Bear with me. I know I just posted somethin similar. But my battle is still continues. My question is what are your definitions of bite inhibition. I have heard 2 or 3 different ones they have thrown at me from the APDT and god nows where else. They enjoy cross posting.

For me, bite inhibition is on a continum. My dogs have an inhibited bite when they play with me - they are allowed to bite me but they do it with a soft mouth. They discriminate between biting a person vs. biting any other object like the sleeve, tug, ball. If they are grabbing for the ball with great force and accidentally get me, they instantly release. At the other end of the spectrum is the dog that is not allowed to discriminate his behavior - he is simply not allowed to bite in his interactions with humans, period. You can inhibit the bite so completely that the dog will not even play with a toy with you.

Bite inhibition refers to the dog's ability to control whether or not he bites as well as the amount of pressure he exerts when he does bite. Sane dogs learn this from their dam and littermates early on, ie pup chomps too hard on mom, she will let him know w/out a lot of permissive parenting, that the consequences are not pleasant. It becomes more refined in littermate play.

There is a genetic component as well. Domestic dogs come into the world w/inhibitions against biting humans.

As Lee said, it's all on a contiuum.

My dobe has always had this natural bite inhibition. He will bite but he is always looking at me to see my reaction to it. I can feel him when he gets excited apply a little to much but he will quickly back off.

Did he always have it, or was it learned?

Is there a difference between BI learned as a puppy from the mother and littermates, versus bite inhibition trained by humans later in life?

If dogs did not have a natural inhibition against biting humans, they wouldn't be around as domestic pets.

The play biting/mouthing is different, when they do that they are relating to you as a littermate, IOW they are engaging you as if you were a dog.

Natural genetic inhibition of biting or domesticated genetic docility? Bite inhibition is learned, the basic docile temperament (not human aggressive) is inherited and nurtured by humans in breeding selection and daily activity.

You take a dog that has lived in a kennel for the first 6 months of his/her life without any training or meaningful contact with humans will bite you pretty hard in play/greeting and in drive.

I bet it would be worse if it was a pup that was seperated from his litter at 4 weeks of age as well.

Dogs do have a genetic instinct/intelligence which lends itself to allow the dog to learn the difference between US and THEM, a real fight and play, or a real bite and a mouth.

Natural bite inhibition no, I don't think so. Take a nice GSD pup and move your hand like a spider all over the floor. . . and feel the sting. Encourage that and in a few days you have a dog that has learned to latch on to your hand like an alligator eating a raw chicken.

I think we are taking about learned behavior, not genetic instinctual inhibition of the bite reflex. The dog, or any animal, has a genetic bite reflex and then learns what to do with it. The intensity of the reflex itself, or even as a further extension as the intensity of prey drive, will be inheritable, but not the learned behavior that controls it. All animals can control what they bite or not bite, they all learn it.

You can take a wolf cub from wild parents and teach them human bite inhibition, I've seen it. I have played games of chase and tackle with wolf cubs raise in captivitiy- no scars. The temperament issues, fear aggression, dominance, and whatever else (that may get you bit or not bit) won't have anything to do with a natural bite inhibition of humans, because why would a wolf have it? How could it learn it without the fictional bite inhibition genes?

Robert,

I never said that there is no such thing as learned bite inhibition. Of course pups learn to gauge their bites by playing and testing mom. But, as a species, the domestic dog has inhibitions against biting humans.

You said as much when you referred to humans as *nuturing* this trait via selective breeding. That means inheritance, which means genetics, you criss crossed the *nature v nurture* phenonmenon. Domestic dogs *are* relatively docile animals, despite the way some folks perceive their working dogs.