4mo Biting, Growling

[MsBex]

Although I haven't had to do it alot lately, last night I was having a stand-off with Cory as every time I'd tell him off (for stealing shoes/socks/undies/rubbish etc) he'd bark and try to bite me (not very hard, but very defiantly) ...

You solve the shoes/underwear/rubbish problem by putting them behind closed doors or in secure bins. You teach him to come to you and trade so that when one of the kids gets lazy and leaves their shoes by the door he isn't chewing them or burying them, he's bringing them to you so you can swap them for something he is allowed to chew or bury. That is an example of him figuring out what you would like him to do, rather than trying to figure out what he can get away with.

Chances are, if you do effectively punish him for stealing stuff he will just steal stuff when you're not around. He's learned to look for the things he can get away with. My suggestion is to turn that around and teach him to look for things he can do to please you, to seek out the rewards.

Oooh I like this! Makes perfect sense! Thanks Aidan.

Thanks for the response too Nekhbet, glad to know I was doing it right the first time and didn't start grabbing the tongue instead ... lol

[Cosmolo]

Thats right PF- its not nice going to see 6-12 month old dogs where the children in the home are not terrified of the dog because it hurts them with 'mouthing'. I am yet to meet anyone who is really good at absolutely ignoring a pup who has their mouth wrapped around them- let alone a child, and yet so many people are told to do this or try to do this. :D

[poodlefan]

Thats right PF- its not nice going to see 6-12 month old dogs where the children in the home are not terrified of the dog because it hurts them with 'mouthing'. I am yet to meet anyone who is really good at absolutely ignoring a pup who has their mouth wrapped around them- let alone a child, and yet so many people are told to do this or try to do this. :D

Yep, you can't expect toddlers or young children to have the consistency or skill to deal with a mouthy pup. Especially a big mouthy pup.

Babies teaching babies really doesn't work. ;)

If you don't extinguish it early, you'll be having problems down the track. The idea that pups "grow out of" mouthing is one of the biggest fallacies around about puppy raising.

[persephone]

Puppies should be taught not to put their mouth around a person ever.

It should be done early, and certainly not over a prolonged period! No bite inhibition .. just NO teeth on human skin at all!!

[luvsdogs]

Never had to teach my dog bite inhibition, she wasn't mouthy when we got her at 12 w/o. I believe her being with some of her litter mates for those extra 4 weeks helped with that.