I know there are tons of threads about mouthing but I wanted your personal experience/opinion. How much is too much mouthing? I try to let him test it out cause he is a puppy but stop him when he gets too rough. However, almost anytime I pet him he immediately opens his mouth and goes for my hand. Is this normal or is he being too mouthy? I regretfully got him at 6 1/2 weeks and his litter mates were all taken away by 6 weeks, so bite inhabition is a very up hill battle. But how were your pups, were they super mouthy? Not mouthy at all? When they were mouthy what did they do?

I think, generally speaking, all puppies are mouthy until they're given reason not to be, whether that's by their litter-mates or you. Also, in my opinion, any mouthing is too much. It may not be a big deal to you, it may not hurt, and it may not even be often, but those habits tend to stick around. So unless you want a large, mouthy dog (that won't just be mouthy to you) then I'd work on curbing those habits now.

I got Pippa when she was about 7 months and she was as mouthy as any puppy I've ever spent any time around. It hurt and it took a while to break her of that.

I got Malfoy at six weeks, for the first week he was real mouthy, I would redirect his attention to something else and it worked okay for a while, when it stopped being enough I got a spray bottle of water which worked a lot better. When he was 7 weeks he still kept it up despite my redirecting and correcting him and plenty of 'OW! Malfoy no biting!' he still wanted to do it, a chew toy only held his attention for so long. Now if I swat him on the snout he generally stops. When he wants to be a jerk and keep it up a little more (which is rare now) he gets a time out in the bathroom, lights out and door shut for one minute. He comes out docile as a lamb. When I swat his nose now he starts grumbling at me, stops, buries his head under my side or whatever and licks where he bit.

Any bit of being mouthy is too much. I had Malfoy out with me and a lady asked if she could pet him, I let her. She then wanted her baby (1 or 2 years old) to 'pet the soft puppy'. I had already told her when I saw him trying to gnaw at her hands to correct him and not to let him, she assured me that she had dogs and it was fine. But the second Malfoy wanted to do it to the baby, it was no longer cool. I highly recommend breaking the habit as soon as possible.

I cannot suggest swatting any dog or puppy on the muzzle; it can create, in the long run, a dog that is head shy. Dogs cannot reason like humans do. Redirect to a toy, or try some of the methods in the puppy biting sticky. Mouthing is a sign of affection in dogs, I think it was Megan that said that her Cato used to fall asleep with her hand in his mouth. I taught kale to have soft mouth, while teaching how hard was too hard. It's very rare when we play that he bites down too hard, and I don't even have to say anything, he immediately knows, stops play himself and sits down.

Im having problems with koda being mouthy too.. Ive tried alot of suggestions.. I havt tried te water bottle yet.. Question though.. Does the mouthyness just stop one day? Or does it gradually get better? And if something isnt working do you just keeep doing it if it isnt getting better at all? I made sure i didnt take koda from the breeder until he was 8 weeks for this reason.. Howeer there was only 1 sibling left with him the rest went to their homes.. He is 3 months now..

How long have you tried one technique? It can take a while for them to really catch on I think. I'd keep trying one technique for a while before I decided it wasn't working. It won't just stop one day, it's a gradual process. I've had Pippa for a little over 6 months, she's about a year old, and while it's definitely improved, there are still days where she seems to forget.

I always do the when im playing if i feel teeth i say no bite and stop playing with him.. But then he comes to me and keeps biting.. Then ill find a way to isolate myself and he will go and chew on something he isnt suppose to and then i have to distract him from that with a toy or something

At this young age, just replacing your hand with a toy should be sufficient. Dogs don't instinctively know what's okay to chew on and what's not. You have to teach them what's ok and what is theirs. When they start to get adult teeth is usually when I start with my preferred methods of teaching "no bite" or a soft mouth.

I was wondering the same thing (is my puppy TOO mouthy?), especially because this is my first dog! Well, Juneau seems quite mouthy compared to my friend's pitbull puppy who is the same age (2 days older). I was not surprised, not only because of his breeds (50% husky, 25% malamute, 25% "other"), but he was separated from his litter at 5.5 weeks, and I read that could lead to more mouthiness. The water spray bottle trick worked for a day, but then he just kept his mouth open to enjoy the cool mist. Redirection works very well, but I don't always have a toy in hand, especially when we are out and about. Thankfully, he is less mouthy with strangers, especially very young children. He usually gives new friends a few "test" licks, and if the person seems cool with those, he upgrades to a little mouthiness on their hand or sleeve. I don't think saying "no"/ "no bite", tapping his nose, or closing his mouth do much, but I try anyhow.

He is now 5.5 months and has improved. Also, the more I wear him out with exercise, the better behaved he is

Are you misting him or spraying him with a streamlined shot of water? The idea is to surprise them with it. Just wanted to check since you mentioned the "cool mist" in your post.

Jenny_and_Juneau wrote:

I was wondering the same thing (is my puppy TOO mouthy?), especially because this is my first dog! Well, Juneau seems quite mouthy compared to my friend's pitbull puppy who is the same age (2 days older). I was not surprised, not only because of his breeds (50% husky, 25% malamute, 25% "other"), but he was separated from his litter at 5.5 weeks, and I read that could lead to more mouthiness. The water spray bottle trick worked for a day, but then he just kept his mouth open to enjoy the cool mist. Redirection works very well, but I don't always have a toy in hand, especially when we are out and about. Thankfully, he is less mouthy with strangers, especially very young children. He usually gives new friends a few "test" licks, and if the person seems cool with those, he upgrades to a little mouthiness on their hand or sleeve. I don't think saying "no"/ "no bite", tapping his nose, or closing his mouth do much, but I try anyhow.

He is now 5.5 months and has improved. Also, the more I wear him out with exercise, the better behaved he is

Omg! You gotta make a scrapbook of your pup your avatar pic is amazing! More pix!!!

When Molly was a puppy she was also really mouthy, but with time she learn. She stop been mouthy when she was around 10 months. You just need to have some patients and be consistent at letting he/her know every time he/she bite you that is not a good thing to do.

Now Molly only bite softly when I'm playing with her.

Ok, so do you think it is bad to let a puppy be mouthy if they do it very gently? I am guilty of letting Journey mouth my hands but she is so gentle, doesn't bite down at all. It's almost like she is trying to clean my hands kind of like a cat does. I swear, she does it soft enough she could be a bird dog... ha ha..

If she is able to truly learn proper inhibition with you then that is great.  I found that giving them proper times to mouth really builds respect, trust, and bonding, although it is not always allowed.  

The real problem is the risk of them mouthing, even if gently with good inhibition, other people who might perceive it as "biting" and then they freak out because your dog is out of control.  

Most people can not distinguish teeth-on-skin in the mouthing, social sense from "biting."

This is one of the primary reasons why I try to limit the mouthing to a very specific context when I am down on all 4s and engaging him to mouth and play rough. I've had friends over who want to play and they drop down on all 4s and then I warn them that that is a green light for him to play rough and mouth.

We got Deacon at six weeks, and he was very mouthy. He is now a little over 4 months and we have got him down to minimal mouthing. I didn't like any mouthing, and neither did my wife. Additionally, we didn't want him to do it in certain situations with us, and then be around someone else who did not know that it was innocent play, and think he was being aggressive. We tried a number of different things to get him to stop (i.e. spray bottle, loud yelp, redirection). What worked the best for us is if he put his teeth or mouth on our hand, or part of our body, we would firmly say "no bite!" and ignore him completely. Now he rarely does it, and will stop right away if we say no bite. The spray bottle did nothing for us. He would get sprayed and then just try to bite at the water.