Here’s The Scoop on … Mouthing!
Written by Pam on July 19, 2016
I am so very delighted to have heard from all our HGT’s Koko+Marcus puppy owners. There are so many accolades – I love waking up to a new one each day. Thank you!
I am so impressed with this litter – the temperament, the jolly-happy souls and the health! But with those common factors of beauty and health, there has also been a common factor of mouthing. Mouthing is when the pup seems to take a little nibble on a finger/hand/or toe! This is common in all breeds of pups, but a behavior that needs to be corrected now that they are young. I wanted to spend a few minutes this morning talking about mouthing and some of our suggestions in curbing this unwanted behavior.
Below is a link that you can read, in you spare time, regarding mouthing.
http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/dog-care/common-dog-behavior-issues/mouthing-nipping-and-play-biti
Below are some things that we do here at HGT to help the pup understand what it is doing, that this behavior is not a good behavior and how to curtail the behavior.
1)When the pup mouths, you need to immediately use a high pitch yelp – like that of his litter mates – and he should immediately stop what he is doing. Once he does stop – start with lots of praise…
2) If he continues to mouth, you need to find a SAFE chew toy – that possibly has been frozen and place the toy immediately into his mouth – and again praise.
3) The last thing that I would recommend is a taste deterrent – like that of bitter apple spray – NOT TO BE SPRAYED ON THE PUP or IN HIS MOUTH, but possibly spray a small amount on a finger or on a piece of clothing (read the ingredients as I am not sure it can be sprayed on the skin) but this will do the trick as the pups do not like the bitter apple and will associate the skin/finger/hand with the bitter taste and will not (or should not) mouth too much after this.
The pup is teething and trying to figure out its environment – so by taste and texture, he figures things out.
I am so very impressed with the pups from this litter – all our HGT families are doing a fabulous job in their training. Always feel free to contact us here at HomeGrown Trilogy should you have any questions. Please visit the pictures of all our HGT labrador pups from this litter and others under the Adult Laborador/Brag Shots portion of our website. Stunning! Cheers, Pam