When a dog bites let me tell you, you do feel every one of those 42 teeth bear down on you. Whilst I haven't been bitten in anger by a dog since I was a small kid (small children it seems have trouble understand dogs body language...and I was bitten by my Red Kelpie bitch who I was feeding at the time) I have been bitten many times through a bite suit during training sessions.

Regardless of how good that bite suit is the pressure of a German Shepherd Dogs jaws is incredible which is why they are so valuable to law enforcement agents who utilise them so effectively to control wanted suspects. With awesome power of a GSD or any dog in the employment of Government agencies it is a telling sign to all of us in the community with good training dogs despite their potential are able to curb their abilities to injure with good direction.

This a a very important fact when considering owning a breed which has a large jaw, such as the GSD, Pit Bull, Bull Arab or Rottweiler... it is a responsibility to train your dog and socialise it well so as to allow it the best ability to live well in our society. There is really little excuse to say it is in the nature of the breed to attack, whilst this may be true, Law enforcement dogs show only too well that this behaviour is harnessed and used under the strict control of a dogs handler.

If you have a dog that seems to 'mouth' a lot the best way to improve the behaviour is not to smack or tease the dog but to reward other things the dog does with his mouth such as licking or nuzzling. Doing this allows the dog to use its muzzle in a different way.

I have often stated that the most important thing to think about for a prospective dog owner is not the dog that 'looks' great but what type of dog suits your lifestyle and living arrangements.

Then it is up to the owner to be responsible and harness a dogs behaviours through training which is something that needs to be ongoing in a dogs life, this is essential for large jaw dogs as their ability to do major damage is much higher than a smaller jawed dog. This by no means that any other dog owner should be less vigilant in ensuring good behaviours from their dog it just means the repercussions for a large jawed dog are so much greater believe me ..... having been in a bite suit on the run.... I should know.