Mouthing

[Christie48]

Susie has a habit of mouthing when she wants something. If she needs to go out, wants a treat or even just attention she comes up and grabs whichever part of your anatomy happens to be handy and tugs on it. We've tried telling her off, stern No's, removing part of anatomy from her mouth and substituting it with a toy or a chew, but nothing seems to stop her. The more urgent she thinks her need is the harder the grip on you and the tug. Get her off and she comes back in harder than ever until you get up and see to whatever it is she wants. Quite honestly it can be pretty painful, as when she grabbed my toes today.

Any ideas on how we can teach her a different way to ask?

[nickmcmechan]

Hi Christie, is the Dog a Pup?

My first thoughts were to set up a scenario where you know she will attempt the mouthing.

I wonder if there are two ways to handle this.

One would be when she attempts the mouthing use the stern no and walk away into another room so the dog is ignored for a period of time. A stair gate would be very useful as the dog may likely scratch the door.

I would start with that if it were me. If it doesn't work too much at first I would increase the drama of your exit and increase the amount of time the dog is ingored for (be prepared for some high energy reactions from the dog you may have to ignore)

I would hope that would work. Another technique may be to use a helper and a long line. Just when the dog is about to mouth pull the dog gently but firmly away with the long line and then play with a toy as a distraction. This way the dog never actually successfully mouths and learns doing somethiing else is better

Hope that helps?

[Stuart]

Its difficult for me to give advice on this, because I know I go against the run of views on this,...but I believe a dog should be allowed to mouth, its a natural way of communication,... the key thing is to teach them how hard to or how soft to mouth,... Sam is the one who mouths most, and he is always very gentle because I cracked down hard from the very first hard mouth.

Its a habit that might be hard to fix,.. the walking out might work, but personaly when Sam was mouthing too hard he got a slap on the muzzle [ short sharp,.. not too hard slap ] and a loud `No`,... but it needs to be dont instantly and without warning

[LindaM]

Originally Posted by Christie48

Susie has a habit of mouthing when she wants something. If she needs to go out, wants a treat or even just attention she comes up and grabs whichever part of your anatomy happens to be handy and tugs on it. We've tried telling her off, stern No's, removing part of anatomy from her mouth and substituting it with a toy or a chew, but nothing seems to stop her. The more urgent she thinks her need is the harder the grip on you and the tug. Get her off and she comes back in harder than ever until you get up and see to whatever it is she wants. Quite honestly it can be pretty painful, as when she grabbed my toes today.

Any ideas on how we can teach her a different way to ask?

As you say she is mouthing not only if she wants to go out but also for a treat or attention my gut instinct is that all mouthing has to stop. I think Nick's ideas are good and workable. I started to exclude Lukey from being little (just for half a min) not something everyone would agree with but I found myself in a situation where I had to learn quickly and get it right with Lukey.

I used to take Lukey's collar (very gentley) and exclude him but Susie is big and brighter so I can see what Nick suggests is more sensible and none challenging.

Then somehow she will have to let you know when she wants out to toilet and Lukey hasn't got this. He comes over for a fuss and it is only when he is very persistent one of us twigs, poor boy

Looking at your other photo of her she looks very bright!

[nickmcmechan]

Originally Posted by Stuart

Its difficult for me to give advice on this, because I know I go against the run of views on this,...but I believe a dog should be allowed to mouth, its a natural way of communication,... the key thing is to teach them how hard to or how soft to mouth,... Sam is the one who mouths most, and he is always very gentle because I cracked down hard from the very first hard mouth.

Its a habit that might be hard to fix,.. the walking out might work, but personaly when Sam was mouthing too hard he got a slap on the muzzle [ short sharp,.. not too hard slap ] and a loud `No`,... but it needs to be dont instantly and without warning

I agree and disagree with you Stuart! Although I wouldn't use your techniques personally I think, for an experienced owner like yourself, you would know how to descrease the bite inhibition gradually until it stops and have greater long term success. However, or a less experienced owner, I believe its simply safer in the long term just to stop the mouthing althogether. I would also worry about the slap.

I know Ian Dunbar used to use a similar philosophy to yourself, in terms of allowing the mouthing to teach bite inhibition, but I believe he has now changed his mind on that one.

I guess it comes down to the relationship between dog and owner and your own personal level of expertise and confidence in what you will achieve with your dog?

[LOVEGSD]

I think mouthing is fine but not on skin and sorry Stuart I don't agree with anyone tapping their dogs on the nose.....there's no need for it imo.

I think the problem with Susie is that she's previously got what she wanted when she mouthed you, next time she does it to get you to do something for her I would totally ignore her, get up and walk away......you need to stick to a method though and be consistent otherwise she'll never learn.

I encouraged mouthing on toys and the minute Diesel's teeth touched skin then the game stops, he soon learnt that he got more attention mouthing the toy and not me.

I would be concerned that if the dog thinks it's ok to mouth you, he/she will think it's ok to mouth a stranger, not everyone would deem this as being ok.

[Ricky]

Mine is 13 months and he still does this all the time.
I hoped he may have grown out of it but you can really see how its natural behaviour for him.
His first reaction if anything is within reach is to grab it with his mouth.

Now he never snaps, or hurts on purpose, it is usually for play.

But I really do wish he would stop.
He does stop if I tell him no, sternly, but only for a minute or two.

The main issue is, we often have friends over (or used to) and the paranoid ones think that this constitutes biting or attacking.
If I had a pound for every time I heard 'he's trying to bite me!' I would be a rich man, truth be told it really gets my back up.

[Stuart]

A pup usualy learns from a parent about how to soft mouth, usualy by a sharp snap,... maybe you are taking the word I used [ slap ] in a way I didnt mean it,... Although I certainly believe in positive training in all things,.. and practice it,..I also believe that there are times when a firmer hand is nessersary

We are reading more and more threads in here about how people are having the devil of a time with a dog who is causing pain through using too much mouth pressure, and [ rightly so ] most of us suggest positive training ideas,...i.e. `walking out`, `going ouch`, and so often we read about how these methods are not working for all dogs,..simply because all dogs are different

I have never ever had a problem with dogs that use a hard mouth, and I have had dogs all my life and always believed in letting my dogs soft mouth,.. and have always used the same method if my dog started off too rough, and that has been a sharp `No` and a slap on the muzzle,..when I say `slap`, I mean my hand on them in a slightly more than soft touch,.. [ difficult to discribe without showing,.. but not a `belt` ]

When Sam first came to me he was rough, to the point of almost biting,..I dont think I had to use my method of stopping it more than twice,... so as far as Sam is concerned it was the right method to use

Each dog is different, its not always the best idea to go along with one persons idea, or one train of though and try and put it to every dog we come across,..that doesnt often work

... and to the best of my knowledge Sam has never mouthed anyone else, adult or child

[wildmoor]

most of you know my views I dont allow after 13/14 week
I am not a dog therefore my dogs are not allowed t mouth me or anyone else, I also dont having the nipping a lot of owners do with puppies, my dogs can communicate with me in other ways whether that is by a clawed paw, a nudge with their nose, a certain look, vocally or other body language but not with their mouth nipping or mouthing human skin.

[catrionagsdlover]

All puppies mouth in the early days! Teaching bite inhibition from the start is the way I do it! Then once they know safe biting usually about 13,14 weeks I accept no teeth on skin! I do this by walking away , withdrawing attention and giving them something they can knaw on a toy or bone then praise, praise praise! Be firm fair and consistent about what is acceptable ! They are clever dogs and will catch on quick enough! Goodluck!

Catriona Xxx