We have a new puppy (dog) and we have had him for 4 weeks now, he was quite well behaved at first but now we can not seem to stop him from mouthing me.

He seems to enjoy mouthing me (amanda) and not my partner (Andy), he bites that hard that he draws blood and i am covered in scratches and bite marks, we have tried alsorts saying NO and putting him in his crate and also yelping when he bites, none of this seems to work.

Can anyone help?

From a very saw and scratched woman

thanks

Amanda & Andy

Hi, my hands used to look as if someone had tried to grate them like you would cheese with our pup who is now 10 mnths old. Your pup will grow out of it but a lot of patients are required. Don't scold your pup if you can help it. I know it hurts but that won't do any good, with my pup it made her worse and she became more aggressive towards us ( my pup is a spaniel x collie ). Try giving your pup a bone or a toy to chew on and praise pup for chewing the right things, cardboard boxes and empty plastic pop bottles (no tops) the behaviouralist who I took my pup to see told me to give her to play with. something else to focus on instead of you. I did use a spray aswell which worked (have to find the name out for you) I used to spray around my cuffs and ankles also my pup loves laces so I sprayed them too. Did the trick. Now no cuts at all on hands. Mouths a bit now and again but I can live with that.

Kind regards

Meryl

Just found spray. Its called Pet Behave Training Spray. Purply colour plastic aerosol type thing with a pink paw at the top with friends written underneath it. Not very pleasant smelling.probably thats why it works so well. Made by Sinclair Animal and Household Care Ltd. Has a picture of a cat and dog on the front.

Hope this helps.

Good luck

Hi Amanda
I was in exactly your position almost a year ago. These little needle teeth can do a lot of damage. Firstly, rest assured that when the adult teeth come through it's nowhere near as sore. The piece of advice which I found most useful in tackling the biting and mouthing was that cockers love company. Whenever your little one gets over excited and begins to bite hard just put him out of the room for a couple of minutes - no point putting him out for too long as he'll forget what he's there for but don't let him back in unless he's quiet on the other side of the door. I always accompanied this with plenty of 'NO's' but I really think that it was the separation that he disliked the most. I know that it can seem like it's never going to end (my partner was sure that we had the dog from hell :-) ) but Morgan is 14 months old now and it seems like a lifetime ago that he was tearing about the place ripping trousers and behaving like a vampire.
I hope this helps - hang in there, it is worth it!!
Shirley

P.S. Although a lot of people advise 'yelping' and some have found it to work - I found that Morgan got more excited and bit harder when I did -I think he thought it was a new game.

Cockers do crave your attention and by far the best method I've found and advocate is the seperation as mentioned above. No more than a couple of minutes and they very quickly get the message. It does soon pass - but ignoring it will not let them know that it is unacceptable behaviour and they must learn that. Also anyone that plays with him must not be allowed to encourage any type of play where the teeth come out. Throwing and catch are OK obviously - but tugging and any rough games should not be played as the puppy just becomes confused as to when teeth are OK and when they're not.

Enjoy your new puppy - Cockers are such cuties and they grow so so fast:D I wouldn;t be without mine:D

Pam n the boys

Great thanks for the tips, this web site is so good you know that your going to get some good advise that you can put in to pratice.

thanks

Amanda & Andy & Murphy

bite back. seriously.

,you don't bite puppies like that...........the biting is a symptom of the bigger problem........you may inadvertently be doing things that are saying to her that you are someone who is in the role of her peer.......you are not her peer so you must take on some behaviors that are consistent with a higher ranking indvidual......dogs inantley read body language...what is your body language saying???..hers is saying i'm the boss of you......don't be the enabler.

The effects of your medication are wearing off Gerard, dear.

I'm in the same position as you - I've had my pup 10 days and his mouthing is getting worse by the day. I'm covered with scratches too!! I tried the yelping thing but that did seem to wind him up even more so now I try and put him in another room. It's difficult sometimes when you've got an armful of washing and kids to watch too and he's nipping your ankles! I guess perseverance with whatever form of training you use is the key. I have to admit I have not been very consistent with putting Ollie in another room when he nips. But I'm going to try harder and hang on to the thought that it will get better!!!

He also goes after my laptop cables when I'm on Champdogs or ebay at night!! Had to put him out of the room about 15 times in half an hour last night. Every time he came back in he went straight for them again. Little b*gger!! On the 10th or 11th time though he did sit down and not go for them......not straight away anyway. Can't have my fix of Champdogs interrupted! :)

Hi there

I don't know if this would be of any use to you, but we've managed to virtually eliminate our Lab's mouthing of us by distracting him with a toy. We chose a squeaky soft toy and had it to hand so that when we were stroking him and he started to mouth, we said something like "No biting - where's your toy?" (First bit quite sternly, second bit very excitedly). Then we would offer the toy "Here it is! Here's your toy!!" and he would grab the toy off us and chew furiously on that whilst we stroked and praised him. Now when he mouths that's usually all we have to do and he races off to get his toy and then lies there chewing like mad whilst we stroke him. I can tell you it's preserved all our hands and arms.

Now we just have to work on the jumping up........and the eating anything he can find.........
Good luck
Cathryn

If pup is biting at you clothes - try a dab of eau de cologne, olbas oil, Vick, clove oil or something similar with a strong smell on the area - this will make it unrewarding for most pups..