Today’s vocabulary word is Bite Inhibition. When puppies are in the litter, they quickly develop razor sharp teeth and claws. If you’ve ever been on the receiving end of a puppy chomp or scratch, you might think to yourself, “YOUCH! Why are little puppy teeth so sharp?”
The answer is to teach the puppies bite inhibition. Bite inhibition is where the puppy learns how hard they can bite to avoid hurting another puppy during play. Puppies who spend 8 weeks or longer in a litter tend to have softer mouths than those who are taken from the litter earlier.
That’s because every time they chomp on their littermates (and they do), if they bite too hard the other puppy will yelp, and maybe even stop playing.
Why Bite Inhibition is Important
Most dogs aren’t born knowing how hard to bite. While it’s possible a dog is born who naturally bites softly, most of them simply bite as hard as they can. It takes important socialization in the litter with other puppies for at least 8 weeks to teach puppies to moderate their bites.
If they don’t learn this, when something upsets a dog and they are provoked into a bite, they will bite as hard as they can.
If you’ve ever been bitten by a dog but it didn’t leave a mark, or didn’t break the skin, that bite was not a full-force bite. On the other hand, if you were severely bitten, chances are that dog did not learn bite inhibition.
What You Can Do
If you have not yet purchased or adopted a dog, selecting a dog with good bite inhibition is your best option. Never buy a dog from a pet store, because pet store puppies are nearly always puppy mill dogs.
Puppy mill puppies are taken away from their mothers as early as possible and did not get the important socialization needed to learn bite inhibition.
You may also wish to avoid any breeder who always seems to have puppies available, dabbles in many different breeds, and doesn’t want you to meet the mother. These are all signs of a puppy mill.
You should also avoid getting singleton puppies, as they also don’t have as good a chance of developing bite inhibition. A good breeder who has a singleton puppy will usually try to find a different mother to foster the puppy, so they can get socialization.
Singleton puppies are common in chihuahuas, so if you found a good breeder ask specifically if the puppy you are looking at is a singleton, and if so was it fostered with other puppies.
Can Adult Dogs Learn Bite Inhibition?
Yes, adult dogs can learn to inhibit their bite, but it is much more difficult to do so. There’s also some element of danger, because while a puppy bite is sharp and painful, it’s not especially dangerous.
Even a chihuahua biting full force can cause a lot of damage. If your dog bites severely however, it’s best to contact a behaviorist to help you through the process of potentially softening their mouth.
Similar Posts:
- Puppy Teething in Chihuahuas
- What Are Puppy Mills?
- Beware of Puppy Scammers!
- Why Are Chihuahuas So Mean?
- Review of the Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Living With Your Dog
Fascinating, Andrea! I have wondered about puppy teeth and claws. You answered this perfectly. I’m sure my dog parents will love this informative article as much as I did.
I had no idea puppies learned about biting from being tiny and having sharp teeth, but it makes sense. Kids play and if one grabs another one hard they will yell and cry so kids think ‘oooh I hurt someone’ – puppies are no different! It seems biting really does matter. I confess that it would not have been something I would have thought of but I will spread the word!
I’ve worked with adult dogs to learn bite inhibition. Not for the faint of heart! We also practice ‘yipping’ out in pain when puppies bite too hard to help them learn what hurts us humans too 🙂 Love that you are spreading the word about this!!
I never knew about this but am also learning about puppies with Nili as I have always rescued adult dogs. Her biting is painful and my hand has so many band aids on but am hoping the dog trainer can start soon to help me stop it all. Being a stray I do not know her background and focusing on correcting her quirks. Once again thank you for opening my eyes to this.
Excellent post! I remember my FiveSibes as puppies and those sharp baby teeth! But thankfully, that was a passing quick stage and they were never biters. Our one, she could give off a good snap if startled (and coincidentally, she was taken away from her mother too early, so this all makes total sense). When I was a child, I was bit by a dog (still have the scar to prove it) and so I’m assuming that dog never learned from its momma. All so very interesting! Sharing with my readers!