teething pups mouthin on hands-ok?

[ChrisW]

The book I have about Boxers says to never let a dog bite or chew on your hand because it must understand that that human skin must never be bitten. On one hand I agree, we must take ever precausion to teach them not to bite. On the other hand, I wonder if this is a little over the top. With other puppies I had growing up, when they where teething I would let them gnaw on my hands while playing. It was almost like a bonding type play and they would gradually learn to not bite hard. Those were small dogs though! And I freely admit that I know nothing about training dogs. This is my first dog of my own that we just got for our family. We have two young kids (3 & 5) and another on the way so my primary concern is that the dog NEVER harms my kids or anyone else for that matter. I understand that these dogs are wild and rough but I also know that they are sweet and patient with kids which is why we got one.

Anyway, I'm curious what others think about letting a teething puppy gnaw on your hand. Good or bad?

 

[Cami]

BAD.
Why train something twice?
At this point you will be training to bite gently or to have a soft mouth (think some sporting dogs that grip prey gently and return it to their owners).
Then you will have to eventually train that teeth can't touch skin. Trust me, no matter how razor sharp a puppy's teeth are they don't have the potential at all to harm like a full grown STRONG JAWED Boxers will be.
During teething and beyond provide plenty of safe chewable items (with supervision). You'll be glad you did!
An inexpensive trick is to take an older retired dish towel and get it wet. Wring it out and tie a few knots in it. Toss it in the freezer overnight until it is pretty frozen. Give that to your puppy to gnaw on.

 

[Fat Possom]

Teething on hands

My opinion - It's a NO. Especially if you have young children. This puppy will grow fast, WAY faster than your kids and eventually it will hurt. We give our 3 month old pup lots of puppy nylabone bones to chew and eventually move to the adult nylabone. The other post is right. It will be very confusing to the dog as it gets older when all of a sudden it's not okay. Plus... kids put their hands in their mouth. ick.

I think it's just a smart bet to teach all dogs that their teeth do not belong on people. It's so cute though right?

Good luck!

 

[gmacleod]

I would not encourage a puppy to mouth your hands or any other body part (that is just confusing, when you later try to phase it out). But at the same time, I certainly would NOT pre-empt his learning process by just mindlessly stopping him from using his mouth altogether. If you were to do that, you would fail completely to teach him about bite inhibition (how to use his mouth gently) and end up with a dog who - when the situation arises sometime in his life that a person inadvertantly causes him pain or fright, as is near certain to happen - will bite HARD, since he wasn't taught about the fragility of human skin and the need to be gentle.

Puppies bite - and for a very good reason. They have needle-sharp little daggers for teeth, not because they're any good for eating, but precisely because they will HURT when the puppy bites, even with very little pressure. That fact causes his littermates, or anyone who comes into contact with his teeth, to shriek in pain if he exerts any pressure. This feedback in turn teaches the puppy to be gentle with his jaws. It is absolutely imperative that you go through this learning process with your puppy - because if you don't, he will never learn that even a small amount of pressure hurts humans and he needs to be extremely gentle. And if he doesn't learn that - then the day someone inadvertantly slams some body part in a door, stands on him in heels, or some small child fall on him - then he's going to react with a "nip" that is likely to be a good hard bite, since he knows nothing about how to be gentle. I think you can probably see already that bite inhibition is actually the most important lesson in the life of a dog that is going to live with people, especially if it is going to be around children

So how does this apply to your actual question? Well, offering up body parts to be chewed upon by a teething puppy is not necessarily a good idea. I certainly would not suggest that you allow your hands to be a chew toy. HOWEVER, just stopping a puppy who wants to bite or chew upon you from doing so is NOT the right answer either. Rather, you should use the opportunity for training the pup about bite inhibition (let him know it hurts, and gradually encourage him to be more and more gentle by shrieking in pain at lower and lower pressure levels, till he starts to understand. ONLY then should you start to phase out the biting altogether). And at the same time, invest in something appropriate - like a raw bone or non-edible nylabone - for him to take his real teething frustrations out on.

 

[HostelDog]

I used the advice given by gmac about bite inhibition and my girl is doing really well. She will sometimes try to 'chew' on my hand, but it's NEVER hard, and a simple 'let go' is all that is needing to remind her it's not appropriate. And there have been times when someone has stood on her tail or paw (as she is my little white shadow, it's difficult not to sometimes!), or 'the boys' have played rough with her, or my friends' kids have 'petted' her (aka slapped her on the head) and she has never even looked as if biting or snapping has crossed her mind.

While teething I found (like what Cami said) the best things for her were rope toys that I'd kept in the freezer, she really appreciated it!

 

[LILYLARUE]

I was never one to encourage Lily to bite as a puppy, but I utilized the opportunity to teach her to bite gently......meaning we would screech if she bit too hard........trying to mimick the litter's reaction. Eventually we fazed it out after teething. When she was teething, prior to my dog knowledge, I did what I would do for my daughter. I would rub the sore gums in hopes to bust the tooth through. She loved the attention and her face would crinkle up in absolutely ecstasy. LOL Her teething was minimal and not sure if what I did was a help. It always worked for our human kids. LOL

Right, wrong or indifferent, she have never tried to bite or bite too hard during play. Of course, there are no small children around so that never came to mind. I do play rough with both dogs, by grabbing their canines and play tugging. They both love it and come back for more. But they always listen when I say "enough, settle" and then come the kisses!

I would suggest now to any new owner, not to take the chance that I have. It's really best to avoid teeth contact all together.

 

[ChrisW]

Thanks for all the responses.

I would not encourage a puppy to mouth your hands or any other body part (that is just confusing, when you later try to phase it out). But at the same time, I certainly would NOT pre-empt his learning process by just mindlessly stopping him from using his mouth altogether. If you were to do that, you would fail completely to teach him about bite inhibition (how to use his mouth gently) and end up with a dog who - when the situation arises sometime in his life that a person inadvertantly causes him pain or fright, as is near certain to happen - will bite HARD, since he wasn't taught about the fragility of human skin and the need to be gentle.

Puppies bite - and for a very good reason. They have needle-sharp little daggers for teeth, not because they're any good for eating, but precisely because they will HURT when the puppy bites, even with very little pressure. That fact causes his littermates, or anyone who comes into contact with his teeth, to shriek in pain if he exerts any pressure. This feedback in turn teaches the puppy to be gentle with his jaws. It is absolutely imperative that you go through this learning process with your puppy - because if you don't, he will never learn that even a small amount of pressure hurts humans and he needs to be extremely gentle. And if he doesn't learn that - then the day someone inadvertantly slams some body part in a door, stands on him in heels, or some small child fall on him - then he's going to react with a "nip" that is likely to be a good hard bite, since he knows nothing about how to be gentle. I think you can probably see already that bite inhibition is actually the most important lesson in the life of a dog that is going to live with people, especially if it is going to be around children

So how does this apply to your actual question? Well, offering up body parts to be chewed upon by a teething puppy is not necessarily a good idea. I certainly would not suggest that you allow your hands to be a chew toy. HOWEVER, just stopping a puppy who wants to bite or chew upon you from doing so is NOT the right answer either. Rather, you should use the opportunity for training the pup about bite inhibition (let him know it hurts, and gradually encourage him to be more and more gentle by shrieking in pain at lower and lower pressure levels, till he starts to understand. ONLY then should you start to phase out the biting altogether). And at the same time, invest in something appropriate - like a raw bone or non-edible nylabone - for him to take his real teething frustrations out on.

Yesterday, I read this article Teaching Bite Inhibition | Dog Star Daily
which I found linked in another thread. Sounds a lot like what your saying here. The thing is, in order to do bite inhibition training like this, it sounds like we do need to let the pup chew on our hands and inhibit the soft biting (in the beginning at least). If we just yelp anytime her mouth touches our skin she will never learn the difference between soft and hard bites.

 

[gmacleod]

The thing is, in order to do bite inhibition training like this, it sounds like we do need to let the pup chew on our hands and inhibit the soft biting (in the beginning at least).

Yes, that is exactly correct You *must* let the puppy use her mouth and give appropriate feedback, if she is to learn how to use it gently. If you just stop her biting, she won't learn a thing.

At the same time, unless you have a very shy pup who doesn't voluntarily use her mouth, then you shouldn't actually encourage her to bite Just give the right feedback when she *does* bite, so that she learns to be gentle. And as she becomes more and more gentle, you start to phase out the use of mouth altogether. As above, the danger is in stopping her biting *before* she has learnt to be gentle. So the correct order is *first* teach her to be gentle, *then* inhibit the biting altogether. Never stop her biting until she's learnt about force.

I would still recommend that you give her something other than yourself to chew on for teething purposes though That is a different problem to teething (where she needs to chew hard to get those baby teeth out and the new ones through her gums - not suitable for your hands at all! LOL).

 

[ChrisW]

Yes, that is exactly correct You *must* let the puppy use her mouth and give appropriate feedback, if she is to learn how to use it gently. If you just stop her biting, she won't learn a thing.

At the same time, unless you have a very shy pup who doesn't voluntarily use her mouth, then you shouldn't actually encourage her to bite Just give the right feedback when she *does* bite, so that she learns to be gentle. And as she becomes more and more gentle, you start to phase out the use of mouth altogether. As above, the danger is in stopping her biting *before* she has learnt to be gentle. So the correct order is *first* teach her to be gentle, *then* inhibit the biting altogether. Never stop her biting until she's learnt about force.

I would still recommend that you give her something other than yourself to chew on for teething purposes though That is a different problem to teething (where she needs to chew hard to get those baby teeth out and the new ones through her gums - not suitable for your hands at all! LOL).

Agreed. Ya she has a bunch of chew toys (nyblade bong, kong, stuffed animals, etc) but she almost always prefers chewing on me. One thing thats kind of cool is that she mostly only does this with me. I have allowed her to chew on my hands whereas it has been forbidden with everyone else. And she seems to get that (sort of).

 

[ChrisW]

oops, not "bong" I mean bone...LOL. no edit function on these boards?