# Understanding Biting and Mouthing



## Click-N-Treat (Nov 9, 2015)

Thank you for the bite scale. Noelle never bites. Francis bit my husband in the hand and drew blood last week. Then again, my husband was reaching for the basketball at the same time as Francis. Clearly Francis was aiming for the basketball and it was an accident. And she was completely cranked up and nuts at the time. So I think that was a level 2.5 or a level 3 bite. We resolved the problem by telling Francis to leave it before he reaches for the ball. 

When they were puppies, Francis bit Noelle too hard more than a few times before she learned not to hurt. But, weirdly enough, Francis never bit people when she was a puppy. Noelle was a shark.

Yelping when Noelle bit me made her excited. I too found that method had no effect. What worked for me was leaving Noelle alone in the kitchen and shutting the door. She hated that! She bit me, I left, fun ended. I'd come back after about a 20 second time out and try again. 

Remembering it is a phase helped a lot. Wow those puppy teeth hurt, though.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Land shark puppies can make the sanest person wonder why they ever thought they wanted a puppy to begin with. There were times when I really wanted to put a sign around Lily's neck that said "free puppy" before taking her out front to tie her to the stop sign on the corner. Thankfully Peeves was content to chew on toys and didn't bother our hands since he has always been a power chewer. Javelin interestingly was a very polite puppy. He came from a large littler of nine puppies, so part of me thinks that might have had something to do with it, but that theory falls apart since Lily is from a litter of eight. 

I generally favor time outs to let the puppy settled along with impulse control training games when land sharks rear their toothy heads.


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## lisasgirl (May 27, 2010)

Archie was incredibly mouthy when we first got him. He had great bite inhibition; he just thought mouthing was the appropriate way to deal with excitement and get you to play. Yelping definitely worked him up more as well (though the few times I _actually_ cried out because he actually hurt me were pretty effective). What worked for us was redirecting to a toy. I would say "no" in a low, smooth tone and then say "Where's your toy?" and give him a tug toy instead. After a while, I could just say "Where's your toy?" and he'd go get it himself and bring it to me. Now if he's getting overexcited he grabs the toy himself without being prompted.

Cleo will grab your hand with her mouth and guide it to her side if you stop petting her. I admit I don't do anything to correct that because she's very gentle about it and I think it's cute. She still play-bites when she's worked up, though, and since she doesn't like toys much the only recourse is a time out (I've never tried yelping but I suspect it'd scare her). At this point she only needs a second or two to calm down and collect her head.

I also want to second Catherine's impulse control game with the treats! It works SO WELL with both of mine. Giving Cleo treats can be like feeding a piranha, so teaching her impulse control around food has been very valuable. But it's also a skill that crosses over to other aspects of their lives, and makes a big difference over time.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

lisasgirl I was busy yesterday and didn't have time to respond to one of the points you made that I thought was interesting, about really yelping because you were hurt vs. a "faked" yelp. I think our pups read us too well for faking things to work too well most of the time. I agree that yelping for most puppies makes them more excited and agitated than redirecting them to calming and constructive behaviors. I am also glad the impulse control treat game works for you. I think it is one of the best things we can put into our tool kit. I use all sorts of variations on it everyday.


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