What is the most important behavior your pet can learn?
I believe it’s bite inhibition.
Bite inhibition means not biting down on human skin, human hands, humans’ clothing or footwear—not biting down on anything that is worn by or carried by a human being . . . ever.
Dogs, cats, and ferrets all must learn bite inhibition if they live with human beings, and bite inhibition can be taught to all three species (and many others) in much the same way.
Bite inhibition training gets a head start if the baby animal is raised by its mother, and if it is allowed to remain with its mother and litter mates long enough. If your baby animal was taken from its mother and litter mates too young, you will have to play catch-up on bite inhibition. Here’s why.
Mother dogs, cats, and ferrets start teaching bite inhibition to their young as soon as the babies sprout teeth. As they nurse, the mother animal says, “You are biting down too hard!” by getting up and walking away. Her babies learn that “biting down too hard” is not rewarded by continued nursing. Instead, it results in the mother animal’s milk bar going out of business for the moment. From their mother, baby animals learn to “inhibit” their bites—to feed without biting down with their new, needle-sharp teeth. The faster they learn, the more they get to eat!
Baby animals also learn from their litter mates. Biting a litter mate too hard will doubtless result in that litter mate’s walking or running away and refusing to play. A too-rough baby animal may be shunned by his litter mates until he learns more gentle behavior, especially with his sharp baby teeth. The “rules” are that if you hurt a brother or sister, that brother or sister will not play with you. The faster a baby animal learns this, the more his litter mates will play with him.
Animals who have been taken away from their mothers and litter mates lack a good, natural introduction to bite inhibition. Because of that, they may well have problems as they grow up.
Always ask the age of a baby animal, and find out how long it has been away from its mother and litter mates. With dogs, for example, adopting a puppy under seven weeks of age is never wise unless you are extremely experienced.
Puppy mills and back yard breeders often remove puppies from their mother dogs to sell as soon as they are old enough to wean. Solid food costs money, and people who breed dogs only for profit want those puppies on the market ASAP. Buyer beware: puppies who have been taken away from their mother and litter mates too early lack so much learning background than an inexperienced owner may never catch up.
And, regrettably, people who breed and sell baby animals only for the money will lie.
You may end up taking home a tiny baby animal that is much younger than you have been told, with a much different background than you have been promised. You may find your tiny baby animal is terrified by human contact. You may find your tiny baby animal bites viciously for no apparent reason. You may realize right off the bat that this tiny baby animal is simply too much for you to handle.
What do you do then? Chances are that you won’t be able to return the baby animal to where you got it, whether it was free or cost you big bucks. Maybe you met the “breeder” in a parking lot, maybe you never had an address, maybe the phone number you were given was bogus. Maybe you could return the baby animal, but you don’t want it going back to what you now realize was an unsafe place for it to be.
Consider your choices carefully. (Remember, your human family comes first!) You might decide that raising a baby animal with so many strikes against it is not a job that you are prepared to do. You may have young children, elderly relatives, not enough time, or not enough money to do anything but find that baby animal a safe place to go so it has the best shot possible at a good life.
If you can’t or won’t return the baby to where you got it, research reputable rescues in your area. For dogs, rescues are often breed-centered—you may have a retriever mix, for example, so you’ll hope to find a rescue that specializes in retrievers. Some rescues are just for dogs, others just for cats, ferrets, reptiles, birds, and so on. Find the one that is most likely to help the baby animal you’re hoping to place. Ideally, that rescue would be one with experienced foster homes ready and willing to deal with baby animals whose “issues” are similar to what you’re dealing with.
Animals shelters are another place to research, especially if they are “no kill.” That means they will keep the animal, health permitting, until a home is found for it. You will no doubt be asked for a small fee to defray the costs of the animal’s room and board while it’s housed at the shelter. Please don’t object—just pay the fee and be grateful that organization is there for you!
A baby animal that has “issues” with bite inhibition—a baby animal that has not yet bitten any human seriously—has a good chance of receiving remedial training and socialization, plus a thorough “home check” of prospective new owners to be sure of a proper placement . . . if that baby animal is put into a good rescue organization or animal shelter while it is still very young.
Do not wait until something bad happens with the baby animal in your home! Once an animal is a “known biter,” the chances it can be placed become minimal.
What if you want to deal with the baby animal’s “issues” yourself?
- You feel it is something you have enough time, knowledge, and money to take on.
- You know you can assure your family’s safety.
- You’re aware of how much hard work and dedication it will take to turn this baby’s “issues” around.
- You are committed.
Get help!
Find a trainer you can trust—not one who wants you to “send the baby to me for a few weeks” so that the baby “can be broken” of bad habits. Trust me, your baby animal does not need “breaking,” because punitive training simply does not work. You want your baby animal to learn how to be gentle with humans and with other animals. Gentleness is not taught by punishment.
Look for a trainer who has the knowledge and experience needed to teach bite inhibition with kindness, using what the baby animal wants (attention, food, interaction) to reward it for successive approximations of the behavior you want—in this case, not biting humans. The trainer’s job is to guide you and your family members to an understanding of what works and what doesn’t. You and your family will be the primary teachers, and you yourselves will need guidance, feedback, and encouragement. If you’re not being encouraged, how can your baby animal make progress?
You will find lots of dog trainers from which to choose, especially in an urban area. Some trainers also work with cats. A few may own and train their own ferrets. Even if an actual trainer is not available near where you live, ask for advice at the shelters and rescues. I learned a great deal about ferrets before I ever brought one home by volunteering at a local ferret rescue with experienced ferret owners. People are usually willing to share what they know about the animals they love!
As your baby animal grows, you’ll continue to work with the support system you choose, probably with private sessions in your home and lots of follow-up by phone and e-mail. You’ll be encouraged to keep close track of your baby animal’s progress. Although improvement can seem slow, tiny increments of success must be marked and rewarded. That goes for you, as well as for the baby animal!
Your baby puppy may continue on to group training, especially puppy classes, where what you’ve worked on at home can be put into practice in a social situation with other pups and owners. Eventually, you may move on to classes for adult dogs, including dog sports and other fun activities. (In big cities, cat and kitten classes may be offered, too. And although I’ve never heard of actual “kit” classes for ferrets, I’d definitely attend a ferret kindergarten if one were offered in my city!)
Bite inhibition: it’s a make-it-or-break-it skill for all baby dogs, cats, and ferrets to develop. Whether your baby animal has had a good background with his mother and litter mates or not, bite inhibition can be taught to most baby animals—with kindness and gentleness, of course, along with a clear understanding of how positive reinforcement works, taught to you by someone you trust.
