# Help with 10 month old still mouthing!



## Dottydog (Feb 17, 2009)

My springer spaniel is nearly 10 months old and she is still mouthing. She is especially bitey first thing in the morning and in the evening before bed. We take her out for regular exercise and spend lots of time playing with her. We say "No" every time she mouths and turn away from her to ignore her. We have also tried redirecting her biting to a toy but nothing has worked so far. Her bite is obviously less sharp now and thankfully she doesn't break the skin anymore but her jaw is strong and the biting still hurts. Also I'm worried in case she bites someone she shouldn't like a child. Any advice gratefully received.


----------



## PoisonGirl (Oct 24, 2008)

When I had my friend 8month old dog here who was mouthy, he was mouthy in the mornings too. Just from the exitement.

So I just ignored him completely until he had calmed down. It did work 

Does your dog do it when she is exited, or just in general?
If she is exited, shut her out the room until she has calmed down, then reward for being calm.

x


----------



## Dottydog (Feb 17, 2009)

PoisonGirl said:


> When I had my friend 8month old dog here who was mouthy, he was mouthy in the mornings too. Just from the exitement.
> 
> So I just ignored him completely until he had calmed down. It did work
> 
> ...


She's a springer so she's excited all the time! Yes she does mouth when she is excited and she will be less mouthy when she is calm, but that's not very often! Do you think she will just grow out of this as she gets older and hopefully more calm?


----------



## PoisonGirl (Oct 24, 2008)

Nope it' something that needs to be trained.
All (ok or most) dogs will mouth and puppy nip. And if you don;t stop them, they will continue to do it... And I've seen bruises from when a staff x was never trained not to do it- they were on my arm!  

But it is easily sorted.

Have a quick search for threads on puppy nipping, and choose a method that works best- but whatever you do, don't keep changing the way you combat it because she will get confused.

x


----------



## oldDoubletrouble (Sep 21, 2009)

Springers and cockers can both be mouthy dogs, you really need to try and ignore that behaviour, and try to channel him to other directions! I am assuming he is doing it for attention, and also assuming that him being a springer he could be pretty attached to a ball! Try and get him to FETCH the moment he starts mouthing! Make the ball more attractive then mouthing you/or whoever


----------



## dogma_girl (Sep 23, 2009)

I would suggest that instead of saying 'no' when it happens, to give a very high-pitched yelp. This mimics puppies' learning not to hurt each other in the litter. The louder and higher the better! This tells them that it's hurting you.

I think it was Ian Dunbar who wrote that puppies' teeth evolved to have that pin-point sharpness for this very reason - so they could learn about hurting others with their mouths before their jaws got strong.

Dunbar writes a lot about bite inhibition, and he's always a good read.


----------



## SEVEN_PETS (Aug 11, 2009)

My cocker mouths, but he's so gentle that we don't mind. if he puts any pressure on, we yelp and he stops.


----------

