I had assumed that bite inhibition was an instinctive behaviour but reading through this site i find it is learned. Which makes the puzzle about my girls background more intriguing. Can someone just confirm that a dog with the ability to carry a few day old chicken back to me completely unscathed has been trained to do this? I should really say hello, as this is my first time posting. I have been reading with interest as i think i would like to start gundog training with the dog i rescued off the streets in my hometown in northern rural greece. susan
Re: bite inhibition Hi there and welcome to the forums When we talk about 'Bite inhibition' in puppies, we are not referring to the instinctive ability to carry or hold items gently that we find in many of our gundog breeds. Whilst the 'bite' is inhibited during retrieve behaviour, what we term 'Bite Inhibition' is specifically referring to the process where dogs learn to control the pressure of a deliberate bite, such as that used in play, and social interaction, so at not to cause harm to the person or dog being bitten. Hope that makes sense, it is a bit confusing. Are you living in Greece or have you brought your rescue dog to the UK? Pippa
Re: bite inhibition ah right, the trained part is just about puppies not mouthing too hard on us humans. thanks for clearing that one up. it is amazing though, the gentleness with chick really impressed me. i just returned it to its mama hen and off it went. yeah, we're in greece. About the bite again, just out of interest, is this a trait of all gundogs or just retrievers? you would imagine it might have been bred out of some labs that are not working dogs. Really enjoying following your training of Rachel btw
