Hello i wanted to make some questions regarding my puppy behaviour , Sirius has gone through the mouthing phase and he seems to have improved (he's 7 month old now) but only one thing remains of this phase. When he wants to be cuddled he acts in the following way; he comes and rub itself against me and then proceed to bite my arms or hands if i stand up he jumps and proceed again to bite, he also does that when he get over excited and jumps and bite like crazy! Or when he's lying down if i pet him he stands with his tummy in the air and bite whatever comes near his mouth. I imagine this is quite normal since he's a puppy afterall, but he's 7 month old now and i was wondering if i could reduce it somehow , his bite can get quite strong at times.
Although it's just play and excitement, I agree that at 7 months I think this is something you probably want to bring a stop to. I'd suggest that anytime he gets like this (putting his mouth round your arm or hand etc or leaps up at you) you instantly stop all interaction and walk away. Shut yourself in another room briefly if you need to. If you're out on a walk tie him to a solid object, walk just out of reach and turn your back. No need to say anything, just completely take away your attention. I'd say that this behaviour is definitely not the 'puppy biting/teething/mouthing' stage. It's a biting game that will continue unless you take steps to reduce it. Once he sees that biting ends all the fun he'll start to see that it's just not worth doing any more. We dealt with exactly the same issue with our boy when we got him at 9 months. He'd just learned to do this as a fun game that was encouraged by his owner (not saying that you're intentionally encouraging it). He'd grab quite firmly and it was pretty alarming! But we were totally consistent in removing our attention when he did it and the behaviour seemed to disappear fairly quickly...
Well he's always been like that from what i can remember, forgot to mention that he starts to growl as well for the excitement and starts running away like crazy if i try to block him , saddly ignoring him is not that good because he'll just start jumping at me while biting ,going to another room is useless as well because he's just there running alone and god knows what kind of trouble he could get into so i don't really know! Thanks for the tips though
I understand that it's a challenge Unfortunately if you don't change something you are probably going to be stuck with this behaviour, because it's fun for him. Can you briefly put him in a safe room like the bathroom or laundry? If he gets excited when you do something (like blocking him) then that means that what you're doing is fun and is rewarding and reinforcing the biting/jumping/growling. That means you should stop doing those things. Another idea is to notice all the moments when he's quiet and reward him then with quiet strokes and treats.
Also meant to add - don't be too worried about the growling (in case you are worried..). It is just part of the game to him. Some dogs are very vocal and make a growly noise while playing or during things they like (such as getting scratched/massaged).
It's a good idea to give treats to your pup and pay attention to him when he is quiet. If he is having a quiet snooze and you walk by and just place a treat by his nose and say "good boy" he will look at you like you are crazy but it will reinforce that quiet behaviour = treats and attention and boisterous behavior = being left alone and ignored.
Can you try giving him a toy to bite on when you play with him? Maisie sometimes gets bitey when wanting pets in that same way, but she will either grab a toy herself to occupy her mouth or I'll give her something and then pet her with her mouth occupied. If she bites, all interaction stops as described above, but since it really does just stir her to be chompy to be petted in that manner, I like redirecting her as well with the toy. She learned from being redirected by us and will often grab herself a toy to have in her mouth if she's feeling chompy.
Thanks for the tips, but i do already reward him when he gets quiet! Same for the toy while petting him. Oberon No i'm afraid i don't have a room in which i could leave him for awhile, and what i meant with blocking is to just take him by the collar and put him inside his crate to cool off, thing is either i do that or he just won't stop biting and jumping
I appreciate that it seems very difficult when you've tried a number of things already... Yet another option is working very hard on teaching a behaviour that is incompatible with jumping/biting. Sitting or lying down would be good alternative behaviours. The first step is to teach and very strongly reward (with very tasty treats) your alternative behaviour when your pup is in a relatively calm state. Make sure you can get a really fast response to your sit cue for example. Then you're ready to try using your sit cue when he's a little bit excited. Once you're getting a good result there you can use it when he's more excited to stop him biting and jumping. You need to gradually build up to using it when he's excited and it's also important to use really good treats that he really loves. What kind of activities is he doing during the day? What's his typical day like?
He goes out with me for a walk and then we play a little, after we come back to home he drinks a bit and i brush his fur, clean his eyes, ears etc. I'll put him in the crate because he can't stay still to cool off (a small premise in the morning it's usually hot so my walk is very short since it's kinda sunny here) after 1-2 hours i go out with him again for a longer walk , in the late afternoon we might go to the dog trainer , it depends on the day. I try to train his various position sit heel down etc, i'd like to put him off leash but my recall is not good yet and i don't have any free place to let him run , i wish he would bring stuff back so that he could run a little but i'm still working on both recall and fetch
You could try leaving a leash on him in the house. You could then stop him jumping by stepping on the leash or at least control him a bit more. Does he respond to commands? When Masie is overtired she jumps at the leash on a walk. We stop, do a sit or a down, then walk on when she's not biting at it anymore. Sometimes that can snap them out of crazy brain.
Oberon sure, from time to time he does play with other dogs ,he goes crazy when he sees another dog! @masiesmomma2 Yes he does respond to the commands , but not when he goes like that, i just use food to calm him. I mean i take a small kibble and the moment he smells it he stops, i ask for a sit and then i give it to him (hopefully i'm not doing anything wrong this way)
Update Sirius behaviour is still same, i haven't managed to change it even a little to sum it up basically he does this, after i praise him and pet him while we're done with training he starts to get really excited and bites me or my cloth (i do use a normal tone of voice nothing too exciting due to this) , also occasionally when he lying down and you pet him he turn his tummy in the air but with his mouth wilde open and tries to get whatever comes near his mouth, another one is when he comes to me when i'm sitting at the pc and tries to jump on my lap, when i put him down he proceed to nip on my cloth as usual. Last but not least sometimes when he comes to cuddle he licks me but then proceed to nip at my cloth... How can i fix this behaviour? Thanks in advance! P.S He's now 1 year and 4 month old
It sounds like there are two different things going on to me. The first is your dog is a bit 'mouthy' when you cuddle him etc. My dog still does this, I don't care about it (although it can be a bit embarrassing when other people, vets etc, mind) and have never stopped it. So I'll leave it to others to make suggestions for this. The second is that he is getting too excited/frustrated when activities end. Do make sure your dog is getting enough activities and exercise - off lead time, plenty of training, take up a hobby that involves you training your dog to do thing he really enjoys. Gundog work, flyball, agility, whatever suits you both. Then, I'd make my 'ending training now' routine a little longer. Instead of just saying 'finish' I'd work on a few exercises that are calming, perhaps some sit/waits, or walking at heel in a circle etc. then end the training session. Or you could end the session with a distraction, a kong or something, if he behaviour has become a habit.
My problem with the mouthing is that he bites quite hard and nip at my cloth, and lately i started from scratch to teach basic stuff since i wasn't happy with his cues, i might consider to try and give him something after the session end
