# Year old standard poodle still constantly mouthing



## momof5sobusy (Sep 3, 2009)

Sunny will be a year old in 14 days. He is still very hyper and constantly mouths everyone and chews his nylabones non-stop! I have tried everything from yelping to bitter apple and even closing his mouth with a firm no. He stops for a minute and as soon as you get up to walk he is there mouthing and nipping your hands. :ahhhhh: He doesn't bite hard just annoying with the constant light chewing. We wanted him to be a therapy dog but he hasn't settled down much. In fact he was more laid back as a younger puppy at 4 months old... How do we settle him down? He is very smart. He knows leave it, stay, sit, shake, down... you get the drift. lol I just feel I may loose the battle of training him for a therapy dog. :afraid: Especially if he continues to be so pushy with new people he meets. He tends to overwhelm them with his love. Thanks


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## fjm (Jun 4, 2010)

At 12 months he is still a puppy. And an adolescent, too! Would you expect a 13 year old child to be ready to work at therapy? Give him some time, and some space, and some forgiveness - another few months and he will have finished teething, and by the time he is two, with your kind and loving guidance, he will have learned that humans prefer greetings from calm, seated dogs. Meanwhile, you will have learned that clickers and chicken are wonderful tools for training dogs ...!


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## Clicker (Apr 28, 2012)

Thanks for starting this Thread! I am also having the same problem with Bailey whom is almost 17 months. I think I'm doing everything that your supposed to do when they mouth but still having no luck! Hopefully someone can help both of us!


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## momof5sobusy (Sep 3, 2009)

I sure am hoping your right!! I was hoping to enroll him in a few months to start training for a therapy dog... now I wonder if I should wait a little longer.


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## PoodlePowerBC (Feb 25, 2011)

My last Spoo was 13 months when he was approved as a St John's Therapy dog. He was the youngest dog the assessor had ever heard of passing. Out of 9 dogs only 3 passed the testing. The others were 6 and 9 years old. A 3 year old Shih-Tzu was close, but she freaked at the loud noises and a 4 year old terrier tried to bite some of the volunteers. The boy I have now is 16 months old, and I think he'ld be OK, but he's not as calm as my last spoo. I'm sure your boy will do great ... he's a poodle! He may just need to mature a bit


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

Haha, my mpoo was accepted as a therapy dog at ... 14 weeks I think. Maybe younger. Have to wait for him to grow up before we can test for TDI though. He's been working in a nursing home and starts with school dog-bite prevention in a couple week.

Anyhow, I think you dog has learned that mouthing gets a reaction. Your dog-train might find it rewarding.

I let my dog - the baby therapy dog - mouth It's on cue. I give him a hand and verbal cue and we play "rough", mouthing allowed. When we're done I give a diffent cue and he stops. One of the classic ways to untrain an unwanted behavior it to train it on cue. Maybe worth a try?


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## momof5sobusy (Sep 3, 2009)

Wow that is young. All the therapy training programs I have looked into will not even consider a dog under 1 year of age.....


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## tortoise (Feb 5, 2012)

He's a different puppy. He acts like an adult dog. He's a service dog so he's had heavy training and socializing. I believe therapy dogs are born, not trained.


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## PoodlePowerBC (Feb 25, 2011)

tortoise said:


> Haha, my mpoo was accepted as a therapy dog at ... 14 weeks I think. Maybe younger. Have to wait for him to grow up before we can test for TDI though.


SJA in Canada won't even test before a year. They have pretty intense testing. They don't want dogs freaking if an emergency happens and alarms, a medical team rushes in etc. Might be different where you are. 
The Spoo I have now has been into the hospital to see friends and relatives with me, but he is not certified to do Therapy visits.
Again, I wouldn't worry. As FJM says, he's still a puppy/teenager. And he's a Poodle :alien2:


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## momof5sobusy (Sep 3, 2009)

Thanks poodlepower, I took him out to the bus stop with my kids and he had about 9 or 10 kids surrounded him and start petting and loving him. He did awesome! He sat and laid the whole time, and occasionally licked. lol I think he behaves better outside the home than in the home. I really want to master keeping him calm around other dogs. He sees another dog and he gives me fits wanting to play. He doesn't have an aggressive bone in his 55lb body, but he always wants to play. lol I also checked here in the US and I couldn't find anyone to test under a year... I can do CGC and regular training so I think we will do that. I need to work on his stay in public and with distractions!!!! I feel much better today about his personality. If he never becomes a therapy dog for others well, he'll always be the best therapy I have ever had ;^)


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## Leooonie (May 30, 2009)

I definately suggest stopping the yelping if you still use that. It really only works with very young puppies in the first couple of weeks you have them.. as thats when naturally they learn bite inhibition in a litter.

If it is only gentle it may be slightly easier to stop than a consistent hard biter. I would not put anything on your hands. This does tend to entice dogs to be curious if they havent tasted it before on something and know it isnt permanently there..

I suggest, everytime he mouths anyone you either remove yourself (or your fmaily removes themselves) or if he mouths anyone else, he himself is removed after a firm "no". This is a Negative Punishment.. meaning something good is taken away to decrease the frequency of a behaviour. so in this case, the social interactions between humans and him which is what orginally would have made the behaviour more enticing are in effect 'taken away' so that the beahviour that caused the punishment will become less frequent.

It may take a few days or weeks, but eventually you will just have to say 'no' and he should stop.... and when that happens it is only a matter of time before he feels there is no point doing it at all.

It may also be that when you reintroduce him/go back to him after he has mouthed and had a 'timeout' you bring a toy he can chew.
It is great he chews the nylabones.. he is willing to chew other things.. so get him a nice wide variety and dont leave them around all the time but switch them up so he is interested and chews them rather than anything else!


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## momof5sobusy (Sep 3, 2009)

I have started telling him no and walking away when he does it. I ignore him and refuse to touch him him until he settles down. I then make him sit nicely and relax if he wants to be petted. I am also making the children do the same, no love unless he's calm. It's working slowly but I do believe he is learning that that particular behavior gets him ignored or into time out until he stops. lol It's a work in progress. He was 4 months old when I got him and the whole yelp thing never worked! He just would look briefly like I had lost my mind and continue. Thank you


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