Understandably, the number one concern of puppy owners is what to do about puppy mouthy-ness since canine aggression is every owner’s number one fear. However, DO NOT TEACH YOUR PUPPY NOT TO BITE. RUN, don’t walk from such advice. Do not fall into this trap and have this fear become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
First of all, nine out of ten dogs, no matter how they are raised and trained (outside of outright abuse), will grow up and not be biters. And then on the other hand, one out of ten will grow up to bite because their nature has not been honored, and so they therefore do not trust human beings. They become aggressive either because of how they were raised and/or trained, or even more likely, because they have been overly stimulated during their formative months.
I have raised a number of German shepherds imported from Germany that over many generations were selectively bred to be police and sheep herding dogs by the most accomplished breeders in the world. They were prized for being biting machines because this fundamental impulse in the right hands can be channeled into any number of working expressions. Yet, despite raising puppies of such prodigious emotional horsepower, I’ve never had to teach a single one of my puppies not to bite, not to jump, not to counter surf and so on – because I’ve raised them “naturally”. I have raised them gently, lovingly, calmly, but more importantly, slowly. For the first year of their life I did not over-stimulate them by putting them in unnatural settings and then demanding they behave a certain way. Just like I didn’t put my children in a candy store and demand they honor the food pyramid.
For example, I did not come home and greet my dog upon my return. Dogs don’t have a sense of time, therefore they do not need to acknowledge the comings and goings of other beings. One moment you’re here, and then another moment you’re here again. No big deal – unless we have a need to make it one. When I came home I immediately let my puppy outside as indeed my arrival had excited him, and then only after he’s taken in his surroundings and calmed himself naturally by virtue of being in the emotionally conductive setting of the outdoors, do I pet and coo to him in a soothing tone. He doesn’t get excited and so he doesn’t jump on me or bite my fingers or pant legs because he was given a chance to get it out of his system naturally and without causing me any annoyance or pain. He looked around the yard and found a stick or leaf to make prey on. I allowed him the time and space to learn how to calm himself. I didn’t allow my arrival to knock him out of his nature.
In the same vein, when my children came home from school and of course were all excited to see our new puppy (that is still in its crate and beginning to whine in frustration), I asked them to change their clothes, get something to eat if they’re hungry, use the bathroom and only when we’re all ready to go outside, do I open the crate so that the puppy immediately shoots out the back door. Then we all catch up and proceed to the wide open space of the backyard. There, we stand around quietly as the pup again naturally calms himself. The puppy doesn’t jump up or grab at their clothes because when he feels like moving, he has plenty of space to do so and if he feels like biting something, there are plenty of sticks and leaves to choose from. I taught my children to move slowly and not make any kind of fuss until the puppy was settled down, at which point he can be touched, petted and lavished with love and in such a setting he won’t get himself twisted into an emotional knot of frustration.
Because he has calmed himself naturally he can actually feel the children’s touch as something pleasurable, and he innately disciplines himself to be still so that he can induce them to keep on petting and maximizing his pleasure. As he matures over the coming months, it becomes easy for him to run alongside the kids as they play and he has no temptation to do any of the things my clients are constantly hiring me to help them solve. It is because even under this level of excitement, the puppy can still feel the kids. If the puppy gets too rowdy, since that doesn’t feel good to my kids, it doesn’t feel good for him either as well.
Why would I allow my children or their friends to run around screaming in the presence of a puppy? I wouldn’t allow them to tease a cat, to run around in a paddock or through a stable of horses or around cows in a field. Why can’t children learn to honor the nature of a puppy just as we insist they learn to honor the nature of all other animals?
With these practical points in mind, let’s talk about biting from a wider perspective. Puppies use their teeth and jaws to explore and apprehend the world around them, just as children use their fingers and hands to explore their surroundings. Furthermore, dogs are the most social animal on earth. They do not have to be taught to be social any more than children have to be taught how to imagine. The entire scope of a dog’s social development is a function of learning how, when, where, why and what to bite and dogs don’t learn any of these lessons by learning not to bite. Dogs don’t learn to be social as a function of learning what not to bite. I never taught my children not to rob banks or not to hit people over the head and take their money when they are broke. They learned naturally that money is something to be earned or politely asked for, and that’s the only way they expect to get the money they want.
In the dog’s mind, the use of its mouth is synonymous with wanting something. Even when they don’t actually grab something in their jaws, they nonetheless feel the energetic essence of whatever they’re attracted to just as if it’s in their jaws. (As in: “I want it so bad I can taste it.”) Therefore, whenever a puppy gets excited for whatever reason, like kids coming home from school or the owner coming through the door, it’s instinctual computer commands “BITE something”. This is how every behavioral system and neurological circuit is constructed in their body and brain. Whatever else may happen to the dog after the fact (such as an owner’s correction) doesn’t register on the deepest plane of canine consciousness. What matters most to a puppy is that it “heard” an internally generated command to bite whatever it was that got it all excited. This command is millions of years old and there is no human reason that can neutralize it, such as “I am your pack leader”—“You are a bad dog” and so on. However, what allows a dog to resist an instinctual impulse to bite, and fortunately is an even stronger energy that arises from an even deeper aspect of its nature, is a feeling. So if a dog is raised and trained in regards to what and how it feels, then it will be able to go by feel in a critical moment rather than by instinct. The number one mistake puppy owners are making is overly stimulating their puppy, usually by showering it with attention as a measure of their love, and then when they don’t like the instincts this triggers, they then set out to teach it how to be social by correcting these instincts. This short circuit then becomes the basis of how the personality of the puppy then develops. Nine out of ten times it won’t become an aggressive behavior, but you can clearly see it via “that look in its eye”.
Remember, a dog is not a person. Dogs are creatures of the immediate moment. They have no idea that you’ve been away all day and are now coming home from a long time at work. They have no idea that you are a person that needs to be acknowledged. We as people project this need onto them. Dogs don’t need to be acknowledged. Dogs just are. Now you are here and now here you are again, as always. That’s it. The calmer they feel as you come and go, the more they feel connected to you.
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As usual, great advice. We’re teaching our dog (Lenny– 18 months old) to “go to your place” when either Anne or i come home. He is afraid of strangers (he’s a rescue pup with very bad previous owners). He’s gets excited, but goes to his place (a mat in the living room) and waits till we have greeted each other and he’s released “okay!” We’re doing this in an effort to get him calm when a guest comes through the door. Is this wrong? He’s very hesitant and growly when a stranger comes into the house, but IF THEY IGNORE HIM, he warms up to anyone in about 5 minutes of hesitant sniffing– women have a much shorter warm-up time. As you can imagine, it’s difficult to ask guests– let alone clients(!)– to ignore your barking, hair-on-end, dog. And talk about a transfer of energy/emotion. I admit that it’s almost impossible for us to remain completely calm in that situation– and it goes right to him. It probably sounds worse than it is– he’s otherwise a very good boy. Plays well with other dogs off leash, loves us, likes people he meets on our walks. We just want to train him to be calm and polite always– especially in the house. Thanks.
Yes Cliff, teaching a dog its place is a good way to help him feel safe. And helping him feel safe for the first ten minutes as “the charge” subsides is very good as well. However the question remains about “grounding” out that electric energy when a stranger first arrives. This is the energy that has never been calmed (no matter how calm you try to be) and so it would prove therapeutic to encourage Lenny to jump up on you during that first tentative moment (before he’s sent to his place) and then engage him with pushing in for his food after he’s made contact. After he’s fully committed himself to you, then you can send him to his mat. In fact, I would have a friend come to the house and do this over and over (You can also role play with Anne and yourself knocking on door and practicing the routine) so that you can concentrate on the training and not have to worry about your guests. Remember, a football team learns a new play against their teammates when nothing is at stake, not against the opposing team on game day. It’s likewise difficult for animals to learn new things when charged by strangers. Teaching Lenny a new play could be how he can be fed for the next week or two so that he’ll have it down cold on game day. Good luck.
Wow. We will start doing this immediately, and Anne and i role-play this scenario every day. Helping him find his “off switch” to discharge his energy is *very* important for this guy. Actually, i’ve always been suspicious of the whole “no jumping up no matter what” viewpoint. I rather like it when our (normally quite reserved) dog shows his affection sometimes. For instance, he just had an overnight play session with our son/daughter-in-law’s dog. Then today, he *insisted* that we have some close-contact time together, and when Anne came home for our noon walk, he was all paws-on-shoulders and face licks. Not that you want him to do this to guests, but i think it’s good for “the family”. Thanks again very much for your advice.
Hi Kevin – just came across this in relation to puppies. What do you think about Scott & fullers studies from the 60’s about “critical socialisation periods?”
I believe behaviourists are now using the term “sensitive periods” and that there has been some criticisim of the original study in terms of numbers and breeds of dogs used.
This is of interest to me as many puppy development programmes are based on these critical periods with advice given to basically expose the pups as much as possible within the first sixteen weeks of life. My observations are that this does not necessarily produce a secure confident dog. I still see pups with insecurities about shiny floors and new places etc, even though initially they seemed fine. One day, what seems out of the blue, the pup will be afraid of a place it has been to many times before, even though it was previously confident and did not have a negative experience at that same location. I am starting to question the necessity and value of all this exposure.
Your comments above made me wonder whether we are in fact over stimulating these pups and inadvertently creating some of the problems we were trying to avoid by exposing them to as much of our modern environment as possible.
Why do you think puppies develop these fears of places?
How would you develop a puppy to be able to cope with the changing environment a Police or guide dog would face in a big city?
I would be interested in more of your thoughts on raising puppies.
Mark
Kevin i just realised you partially answered some of the above previously , but are hoping you may still comment further?
Regards Mark
Basically it takes two to three years for the emotional battery to fully format, and I believe there are cycles that run even longer than that, and since these cycles are the true organizing principle I don’t believe the critical periods are the absolutes that the “mechanists” like to say there are. My children were born during the eighties and the rage then was that there was a magical moment of bonding that occurred between mother and child in the first instant after birth, and so many mothers who had c-sections were distraught because they missed this moment. Well I was there and I didn’t see any blinding link, my poor wife was exhausted and in pain, the children were terrified, and I feel the bonding thing worked its way out over the next days and indeed, was going on within the womb well before.
What happens in development is that when dogs hit two to three years old, energy that they could have previously been comfortable internalizing, they then shift and must externalize and then they need an instinctual license and so the higher processes of their nervous system invents a danger such as shiny floor as predator, so that they can vent this pent up energy. This also seems to happen at age 6 or 7 with noise phobias. I think a lot of this has to do with over stimulation but also how much more dogs are personified by their owners (which creates pressure) as well as the dog’s picking up their owners’ stuff that they then need to externalize. I guess we can sum up the dog raising protocol best by saying just be sure to let your dog be a dog.