{"id":1227,"date":"2012-04-03T20:47:47","date_gmt":"2012-04-03T10:17:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/?p=1227"},"modified":"2013-03-26T11:53:58","modified_gmt":"2013-03-26T01:23:58","slug":"the-importance-of-bite-inhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/leemakennels.com\/blog\/dog-behaviour\/the-importance-of-bite-inhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"The Importance of Bite Inhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post is part of the series in response to Dunbar’s 2012 Australian seminars. See\u00a0index<\/a>.<\/small><\/small><\/p>\n

Imagine you are at the dentist and he slips with his little scratchy-hook tool, and stabs your gum a little bit.\u00a0 You respond by biting down on the dentist\u2019s finger and punching him in the face.<\/p>\n

Or you\u2019re asleep in your bed and you partner wakes you as she hops in.\u00a0 This terrifies you, so you grab your gun from under the mattress, and shoot her.<\/p>\n

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\"Red<\/a>

Puppies need to be guided to learn to not use the full force of their bite as an adult dog. Photo \u00a9 Ruthless Photos.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ian Dunbar used similar human-aggressive examples in his seminar to make a point: Dog-human aggression is never okay.\u00a0 Just like humans don\u2019t (shouldn\u2019t) hurt people that accidentally hurt them, and don\u2019t hurt people that scare them, dogs shouldn\u2019t hurt people in response to pain or fear.<\/p>\n

There are simply no excuses for a dog to be human aggressive \u2013 it is never appropriate and never acceptable, regardless of the context.<\/p>\n

First, appropriate socialisation<\/a> should aim to build a confident puppy that is never fearful enough to bite as an adult dog.\u00a0 Second, a puppy should be taught how to inhibit (i.e. make less forceful) their bite so that, if for some reason they are motivated to bite in their life, the bite is less severe.<\/p>\n

Dunbar didn\u2019t go into much detail about teaching bite inhibition<\/a> at the seminar, but basically the process involves teaching the puppy to bite less forcefully and then teaching the puppy to bite less frequently (and eventually learn that they are not allowed to put their teeth on people).\u00a0 Alongside this, you add a cue that means \u2018let go\u2019.\u00a0 (It seems that the Dunbar seminar Crystal, at Reactive Champion, attended did talk about teaching bite inhibition<\/a> in more detail.)<\/p>\n

Furthermore, puppies that attend the Dunbar-style puppy classes, with offleash play, mean that they learn how to appropriately control their bite when interacting with other dogs.<\/p>\n

The plan is that, after teaching bite inhibition to a puppy, the adult dog will be more likely to bite in an inhibited way.\u00a0 That is, the depth and seriousness of the bite will be less severe. \u00a0A puppy that is well socialised, but does not have bite inhibition, makes for a dangerous dog.<\/p>\n

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Measuring Dog Bites<\/span><\/p>\n

Dunbar has a scale that measures dog bites from 1-6 (with 1 being minor and 6 being a fatal dog bite).\u00a0 This is a well-known scale, and seems to be have been embraced by many in the dog community.\u00a0 However, Dunbar\u2019s scale is not the only scale. For example, Blue Dog has their own<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The Scale<\/span><\/p>\n