[poohlp]

Well, it took him about a month to come out of his shell. But now that he has, Hansel is a really loving sweet dog. Only problem is he likes to play with his mouth. He tries to catch my hand, eat my foot and hold on to my arm. He's not "biting" but he is extremely mouthy and any reprimand he takes as an invitation for more excited play. If I say no and pull my hands away (as in "we're not doing this anymore") he jumps up on top of me to get to them (I guess he thinks we're playing keep away. Last night he was in such an excited mood that I literally had to throw him off me. Like I said, he isn't biting and he is very gentle, but I do fear, especially with him being a Chow that someone might interpret this behavior the wrong way.

So, what is the best way to teach an adult dog that playing with your mouth is not acceptable and that hands are not great toys for playing keep away and how can I direct him into more acceptable forms of play? (I don't think he has ever really been "played" with appropriately before.)

And yes, he is fixed...we did that last Monday.

Thanks for the advice. I've never had a dog where this was an issue before.

[LittleMoonRabbit]

Mouthing is very common puppy behavior. Like human children, they experience much of the world through their mouths. Plus... they don't have hands!

When your dog puts his mouth on you, "yelp" like a dog and get up and ignore him for a couple minutes. This is similar to how a littermate would act if your pup was mouthing him to hard. It can take quite a while for the mouthing to stop, but it will eventually when you are consistent. You can also try to encourage other more appropriate chew toys like kongs and loofas or whatever else your dog might enjoy. Good luck!

[poohlp]

Ok. I will try yelping....bc "no" isn't working.

He's not a puppy but he is very puppyish. I know he doesn't mean any harm, he just hasn't been taught better.

[Kuma'sMom]

The yelping method work very well with my dog. He literally stops mouthing and jumps back as soon as I do it. I'd definitely give it a try.

[Chupa Cabras]

I know what you're talking about. I've tried yelping, pulling my hands away, getting up and turning my back, but none of these are working. Yelling "NO!" just makes it worse. I have bruises all over my hands and arms (and legs) from my dog's mouthiness.

What was suggested to me was to immediately put him on the leash and end the playing. The leash seems to snap him out of it, and we go right to a lesson, either to reinforce something he knows or to learn a new command.

That seems to work better than anything else I've tried.

Good luck!

[Chubs]

I've been going through this with Sugar. But her bites hurt. She has been getting worse the last few weeks. Almost being impossible to be around unless she was sleeping or chewing on something. She is just shy of 7 months and spayed and about 25 lbs. I've tried everything. All the usual things mentioned here. Plus we walk 1.5 miles everyday after work.I finally started swatting her on her butt, but that did nothing. Plus I felt awful swatting her everyday.
So today, I finally had to resort to putting my knee up in her chest when she jumps and nips. And thats seems to have done the trick. Now she'll just jump once and get my knee. Then she'll stop. I even tested her. I'll walk by and brush against her muzzle, and she won't jump. That would have been an invite to go nuts on me yesterday. Though she'll still go for my feet/ankles, gotta work on that. But she won't jump. Plus instead of pointing at her and saying "no !" with a pointed finger (which she would always go after) I tried clenching my hand like a fist and she stopped going after it. No, I'm not punching her, I'm just pointing at her with my fist and saying no.
I didn't want to resort to the knee thing with her, but nothing was working. My wife was even starting to talk about giving her up (That was never going to happen anyway...lol) I told her that I would miss her when me and Sugar left....lol.