Hello everyone, I already have some questions. Thaddeus is 15 weeks old. We do really well with chewing on his bully rings, toys, etc. The teething is not the issue. Thaddeus sometimes likes to play rough when he is excited. We are having trouble with him barking and mouthing hands, arms, etc. while playing. He will sometimes do this even when we are not playing. His large puppy teeth can hurt. He is a puppy so I know mouthing everything is normal, but what can we do to train him not to bark and be more gentle with his teeth when alerting us he wants to play or needs attention.
I think the goal is not so much to stop them from biting, but to teach them good bite inhibition/having a soft mouth. With mine if they bit to hard I said a firm ‘gentle then ignore them, they soon got the message that "if you can't play nice, I won't play with you at all. I also use the word gentle as adults when giving them tit-bits/playing ect: I guess it is just trying different things until you find something that works for you and your puppy as what works for one may not work for another one.
All puppies have to learn not to bite, but I can see that the size of this breed might give you problems that I have never had to deal with. Could you deflect the biting onto a rope chew toy, and turn it into a game of tuggy? Or perhaps substitute a carrot, or a frozen, knotted tea towel to chew on? My latest girl lived in kennels for almost six years, and arrived here believing that hysterical barking made her food dish reach the ground quicker, and doors open faster! We have had to be really strict with her - absolutely nothing happens as long as she is barking. We turn and face the wall, and do not allow any eye contact till there has been at least three seconds of silence, (initially, you can build this up slowly). Then reward the silence with a brief fuss or a treat.
Frozen wash clothes, ice cubes, and frozen yogurt in ice cube form may help. Helps them with teething and numbs the gums. This may help some past that Gsdslave is pretty much on the mark.
Thaddeus loves ice cubes so we use that often. I think the problem is not so much teething as it is "mouthing". When he plays he is sometimes a little rough when he is excited. We will try the gentle and ignore method and see how it goes this week. Time, patience and redirection will help I think. Thank you for all of the suggestions and replies. They have been greatly helpful.
Our pup went through a particulalry mouthy phase, the "puppy yelp" method only made things worse. Stopping play when teeth were felt was fairly successful in developing a softer touch. Lately we have been operating an absolute zero tolerance policy, teeth touch skin = out the room for a few minutes. Usually into the kitchen behind the baby gate. This has had a remarkable effect on mouthing and its now extremely rare that Everest will put her teeth on your skin (still enjoys a chew on loose jeans or shoelaces). It sometimes seems like you have to do this 100 times a day but over the course of a week we noticed a dramatic difference.
How old is Everest? I have a zero tolerance policy with Thaddeus but it's only with hard mouthing. I will try the "feel teeth=out of the room" policy. He learns quickly but his teeth are coming in and they are large. They can hurt when he is excited. I will give this a try and we will see how it goes. Thank You for the suggestion.
she is currently just shy of 6 months, though i would reckon we have been at our strictest from about 4.5 months. Started just as her puppy teeth were falling out and the big ones were coming in. As of today, she still has the odd tug of a dressing gown or stealing my daughter's (oddly nobody elses) sock off a foot and she still jumps at hands etc when playing but its more of a "butting" motion with an open mouth than a biting....it would be weeks since feeling any pressure at all with hands/fingers between her teeth.
I have a 17 month old mouther although only my hands and only when she gets over-excited. I do feel her teeth but she stops as soon as her teeth touch my hands, and although being old with very thin skin which bruises easily, I have not had a mark from her very strong teeth and jaws for months now. She may only be small but she is half Dachshund and they have the strongest teeth and jaws imaginable, which is only to be expected as Doxies were bred to hunt badgers, needing strong teeth and jaws to keep themselves safe from an attacking badger they were trying to flush out.
Hi Alastar and Thad, Being very new to this Forum, I don't know what breed your pup is. You mention 'Wolfie puppy', is he a Wolf hybrid by some chance? Regarding the mouthing, biting problems.... What I do with mouthy pups, is grab either the muzzle or the entire head in my hand, as their Mother, or another adult dog would do with their own mouth. Then it's a loud and very growly 'NO BITE!!!' command, while staring puppy right in the eyes with a deep frown on my face. Realizing that I mean serious business, and that I am not playing, Puppy will usually look away quickly and stop the offensive behavior immediately. If by chance he goes for it again, I repeat the grab with slightly more pressure and give a little shake, bringing my face close up to his, and curling up my lip while offering an actual immitation of an angry snarl. Over many years and different breeds of dogs, I have never had a pup that did not respond well to this. With some it had to be repeated on several occasions, with others all it took is once or at most twice and they got it. Sometimes, just a loud NO BITE!!! is enough to stop the behavior, or even just a frown and a sharp look from me. It all depends on the particular individual pup. I personally never do a quick pull of the hand out of a dog's mouth, instead I'll push my hand into their mouth, which makes them go 'uggh' and back away. Good luck, and keep us updated. ~Elana~
After all off the suggestions that I've consistently tried from everyone, this is what has worked the best. I tried the time out, redirection, the jaw grabbing and stern no. I tried holding bully rings, rawhide, giving him cups of ice, etc. None of these things had any effect. I broke down and bought squirt water bottles for seating areas. When I felt teeth, I squirted him. It took three times and mouthing stopped completely. I felt like a terrible puppy mommy so I talked to our vet. His Dr says that I found something obnoxious to him and I had to up the game. Was not detrimental. Took less than 4 times and its done. He's now extremely gentle and gives love licks when I pet and love on him. I don't even have to squirt water. What do you guys think? Am I a bad puppy mommy?
No we use water guns / fire extinguishers [to stop the adult dogs when fighting] at The Rescue Home, as long as you don't aim at eyes/ears or nose you be okay so will your dog x
Thanks, I saw that later after I posted my question, lol. You are not a bad puppy mommy at all. I'm glad that you found something that works for your 'little' boy. Our Charlie ( so far...) has stopped mouthing hands.... toes are something different
I certainly wouldn't think of you as bad, Im very much of the opinion that things would be much worse being disciplined by another dog......and that dogs are much more settled and secure knowing exactly what is expected of them and the consequences for stepping out of line (obviously not in a cruel fashion). Well done for fixing the problem.
