Help, I'm new to this site but hoping some of you out there can help!!!!
We have a beautiful chocolate labrador bitch who is now 14 months old. She has always been headstrong, not afraid of anything.
She has always had a tendancy to mouth both me and my boyfriend but she is still doing it although gone are the puppy needle teeth. If we say NO loudly or yelp loudly she still thinks its a game and carries on even more. Either that or she butt tucks around the living room until she's out of puff. She also bears her teeth although her tail wags, she dosn't bite hard but she just always seems to want your hand in her mouth at certain times of the night, usually after she has been fed, although not always.
I have tried trading in my hand for a toy or a biscuit but she soon becomes board and wants human flesh.
We have been told that we should ignore her for a week because she thinks she pack leader, has anybody got advice about this, dont' think I could ignore her, it would kill me.
Can anyone help, I know she should have grown out of this by now.

Hi

Sorry can't be of any help but know what you mean I have a 7 month old lab male pup which does exactly the same although not headstrong he's quite nervous and afraid of most things. Will keep checking see if you get any other replies which in turn may help me.

Regards
Carole

Hi Carole - I know how your poor hands must be feeling, even though our lab is still play biting she is getting gentler (slightly!!), feel better knowing that she will grow out of it (touch wood)

Hi

Don't worry about the teeth baring when the tail's wagging....a friend of mine, a retired vet...breeds working labs occasionally, and my daughter bought a puppy for her boyfriend's family from him. When we visited a few months later, I was alarmed to see a litter sister of the pup, which the vet friend had kept, seeming to bare her teeth, but wag her tail.......He said not to worry...the mother bitch did it too, and they were grinning!!! Sure enough, mum came in, and gave us a big grin!! I had never seen it before, but he had had a few labs, he said, over the years, who did that.....all from the same old breeding line.

I think John on this board, is a lab man, and I'm sure he knows more about labs than me, so perhaps he's come across this?

Sami

Hi Sami - She is cheaky enough to be smiling while playing with our poor hands, thanks for your reply.

Hi,

Your puppy sounds lovely, but a bit cheeky....like our new addition.

Don't forget labradors are a mouth orientated breed, but are usually fairly soft mouthed, so they won't usually bite or grab hard. She is still young at 14 months, but I would start to show her this is not really acceptable behaviour.

One way to do this if you think she might start mouthing, ie. when you come home or in the morning, be ready with a toy to put in her mouth. Praise her while she has the toy, play with her with the toy, but if she trys to put her mouth on you, firmly say NO....don't shout, and walk away to behind a closed door and ignore her for about 10 seconds.

Then you can return and try again, this way she will learn that playing with a toy gets more attention, but playing with your skin doesn't. :D

Be patient, some dogs are more mouthy than others, one of our beardies (who is a very mouthy bitch) used to pinch when she was excited and that lasted until she was possibly about 18 months, we slowly worked with her and she learned that this wasn't acceptable. She doesn't do it to us anymore, but will with other dogs and when she is excited, other people as well, but beardies are cattle dogs and have a tendancy to nip and pinch.

Have fun with your pup.

manda
X

Thanks Manda for your reply - makes me feel better knowing that she should grow out of it (fingers crossed). I'll keep you all posted

Hi Lesley

My 19 month old Lab Moose was not and is not now a mouthing girl and so wasn't a problem but MB our 7 month old is a different kettle of Lab ! :)

She loves to mouth bite and so we are at the moment doing a lot of discouragement with her when she does it ! A firm NO and then sit so she has our attention seems to be working well ! We always make sure she has lots of chewy toys which include a dyson funnel tool, Moose's collar when she gets it off and her favourite a calcium bone ( bought from Countrywide ) which she adores and will happily play with for hours !

You I think have just got to be firm with her and you will see the rewards ! :)

Lucy

Hi Lucy -thanks for your advice.
We have tried all number of things to stop her but she just seems to get great pleasure out of playing the hand in the mouth game. I am hoping from the advice i've been given that she will grow out of it, she is getting slightly better, now I say no and have to get up and move out of the room and ignore her for a bit so she gets the message, although sometimes I sit back down and we start all over again.
She is so headstrong that being firm almost makes her rebel and do it even more, she is a great character though and we will persevere with her until we get it right.

Lesley

Let us know how you get on !

Lucy :)