Puppy Mouthing and How To Stop It

When puppies are still with their littermates, they use each other’s bodies as toys. Therefore, it is hardly surprising that they use their mouths on us—most frequently on our arms, hands, and clothes. Though this is natural dog behavior, dogs must learn to interact in ways that are appropriate in the human world. Since mouthing people is not acceptable, what can be done to stop this behavior and teach our dogs that this is unacceptable behavior?

One useful method is to startle and then redirect the puppy, which is an ethologically useful technique, because it is based on puppies’ natural behavior when interacting with littermates. When littermates play together, they use their mouths to tug or gnaw on ears, tails, paws, and loose skin anywhere. If one puppy mouths too hard, the puppy that got hurt will yelp and move away from the puppy who was too rough. The puppy who was too rough has to go find someone else to play with, but has started to learn that mouthing too hard results in playtime being interrupted.

To simulate this behavior with a puppy, if a puppy mouths too hard, simply yelp with a puppy-like sound (Aaarp! is the closest description of this sound that can be spelled), and then, when the puppy releases its mouth from the person, immediately put something that the puppy can chew into its mouth. Possible objects for redirection include bones, rawhides, Kongs®, Goodie Balls®, squeakie toys, and stuffed animals.

A common mistake when using this method is making the yelping Aaarp! sound and then failing to redirect the puppy’s mouth to something appropriate. In most cases, the sound will startle the puppy, who will stop mouthing the person, but then will go right back to the inappropriate behavior unless given another, more appropriate object to chew on.

Over 90 percent of puppies respond to this method to stop puppy mouthing if it is used consistently over several weeks, but the remaining few dogs seem to get worse in response to those high-pitched yelps and are not responsive to attempts to redirect them. If after three or so attempts with this method, it becomes apparent that the dog is responding to the yelps by getting even mouthier and more revved up, don’t keep trying it. If it doesn’t work right away, it is not going to work at a later point, and it’s time to try something else.

Some dogs respond to being startled and redirected as long as the startling sound is not a high-pitched “Aaarp!” but rather a deep-voiced sound such as “Hey!” or “Stop!” Otherwise, the technique of interrupting the behavior and then redirecting the dog’s mouth to an appropriate object is the same. If the yelp does not work, this deeper-pitched startling vocalization followed by a redirection is the very next thing to try.

There are many suggestions for stopping puppy mouthing that I would never recommended either because they are inhumane, ineffective, or both. For example, do not hold the muzzle closed, yell at the dog, jam fingers into the inside of the dog’s mouth, or swat the dog. Basically, this comes down to one piece of general advice: Don’t do anything that involves any kind of physical punishment, pain or frightening the dog.

 --Karen B. London

Comments

[calmassertiv]

I love reading articles where the author concludes by saying 'try such and such, and if it doesn't work, try something else', and then not only doesn't Suggest something else but also suggests Not to try the one thing that should have been suggested in the first place. One wonders if some people just like to read their own writing.

To stop inappropriate puppy behavior a person should not emulate a puppy's Littermate, they should emulate the puppy's Mother. Acting like a peer doesn't establish the person as the dog's leader, which is the relationship the person should be establishing in the dog's mind regarding the human being in front of them. The response of the Mother is to gently Bite the puppy. The response of the person obviously should not be a Real bite -- that would be stupid -- but it should be Physical, a measured poke or grab, and not some Audible silliness. The mother doesn't make a sound, she redirects the puppy's attention with a quick snap of her mouth. The human being needs to use just the right amount of force, not too much but also not too little, and it should be snaplike, as opposed to a steady push. This lets the puppy know in a way that cannot be ignored that its behavior is unwanted but that it is being Corrected, not Punished, and the puppy will not only stop the unwanted behavior but will develop an increased respect for the person performing it. Doing nothing but making an ignorable sound and then not following thru with a physical touch just teaches the puppy that the person is Not to be considered its leader, a lesson that once learned will lead to all kinds of other mis-behaviors.

[Randall Johnson]

Thanks for an especially useful post. I'm currently dealing with this problem with puppy my son and I adopted from a local animal rescue group in October. You offered a simple, pratical solution and now it's just a matter of having more appropriate chewing objects close at hand.