Having worked very hard at stopping the biting by redirecting to a toy rather than my hand and lots of positive training I felt that I was getting there with Mole (16 weeks). But lately in the last week he has started nipping again when excited and will sometimes nip the back of my leg when we are outside playing or training. He hasn't done this for a while. I have noticed he's teething at the moment, a few missing and red gums - could this be something to do with it? Hard to do the positive thing when you are nipped from behind - I end up shouting NO! More from surprise than anything! How have you dealt with this - any ideas welcome!! He's always been mouthy but I really thought we were getting there! Other than this he is a delight and bright as a button!! We are loving clicker training Thanks! Sam and Moley Mole
yep sounds like teething and he's getting older. Mine always got a bit over excited and tired when teething. Rory did regress but just keep on doing what you are doing. If someone bit my bum i'd shout in surpise too! Teething hurts so they are a bit more edgy and frustrated. If you look on the site there are some ideas to help with this.
This is the time when the frozen tea towel/sock or ice cubes can come into there own,they seem to have a real soothing effect x
Some puppies will start biting and nipping really hard at the five to six month stage, during rough play. This can become a habit that persists. So you might also need to think about how you play with your puppy at this point, and perhaps make your play more structured and less 'rough and tumble' if that makes sense.
Thanks for the tips! He seems to do it most when excited - often after we have been playing with the football which he loves. Are tug games not advised for a mouthy puppy - he loves a good tug! He's really pretty good most of the time but the mouthiest puppy I've had! I will bear in mind that boisterous games might make it worse, that makes sense. Sadly rawhide gave him a funny tummy as he loved chewing on that! Going to give bully sticks a try! We are also trying to work on the jumping up - should I be asking him to sit when he does this rather than saying off! Not sure how to positive train this one!! Thanks again!
I played tug just make sure there's plenty of room between your hand and teeth. If teeth get too close stop the game, wait and then offer to play again. With the jumping up you could try taking a step back and turning away, you may only need a step back. Hopefully you will then get a sit and probably a puzzled look but the disengaging does work. Our neighbours dog jumps up which they haven't stopped. We discovered her in our garden the other morning so I sent OH out with Juno's lead to get her and take her back. As soon as Mollie saw OH she went bounding up to and went to jump. Just for once OH obeyed instructions and turned his back on Mollie. She looked st him and her bum hit the floor, lead on and a nice walk back home. We had only met Mollie once before and she is not the best trained dog but thought I would add as an example. Oh and OH is pretty useless as a trainer
The best thing for Pongo when he was teething was a frozen Kong, or (even better) raw lamb rib-bones from the butcher, frozen and given to his straight from the freezer. The cold soothed his gums and the bone gave his teeth something to do. One rib-bone lasted about 20 minutes, then we had a happy and sleepy puppy. (These days a rib-bone lasts about 20 seconds )
Ajax will be 6 months at the end of March and this week he's been in a lot of discomfort (and drooling a bit, some head shaking) with the new molars coming in as well as the other --is it 42, 43 teeth? He doesn't nip or bite us --thankfully that stage is past -- but he's looking for anything to put in the very back of his mouth. We tried some gum massaging and it was obvious a relief for him but can't do that all night. Then last night he didn't sleep well and was breathing with his mouth open --almost panting-- and moving about the crate. So early this morning I tore a section of sheet and knotted it in several places, soaked it in water, then popped it into the freezer. Seemed to help but I had to put him outside with all the puddles about the kitchen area. He seems better today, sleeping a lot, but wondering when we might see the end of this. Another week, a month? BTW, those new teeth are big!
