It is important when you have your puppy to teach him to inhibit his bite. It teaches a 'soft mouth' how to use his mouth gently. Why do we need to teach bite inhibition? Accidents happen, we fall drunkly over the dog, trap his tail in the car door or stand on him when he gets underfoot and when in pain dogs bite and chances are if you have taught your dog good 'bite inhibition' then the damage will not be great. This does not make him a 'bad dog' it makes him a 'dog'
It's your job to teach your dog that human skin is incredibly fragile, and if you teach your to inhibit his bite that training will carry on if he is ever put in a position where he feels the need to bite.
So how do you go about teaching this? There are four stages. The first two stages involve making the puppies bites more and more gentle. The second stage is stopping the biting altogether. The training must be done in this order.
None of these stages require any punishment greater than a 'time out' and withdrawal of attention. When you teach bite inhibition you need to put your hands in your dogs mouth all the time, get him used them being there, inspect his gums and his teeth - for your vets sake.
Original article from: http://www.apdt.co.uk