# Mouthing hands and clothing



## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

I thought Maizie would outgrow this behavior, but she is almost 11 months old and it persists, so I was wondering if you have some pointers for me. She does it to my dad every time she greets him, as well as to strangers she finds very exciting. If I have treats with me, I can redirect her. She doesn't listen to "No!" which my dad yells at her--it just gets her more wound up. He refuses to support me in training her, so I'm guessing I'll have to supervise every interaction they have. Do I just keep her on a leash and redirect her to sit? Or is there something else I'm missing that would be easier?


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## glorybeecosta (Nov 11, 2014)

Cayenne still does it when she wants to play not rough but very gentle, my fault. When I say ouch (not really hurting) she immediately starts licking where she was mouthing


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

My tips would be these: Tell your Dad and anyone to not shout "no" at the dog. It does no good as you're seeing. It is attention. The reason she's mouthing is because it's been reinforcing to her. She has had a history of being attended to, played with, spoken to, whether harshly or mildly. It's all attention and this is reinforcing. I would recommend stopping ALL attention when she does this. You can try pretending like it hurts, whether it's your skin, clothes, hair, shoe laces...it's all the same, squeal "Ouch!" And immediately walk away. Say no more, do not look at her, do not react at all. Everyone must do the same and it must be consistent because if it isn't, you're putting the behavior onto a variable reinforcement schedule which strengthens the behavior. It must happen each and every time and immediately. Give her 30 seconds of ignoring and try playing or paying attention to her again and as long as she doesn't do this mouthing, reinforce her! Lots of love, attention, play, food...whatever she loves. The instant she mouths in a way you don't like, repeat what I described. 

With puppies, it's nice to teach them bite inhibition...to learn that mouthing gently is okay as opposed to shark attacks. They learn how to regulate the pressure of their bite. But if you don't want this continued slobbering, mouthing on you or your clothing (hair or anything) then you need to remove the good thing that comes of it...and that is your attention, including, "NO!" lol.

The hard part is training the human visitors. If you're consistent, teaching Maizie will be a cinch.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

zooeysmom said:


> I thought Maizie would outgrow this behavior, but she is almost 11 months old and it persists, so I was wondering if you have some pointers for me. She does it to my dad every time she greets him, as well as to strangers she finds very exciting. If I have treats with me, I can redirect her. She doesn't listen to "No!" which my dad yells at her--it just gets her more wound up. He refuses to support me in training her, so I'm guessing I'll have to supervise every interaction they have. Do I just keep her on a leash and redirect her to sit? Or is there something else I'm missing that would be easier?


Ummm.....it's pretty much a poodley trademark, ha! Some worse than others but mine usually persist with the hand, butt, thigh...grabbing well into adulthood!


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Retrievers tend to be extra mouthy. My Lab was too. And of course, Poodles are retrievers. But it is quite easily remedied. You can also show her a suitable chew toy to mouth instead...show her that on humans it is not reinforcing but on toys it is.


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## lisasgirl (May 27, 2010)

If visitors won't comply with your training, then I think you'll just need to be willing to intervene.

But for what it's worth, the thing that finally extinguished this behavior for Archie (who came home at 10 months and mouthed EVERYTHING) was teaching him incompatible behaviors to do instead. The real winner is "Where's your toy?" but asking him to sit or spin or do some other command that doesn't allow mouthing can get him to put his head on straight too. Yelping, shouting, etc. all made it worse, and he's too persistent for ignoring alone. What worked was a very calm, almost bored-sounding "Nope," then saying "Where's your toy?" and playing tug with him instead. Basically it taught him something he could do to release the same excited impulses. Now if he starts to mouth and I say "Nope" or "No" in that same 'you know better' tone, he immediately stops and runs off to find a toy he can bring me.

Of course, the toy method only works if visitors are willing to participate in the game. But I find that most people will, because what they like about the mouthing is that it shows enthusiasm, and playing with a toy lets the visitor participate in that in a safer way too. So some visitors who wouldn't be willing to turn away or end the game or ask for a sit or whatever, are still up for playing tug or fetch as an alternative.


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## zooeysmom (Jan 3, 2014)

Thanks, guys. I know that yelling no is positive reinforcement. I have told him a million times, but he is more stubborn than Maizie. I do also like the idea of redirection with a toy. And I do need this to stop if I want to do therapy work with her


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

Well, yelling "no" is only positive reinforcement if it's inferred by her to be someone simply talking to her or attending to her, it's only attention and rewarding up to a point. If it's scary enough to make a dog cringe, it's punishing. But in order for punishment to be effective, it has to be pretty darn severe, enough to make it stop for good (and you don't want to shut down your dog)... and it has to happen every single time without exception. It has to be timed just right. So, alternative ways to train are, imo, infinitely better. Showing her another thing to chew on or mouth keeps her mouth busy so she can't mouth on humans at the same time. That's what Lisa is referring to as an "incompatible behavior" (she can't do one thing while doing the other thing) and that concept can be used in all kinds of situations. Additionally, ignoring her, keeping hands or likely chewable body parts out of reach...so that mouthing on humans gives no pay off whatsoever but coming for a pat or a little play with a tug toy without mouthing on the human will work just fine to give her what she wants. Consistency is really important and everyone who interacts with her must do the same. She can learn. I've had no problem with my Poodles. I, in fact encourage it with the one who likes to play that way because his mouth is small and dry. He's terribly gentle. He also has an off switch for that. That's Matisse. Maurice doesn't really play that way. 

Well, let us know how things go.


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