word alone to train them.

Especially in families with children, is it essential that the dog learns and has good bite inhibition around children so as not to injure them. As a dog owner, this is not a particularly easy task since dogs don’t see children as equals to them until they are approximately seven years old, considering them to be puppies until this point and will treat them as such within the pack. For this reason, interactions between dogs and smaller children require constant supervision and anything over the line must be stopped immediately. This applies to both dogs and the child. It is also a good idea to let the dogs get used to allowing children to stroke their nose, ears and tail.

As a rule: dogs don’t bite without a reason! Therefore, it’s imperative to carefully watch the dog as well as your own behaviour to ensure harmonious co-existence between dog and human.

Let your dog get used to being stroked on the nose, ears and tail. When they allow you to touch them in this way, you can then practise stroking them with your child. Teach your child not to be overly energetic with the dog, rather that they should go slow and not be too rough when playing. Otherwise there’s an increased risk that the dog will defend itself by biting, or try to teach the children by doing so. As a rule, bite inhibition training should be carried out only by adults as dogs don’t see children in the same way as adults.