"Mouthy" puppy

[Lawgirl]

Hi everyone.

 

I have recently got a third BC (at least, I am pretty sure he is a BC). This was not planned, but I spotted him as a giveaway in my town on an online classifieds site. Bailey is a very pretty chocolate merle IMO, and I was afraid he would go to a BYB (and, ok, maybe I wanted him too!). He was 20 weeks old when I got him, and had apparently been given as a gift to his previous owner a few weeks before, but she was in a rental that did not allow pets, and had an inspection coming up..... I asked the owner if she knew anything about his breeding, but apparently not.

 

Bailey has settled in very well with George and Oscar, our two older BCs. He has responded very well to training, and looks to have the makings of an excellent agility dog. He seems to have excellent herding instincts as well, always stalking Oscar when they go for a run.

 

The only thing is that he is a little mouthy. He loves to chew bones and toys, but he also likes to mouth my hand. I don't know what other word to use to describe it, as he just puts his mouth around my hand and sometimes applies some gentle pressure. It doesn't hurt, and I never have any broken skin, or even a red pressure mark. He is now 7 months old.

 

I respond by pulling my hand away with a sharp "Oi" sound, and try to redirect him to a chew toy or bone. I don't want to make a game out of it.

 

Our older two never had this issue. Am I doing the right thing or is there something more I should do? Is it really an issue if he is only gently holding my hand with his mouth?

[Root Beer]

Our older two never had this issue. Am I doing the right thing or is there something more I should do? Is it really an issue if he is only gently holding my hand with his mouth?

 

Opinions on this vary greatly, but I have always allowed gentle mouthing. In fact, if the mouthing is gentle, I will quietly praise, let the puppy mouth for a few minutes and then redirect (in a neutral way) to something else.

 

Now, if it is sharp, grabby, or painful, I will redirect very obviously, or perhaps put the puppy or dog in his crate for a nap, but if it is very controlled and gentle, I mark it as a good thing. I would also handle things differently if the dog were obsessive about it.

 

Speedy and Dean both outgrew it with this approach, and Bandit is well on his way. I can't remember the last time he mouthed my hand and he used to do it quite often.

[Maxi]

My own personal preferance is to discourage my pups and young dogs from mouthing humans. I use a gentle correction in a similar manner to the way you describe. If he continues to mouth me after my warning &/or the teeth pressure got any more intense then I would respond by increasing the intensity and sharpness of the hey sound and maybe give a short sharp poke with a finger on his neck or shoulder to indicate that I was annoyed.

 

Depending on the severity of the rebuke, I find that the youngster either carries on playing with me in a more 'acceptable fashion' or else decides to go off and either plays on his own with a toy &/or one of the other dogs.

 

Personally, I don't specifically use a distraction toy.. I tend to let my pup decide for himself what he wants to do after I have rebuked him for mouthing.

 

My own believe is that if a dog understands that even mouthing a human is frowned upon then he will be less tempted to bite a human if provoked.

 

I also do this because I want them to understand that there is a difference between the way they play with other dogs and the way they play with humans.

 

With respect to dog-play (even though you haven't asked this) - If both dogs are enjoying the game then as far as I'm concerned they can both be as rough and mouthy as they like with each other...but if one dog is getting bullied by an over-enthusiastic youngster and does not retaliate on his own, then I step in and act as referee.. However, If the older dog tells the youngster off in an appropriate fashion, then I would support the older dog.

 

this is just my opinion though

 

edited edition ..as you can see from Root Beer's previous post.. others have different opinion.

 

..oh I also meant to say...good looking dog

[Maralynn]

I don't mind gentle mouthing. I agree with Kristine that I wouldn't make a big deal out of it. Hard mouthing, yes. Gentle, no. My pup has gently chewed on my arms since he came home. I let him for 30 second then redirect him to something else. I reward him for behaviors I want (calm relaxing with me or choosing to play with appropriate toys) The arm mouthing behavior has slowly been diminishing. In fact, thinking about it now, he's hardly done it this week.

[CMP]

I discourage mouthing but do so gently and am willing to let it take some time.

 

If she purposefully mouths me, I ask her to stop. If she does, no harm, no foul. If she does not, I gently disengage and remove myself from her presence and will not continue the play/petting. I say nothing, I just give her a knitted brow "WTF" look and remove myself calmly and slowly.

 

If she mouths me during play I say "hey, watch your teeth!". If she adjusts the intensity of her play to make sure she does not accidentally get me, I carry on. If she continues playing like a Tasmanian Devil, I do as above, I get up and go away.

 

Sometimes, during grooming especially, she puts her mouth over my hand - so gently that it feels a little like a "hey, thanks, this is awesome" - and very deliberately, usually while looking me in the eye. This I allow without any negativity but I do not allow it for more than a second. I don't quite praise it, but I do acknowledge that it was deliberate and not aggressive or "bad".

 

I NEVER allow her to put her mouth on any other human being. EVER. Even the ones that say "Oh, I don't mind."

[simba]

With my first puppy someone told us that if you shoved your hand more into her mouth, so that it was uncomfortable, she would stop. Well, she stopped puppy mouthing, but she now uses it as an extreme appeasement behaviour, when she's very afraid and is looking to be comforted/protected, and when she's very excited to see someone after a long absence. She just puts her mouth around your hand and gently 'chews' with the back teeth.

 

Just to warn you- don't do what we did.

[Two Labs & Mia]

All of mine have grown out of it, I'll let each new pup mouth my hand-only-, and during play only, early on. That way I can "explain" the difference in "easy" pressure vs too much pressure. When they are annoying another dog/playing too rough I can just say "easy", and they realize they have to use restraint during play biting with other dogs. No biting on a human anyplace else for any reason though, no touching of my hand if we aren't in a play session. When they get around 6 months and completely have "easy" down for life I don't let them touch my hand any more, I just don't offer it during play anymore, and they don't seem to want it anymore. That's what's always worked for me. Mia is just now 5 months, has had several milk teeth go this week. She has "easy" down very well already. Thankfully she seems to work most of it out on her Nylabones unlike the last 2 Labs. We went the "no bite" ever for any reason method with DH's Brittany pup about 20 years ago. It took her to age two to fully comprehend, where as all the others had a concept of "easy" in a matter of months. Am expecting another round of brattiness in a couple of months, about where you are now. The joys of puppyhood. :-)

[Gideon's girl]

I read an article by a behaviorist, sorry I can't think who, that was explaining why allowing gentle mouthing is important to development. He was explaining about how mouthing is how puppies learn bite inhibition and that a pup that is allowed to gently mouth, but is corrected for biting too hard, will be the one that bites gently or puts its mouth on someone as warning, BUT DOES NOT CLAMP DOWN. Whereas, the pup that was not taught appropriate use of its mouth, and to have self control when mouthing, would be the one that would bite without warning and would clamp down hard. It's worked with all my dogs that I raised from puppies. We wrestle and tussle with our full grown dogs and I have received many full mouth "bites," but have never had my skin broke from one of them, not even my protection dogs(which do know when to bite for real). Toe nails are a different matter...

[Lawgirl]

Thank you everyone for your responses. I guess I will allow Bailey to sometimes gently mouth my hand, but only when I allow it, and not for very long. He mainly does it when he is excited or wanting to play. I guess, like many other things, it is a case of you setting the boundaries on what is and is not acceptable, and communicating it appropriately to your dog.

 

I am loving having a puppy again, even though my two older ones are only 2 years old. I have learned so much from them, so hopefully I don't make the same mistakes with Bailey. New ones, though.........well, no guarantees, but reading these boards helps.

[BCjetta]

Our aussie was pretty bad with being mouthy until around a year. It pretty much seemed like if he got excited and you tried to do any type of touching, petting, ruffling his fur etc, he couldn't handle it and would get mouthy out of excitement/happiness. He didn't do it to me because I realized that the touching set him off so stayed calm with him unless I had toys for him to grab. I had hubby say "no bite" and get up and stop interacting when Turbo would get mouthy. He did slowly grow out of it as he matured.

[ourwully]

I had this problem with Juno when she was at puppy classes. The trainer told me to allow it as long as it was gentle because it would teach her the difference between hard biting and gentle biting. Not knowing any better I allowed it but my hands were sore for months just from the gentle scraping. Anyway, Juno is 10 months now and has pretty well grown out of it.

Bill