Mouthing
My JA Jake (14 weeks old) seems to be developing a mouthing/biting problem. I'm not sure how much of it is just being a puppy and how much of it I need to really keep an eye on. The actual only time he ever bit me was when I was walking away after playing. It was on my calf and he sure got yelled at and put in time out! But when we're lightly playing around, or when we're just petting him he also seems inclined to chew/bite on our hands/arm/foot. With the exception of that one time, nothing has ever hurt but I don't want him to be over a hundred pounds and be inclined to bite. New owner here, so any help is appreciated.
Comments
I was once told to whine if a puppy bit too hard, since that is what a grown dog would do if bitten too hard. Dunno if this has worked for anyone else? My puppy would let go instantly.
If she suddenly went after a hand we'd make a loud, high-pitched yelp sound.
If we were petting her or playing with her and it was more of a "well I don't have hands, but I still want to pet you back, so I am going to have to use my mouth" kind of thing, we'd ALLOW her to mouth on us, but we'd say "GENTLE. GENTLE." and press into her mouth.
If it got too much, we'd get up and ignore her for a short time, then come back and praise her.
If your dog is biting your ankle as you walk away, I would suggest ignoring it...seems like a case where turning around and trying to scold the puppy could be construed by them as a reward.
More importantly, at this age your puppy is exploring and learning about the world constantly. I don't know if you have kids or have ever been around kids, but as infants they put everything in their mouth. It just one way they learn about the world. This is magnified for dogs because they don't have hands. Even as adults, they primarily interact with the world using their mouth. So it's totally normal for them to be mouthy at this stage.
That being said, like with any behavior, the more it is practiced, the more likely it is to be repeated, especially as they get older. So you should absolutely take it seriously when your puppy mouths you. My suggestions would be to use one of the following strategies:
1) Ignore them. Mouthiness is a way to get attention. If your puppy mouths you, give a stern "no" and turn your back on him. Wait a few seconds until he calms down, then go back to playing or whatever you were doing. He'll learn pretty quickly that mouthing you means bad things, so he'll stop. But remember, you're fighting teething and a desire to explore so it may take a few weeks of consistency before the training takes hold.
2) Trade them for a chew toy. I haven't had as much success with this approach, but I know a lot of people advocate for it. When your puppy mouths you, give a stern "no", then give them a toy they can chew on. Over time, your puppy will learn that his desire to mouth you always ends up with a toy in his mouth, so he'll just start going directly for the toy and skipping you. Again, at this age you're fighting teething and exploration, so it may take a few weeks of consistency before you'll see any real results.
I hope that helps!
There's a great exercise called doggie zen that helps a lot with self-control in general, but is particularly good for mouthing of hands....
The puppy we got as an adult (Bear) is significantly less mouthy but has a much less gentle mouth unfortunately, so if he is riled enough to bite, there's quite a bit of pressure. The approach we took was to let Violet engage that drive but understand the parameters where we let her do something she enjoys.
If anyone has suggestions for how to train a soft mouth on a dog that doesn't like to mouth I'd really appreciate it!
http://www.dogforums.com/dog-training-forum/2522-doggy-zen.html
This training is great for teaching self control, which is a factor in mouthiness. This is great for curbing mouthy behaviour and for teaching a soft mouth.
He has since learned excellent bite inhibition that I am very proud of him for learning. Perfect example, last night I took him over to my bestie's place who recently just got a tiny little terrier mix 10 week old puppy. The thing has got to have feet the size of a quarter, weighs probably around 5-7lbs. (By the way... the pup's name is Skwisgaar...see a trend?) When they first met a couple weeks ago, first thing Toki does is swat at him, sending Skwisgaar flying. This worries me, even though I know its cause Toki is almost 70lbs and doesn't realize it. Last night, under my very, very close supervision, I let him play with the little guy off leash, me holding Skwisgaar. What does Toki do? Mouths Skwisgaar's neck and legs! I put my hands in his mouth when he was holding his legs and I could barely even feel his teeth, figured it was bite inhibition and puppy license. I guess Toki loves puppies
The point of the story is that he learned excellent bite inhibition during his obnoxiously mouthy puppy phase. he was such a damn shark when he was super little. I never thought he would grow out of it, but he did
The only time Toki mouths people these days is when he sees someone he hasn't seen in a while. He has gotten a lot softer with his play bites during these uncommon moments, but it is hard to correct because seeing someone he hasn't seen in a long time doesn't exactly happen often. At least all these people are okay with the mouthing, or rather, they understand.
I just got a bundle of bully sticks and he seems to love them, at least for now, and the mouthiness must be from teething...just a guess.
@jellyfart good to know that Toki grew out of it....I hope its just a phase for Hiro.
On another issue....re the mouthing....I feel pretty bad now about Oskar and the mouthing he was doing when we grabbed his collar. Now that we have seen his xrays, I know that C1-C3 on his vertebrae are in bad shape, and it probably hurt him when there is pressure on his collar. His "mouthing" which was very soft, was just to tell me "ouch" don't do that! Another example of how it's often us people that have a much harder time reading the clear signals dogs send (rather than dogs not understanding us).
Instead, why not try negative punishment instead of positive punishment. Instead of adding something to punish him (such as a pinch, 'teeth', or a growl), why not take away something (like you, the thing that the dog is playing with)? This has worked very well for the mouthy dogs that I have dealt with in the past. Not to mention that it does not have the potential to degrade the trust between you and the dog.
My major training backround comes from training horses. For years upon years horse trainers used methods that were designed to get the horse to bend to the human and basically rise from "horse instinct" to try to accommodate man. This in turn made for situations that were extremely confusing/frightening to the horse and dangerous to the human. Then quite a while ago a man came forward with training techniques that were completely centered around how horses communicate with each other through body language and work. The result has been amazing in the horse world and has adopted a new term. Instead of "breaking" a horse they have been "gentled". Creates a much stronger bond between man and horse with a much higher level of trust. It does however add to the horses life in terms of work, not punishment/physical abuse while the initial joining up occurs.
So... my question is: Are we as humans able to better adapt to other species or are other species better to adapt to us? I agree that the dog holds more of a companion role with us as far as in the home etc. Horses play a larger role in the working for us role, but can develop a very similar relationship when it comes to trust. In fact more so as I find horses are much less forgiving than dogs of our mistakes... Surprisingly, even though horses are prey animals and dogs are predator they behave very similarly toward each other in their respective packs/herds....
Just curious about this and would love to hear more of your thoughts on this!!