socialization and mouthing/biting

[jessandjoe]

Hello all,

We have had our puppy for just over two weeks and we are all settling in pretty well. We have made great strides with the mouthing and play biting but she is still fairly unpredictable in that department. (she is just over 10 weeks old). Obviously no aggression and she doesn't seem to be fearful but she will be playing and get overly excited as puppies do. We have been using the method of redirecting and if that doesn't work, stopping all play and having a bit of a time out. My question is this. We want to start taking her to meet lots of other people after she gets her second set of shots this week and I am not sure how to handle it if she gets all excited and bites at someone, particularly a child. First of all some of those puppy bites really do hurt and though she has never broken skin I would feel awful if she scared or hurt a child or anyone for that matter. How do I have her meet people so this does not happen?

Thank you for all your advise,
Jess

[ninemaplefarm]

Hi, Jess! I have an 11 week old puppy so I hear you!!

What I have been doing is trying to take her for a walk and play with her to poop her out a bit. Then, we meet new people. I also bring her to my son's preschool camp at pick up time and when the kids flock around I hold her gently or face her head towards me and have them pet her back. If she is still feisty, I actually hold her and let the kids pet her. Luckily, she has been good lately and now she just sits and lets them pet her and they take turns walking her on leash. The older sibling kids there get to hold her. She loves people and is not a high energy hyper puppy which helps!

Oh, I ALWAYS bring a toy with us so I can redirect with that so she can mouth her toy while being petted if she gets too fired up. Pick something your pup likes and not just any old toy- I made that mistake and she was like- no thanks!

At home, we also work on our "eh, no bites-gentle" so she is learning to associate that with the action. I am also trying to teach her to sit at home before being petted. She's not perfect but I figure that I mind as well lay the foundation.

Good luck with your pup!

[SummerwoodSoaps]

I would make Stella sit and let the kids feed her a treat and then they could pet her as she was chewing. I would also have them feed her like you would a horse (hand flat, treat in middle) until Stella was gentle enough when taking treats. Just keep giving treats while the kids pet and she is sitting nicely.

[doggiedad]

don't worry your pup will learn
and out grow the nipping stage.
when my pup nipped i use to hold
his mouth and say "no biting". i
did this everytime he nipped. everytime
i did it he nipped again immediately.
i don't think my method worked.
i remember once when my dog was 6 months
old he past me and nipped my knee.
i was sitting at the computer table. my dog walked
down the hallway and crossed over to me to nip
me and he kept moving. it was a "walk by nip".
he nipped me, walked into the livingroom, turned to face
and laid down. the look on his face read " what, what are
you looking at me like that for, you know we nip".

we you introduce your dog to people or
other animals have him leashed. with the leash
in your right crossing your body to the left.
take your left hand and place it over the top
of the leash. use your left hand to slide
it up and down the leash to control the pups
movement. slide your left hand down the
leash towards the pups head or collar and it will
limit the pups motion. now when you introduce him
to people or other animals he can't nip them or jump
on them.

are you enrolling in a puppy class? i made sure i had
a lot of friends, neighbors and family visit our home daily
to help with training and socializing. i also had a lot
of play groups at our house and i had people visit
with older dogs.

[PaddyD]

I think we see a puppy nipping/mouthing thread almost daily. There should be a standard response by a moderator to each of these because they are all the same. The responses by forum members for this are repeated over and over. Whole lotta typing going on.
One thorough, complete, and proper response should be kept and copied and pasted.
JMHO

[King&Skylar]

I have an 12 week old puppy and when we meet kids, I pick him up and let them feed him treats, or one kid (my neice) is gonna walk with him, not running/playing, so I have total control.

[MaggieRoseLee]

Originally Posted by PaddyD

I think we see a puppy nipping/mouthing thread almost daily. There should be a standard response by a moderator to each of these because they are all the same. The responses by forum members for this are repeated over and over. Whole lotta typing going on.
One thorough, complete, and proper response should be kept and copied and pasted.
JMHO

Paddy, we moderators do this all the time, and there is a sticky Puppy BITING!!! Teaching Bite Inhibition we direct people to..

Even better alot of MEMBERS direct newbies to recent links and the sticky (HINT HINT )

That said, it's nice to get the personal touch when you are a newbie. And much of the time the issue isn't just the biting, so other hints and tips can be added.

[GSDkid]

Congrats on the new pup! Here's a video that helped me out A LOT:

Bit Inhibition

Bit Inhibition

My girl still nipps but barely even biting down. She now knows how much force to use and if she accidentally goes too hard (from excitement of wrestling) then she'll grab one of her toys and bite on it instead while we still wrestle.

Good Luck!

[jessandjoe]

Thank you for your suggestions! I am really looking forward to getting her out there in the world! And thank you maggieroselee...