does the mouthing ever stop?

[Lunasmom]

Luna is 16 weeks and teething so i will give her that...but does the mouthing everything and biting ever stop...i have tried everything!!! the biggest thing is the biting when she is playing...it hurts now that she has big girl teeth in there!!! we have been telling her no from the day i got her, but it doesn't seem to do anything. and i have tried ignoring her when she is playing and does it, but she just does it again when we start playing again. im hoping that she will grow out if it when her mouth stops hurting!!!

 

[mmichaelson]

Sam has always mouthed a lot - part of the problem is we got him at 6 weeks, before his bite inhibition was learned. So now, we contstantly work with him on it. Eventually, if you keep ignoring her, she'll get the hint that she doesn't get play if she bites.

We always make sure to say "NO BITE" really loudly when he does it, and then turn away from him. And we keep doing it until he stops biting. Then we repeat the next day.

Good luck -it will get better!

 

[Lunasmom]

Oh yeah, i was concerned that it was becasue i also got her at 6 weeks....i tried to bring her to my parents house to the old lady bostons so they would teach her. the shih tzu bites luna just as much so she makes it worse i think. they have both been getting time outs for rough play lately!

 

[Rocky D]

I'm in the same boat as you. Rocky is also 16 weeks and still bites like crazy when playing. Even if I am just walking from one room to the other he has to bite my pants or something. I usually just tell him no and then ignore him, or I shove his toys in his mouth, but he still isn't getting the hint either.

 

[KonaKoffe]

My DH has taught Kona to "mouth" gently so it doesn't hurt. He lets her do it - even encourages itk, when they play but he lets her know when she is doing it to hard (by saying no or ouch)and than lets her know when enough is enough. Sometimes you can turn unwanted behaviour into trained behavior.

For instance jumping up all the time. Boxers love to jump so we have been training Kona to jump up ONLY when we give her a signal that is is ok. Seems to be reducing the constant jumping, alot - same goes for the mouthing.

 

[My Samson]

Samson loves to bite when he plays and he's around the same age as your pup. A 'scruff shake' has seemed to work best for us. We tried the loud puppy cry and ignoring him when he bites but that didn't seem to be working for us. A scruff shake is when you take the excess skin on the back of their necks and shake it quickly a couple times (gently, of course) and we say 'no bite' at the same time. Samson seems to have learned that biting isn't ok by doing this but constantly tests us! He's smart enough now to know what's coming when he bites so he usually runs off or do a play bark and run off!

BTW - My brother is a dog trainer and he suggested the scruff shake to me. He swears that this scruff shake does not hurt them whatsoever - and compared it to something his 'dog mom' would do if he was still with the pack.

Hope this helps a little!!

 

[Lunasmom]

thanks...i will have to try the scruff shake and see if that helps.

 

[bruno's mum]

a water spray worked wonders with us - whilst he was teething he would bite harder so when he did we sprayed him with water and eventually he only chewed his toys. we got some teething keys for him as well, they helped loads!

i'm sure a local pet store would sell them, they are a blessing!

xxx

 

[jenjones28]

In puppy kindgergarten, we learned to teach them the "no bite" command, which worked really well. You hold a treat in your closed fist after letting them smell it for just a second (ok, kinda mean, I know). They will bite and paw at your hand to get it. You tell them, "NO BITE!" in a very low, growl-y voice. The growling is key here. When they back off and stop biting at you (which is quicker than you would think), you immediately give them the treat and lots of praise in a very high pitched, happy voice. It worked really well for us!

 

[SuperMoron]

Tati was exactly tha same for quite a while.. but one day she just stopped biting hard and became gentle. As for our little Radar, he also bites but not hard because he and Tati play together so they bite each other mostly. (well.. more like nibble, not bite. although they both have tons of scrapes and nicks on their tummies.)

Just keep doing what you're doing and they will learn!!