# Mercy's Mouthing getting out of hand!



## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

My 10 week old Mercy has been mouthing us and I have applied everything that I know and have learned from my previous dog experience. I was really hoping not to have to make this public, but Mercy is disrespecting our authority and being disobedient. She is mouthing us constantly including our 2 year old, making him cry. I firmly tell her no mouth! I grab her by the back of the neck applying pressure like the alpha wolf asserting himself and pressing her down on the floor to show her who's in charge. I've also tried giving her toys to chew on instead, but she ignores the toys for the time being and continues to mouth. I am so embarassed about this! I might try ignoring her more often, but I am concerned she will continue to mouth. My previous dog had this problem, but he was a lot more energetic than Mercy. There must be a way to nip this in the bud while she is still young. I could not take her on a walk this evening because a thunderstorm struck. 

I am attending a puppy class right now, but due to our schedules, will not be able to attend again until May 12th. For one thing, my husband and I are going on our anniversary trip the first week of May. I am planning on taking Mercy to STAR Puppy starting on May 24th. We might need additional dog training between now and then. I plan on taking Mercy to basic obedience prior to her finishing STAR Puppy, but I think she should start sooner. I am working on obedience commands (sit, heel, down, come and stay) at home, homeschooling her in obedience if you will in the meantime. My last dog was mouthing me nonstop at 11 weeks, and it's looking the like the same thing is happening here. :uhoh: My goal is for Mercy to be a therapy dog, but it looks like I got my work cut out for me. I started taking Coal to basic obedience at 11 weeks. But depite that, Coal was not ready for therapy work until he was 6 years old! He was a much more difficult dog. I want Mercy to be ready for therapy work way before age 6. With history appearing to repeat itself, what is it that I am doing that needs to change?:doh: Any tips would be helpful.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

MercyMom said:


> My 10 week old Mercy has been mouthing us and I have applied everything that I know and have learned from my previous dog experience. I was really hoping not to have to make this public, but Mercy is disrespecting our authority and being disobedient. She is mouthing us constantly including our 2 year old, making him cry. *I firmly tell her no mouth! I grab her by the back of the neck applying pressure like the alpha wolf asserting himself and pressing her down on the floor to show her who's in charge.* I am so embarassed about this! I might try ignoring her more often, but I am concerned she will continue to mouth. My previous dog had this problem, but he was a lot more energetic than Mercy. There must be a way to nip this in the bud while she is still young. I am attending a puppy class right now, but due to our schedules, will not be able to attend again until May 12th. For one thing, my husband and I are going on our anniversary trip the first week of May. I am planning on taking Mercy to STAR Puppy starting on May 24th. We might need additional dog training betwee now and then. I plan on taking Mercy to basic obedience prior to his finishing STAR Puppy, but I think she should start sooner. My last dog was mouthing me nonstop at 11 weeks, and it's looking the like the same thing is happening here. :uhoh: My goal is for Mercy to be a therapy dog, but it looks like I got my work cut out for me. I started taking Coal to basic obedience at 11 weeks. With history appearing to repeat itself, what is it that I am doing that needs to change?:doh: Any tips would be helpful.


What you are doing is making the problem worse. She is a baby and mouthing/biting/chewing is what babies do. Provide plenty of exercise, toys, time outs and NEVER leave your young child alone with the puppy.


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## SheetsSM (Jan 17, 2008)

One, cut out the "alpha wolf" actions on her, you're only setting her up to fear you. She's not being disobedient or disrespectful, she's a 10 wk old puppy a BABY--in order for to be either of those she'd have to know what's appropriate and that's too much to expect for her age. Please use the search function and read up a bit more--there are plenty of tips in the puppy section for working with mouthy pups.


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

Maybe it cheers you up to know that when Tess and I started puppy class, Tess was 12 weeks old. I was covered up to my elbows with scratches, because she was one mouthy puppy! She had her CGC before she was 1 year and her delta certificate for therapy dog when she was 1 1/2. She now goes to three hospitals with me, in one we visit the pediatric ward. Our youngest patient yesterday was 10 days old and was having a great time being nuzzled by her....
What I want to say is, that all puppies are mouthy. Don't think that Mercy will not do great, give her time. Don't alpha dog her, by pushing her down and grabbing her by the neck. You want her to trust you, to love you. And: a lot of patients I encounter, especially the elderly, love hugging a big dog like a golden. If you make the neck an uncomfortable place, you end up by making her afraid or shying away. And that is what you don't want with a therapy dog!


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## Stef_Walsh (Sep 3, 2011)

Ace was really bad for it as well. I tried pretty much everything people on here told me to do, with varied amounts of success. I just made sure that I continued to be consistent and tried to be as calm as I could, while also trying to be confident in that he would eventually 'get it,' which he did. Honestly, the thing that helped the most was time. He did grow out of the worst of it, and so will your puppy as long as you remain consistent with her.


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## toliva (Nov 24, 2011)

My opinion is that it has nothing to do with "disrespect" or "obedience." She is a baby. An infant. When your 2-year old was an infant and threw his spaghetti on the floor, was he being disrespectful or disobeying you? Of course not, he was a baby. You have to think of Mercy the same way. None of her behavior now means that she will or will not become a therapy dog. She is a _baby_. She is doing what baby puppies do.

Ok, now I will tell you what we did and it worked, but I know it is not the most popular solution.... but, like I said, it worked.

When Zeke was about that age, we started keeping a bottle of bitter apple close by. If he got one of the kids' body parts in his mouth, I sprayed a little bitter apple directly into his mouth. Immediately the biting would stop.

I have children too, and what happens is that even though you don't leave them alone w/ the puppy, puppies and children move very fast, and Mom only has 2 hands. When the kids start the squealing, crying, and running because puppy bit them, the situation escalates. So we managed it with the bitter apple. It was not cruel or mean, or punishment. Basically he associated biting them with a terrible taste in his mouth. Of course he got a treat when he released the body part.

I didn't use the BA when he bit me, because I could manage it with treats & redirecting, and teaching that we don't bite people. But with the kids, I really had no choice but to stop it immediately, and I would do the same again. 

At 5 months he has a VERY soft bite when he does bite by accident. He does sometimes get too excited and nip but this is just excited play and we manage it. However, he NEVER nips at the kids anymore.

We did (and still do sometimes) "submission" exercises, but in a different way than you are saying. It was never when he was in trouble, and I would gently lay him on his side (tempting w/ treat), and teach him the Settle command. I taught him this so I could look in his ears, teeth, nails, etc., whenever I need to. But it did also have the side effect of calming him down, so sometimes I'd do it when he was getting nutty.

And, be sure to do lots and lots of playtime & exercise!


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

Penny's Mom said:


> What you are doing is making the problem worse. She is a baby and mouthing/biting/chewing is what babies do. Provide plenty of exercise, toys, time outs and NEVER leave your young child alone with the puppy.


We crate her when she does get out of hand. I forgot to mention earlier that I was unable to take her for a walk this evening because a thunderstorm struck. :yuck: I just edited my earlier post to reflect this. She has the entire toy section of the pet store (Exaggerating a but, you get my drift) I pray the weather improves so that I can take her on a good long walk tomorrow. I plan on going on tons of hikes with her this spring and summer. We supervise Mercy and our son closely, but she is as fast as a whip. If I turn my head for a second, there she is bothering our son again.


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

toliva said:


> My opinion is that it has nothing to do with "disrespect" or "obedience." She is a baby. An infant. When your 2-year old was an infant and threw his spaghetti on the floor, was he being disrespectful or disobeying you? Of course not, he was a baby. You have to think of Mercy the same way. None of her behavior now means that she will or will not become a therapy dog. She is a _baby_. She is doing what baby puppies do.
> 
> Ok, now I will tell you what we did and it worked, but I know it is not the most popular solution.... but, like I said, it worked.
> 
> ...


OOPS! Another thing I failed to mention, is that I actually did spray bitter apple into her mouth a few times when she mouthed our son. It seems to be the most effective so far. She still goes back and does it though. I will have to stop the alpha thing. I also cannot let her rule as queen though. I will continue on being consistent and patient with her like I've planned to be all along.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Please throw out the whole dominate, scruffing, alpha CRAP. Stop that you, are only teaching her to fear you. This has nothing to do with disrespect or disobedience, she is a baby, she has no concept of those ideas so she certainly is not being disrepectful or disobedient.

She is not doing anything wrong so don't punish her for it, it is completely totally normal for a puppy to use their mouth on everything in their environment, it is exactly what they are supposed to do as a baby puppy. 

Of course you don't want her to use her mouth on skin or clothing, but you have to TEACH her not to do that, not scare her and punish her for it. Actually put a toy in her mouth and encourage her to play with it, praise her when she plays with the toy. Use the bitter apple spray on skin so if she mouths she won't like the taste.

But please don't "grab her by the back of the neck applying pressure like the alpha wolf asserting himself and pressing her down on the floor to show her who's in charge" any more. It's an OLD OLD OLD method that has been proven wrong and counter productive, and it's cruel.

Teaching her not to mouth will just take time. 10 weeks is just a baby. I think you need to at least have a consultation with a puppy trainer now to give you methods to use until you can get into training classes.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

MercyMom said:


> OOPS! Another thing I failed to mention, is that I actually did spray bitter apple into her mouth a few times when she mouthed our son. It seems to be the most effective so far. She still goes back and does it though. I will have to stop the alpha thing. I also *cannot let her* *rule as queen though*. I will continue on being consistent and patient with her like I've planned to be all along.


 
Please let this thought go! As long as you are thinking she is trying to 'rule as queen', at 10 weeks that has not even crossed her mind and never will, but that is what you are going to 'see' and how you will treat her. She is not an 'enemy' to be dethroned- she can be your most loyal, lovable and trustworthy friend if that is what you want her to be.
It is my understanding that you wish for Mercy to become a therapy dog. In order for her to do that she needs to be able to TRUST that she is always safe with you no matter what -that no harm will come to her, she will have no reason for fear so that she can extend that trust to others as well. There is a lot to be said about proper positive socialization of puppies so that they learn to accept and trust other people - that socialization begins at home, if they can not trust their owner,their family - how are they ever going to trust a stranger? To help her do that she needs a kind, calm and fair leader without the fear and intimidation, to help build her confidence, trust and nurture her love for people.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Please, stop thinking in dominance terms, she is not trying to rule anything, do you think your 2 year old child is trying to rule you? It's the same concept. Mercy is a baby. 

Really, please try to stop thinking in terms of ruling, dominating, alpha, none of it applies to a 10 week old puppy, or any dog for that matter.


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## wmag (Mar 17, 2011)

Kasey was terrible with my 3yr old daughter. I found taking my daughter and putting her into another room where Kasey couldn't follow worked best for us. When she started going after my daughter I would grab a toy put it in her mouth tell her no bite and pick my daughter up and move her into another room. Morning was the worst. I have a gate blocking off the bedrooms so when my daugher got up and Kasey went crazy I just kept picking up my daughter putting her over the gate and had her walk into her room for a minute. It drove my daughter crazy but at least she wasn't getting bit and crying. Kasey finally understood that if she bit my daughter was leaving. It took until she was about 4 or 5 months to stop biting and atttacking my daughter. Kasey is great with my daughter now! She never bites or jumps on her. My daughter can run around and Kasey runs right next to her. My daughter also lays on the floor all the time and Kasey lays next to her but if my 13yr old daughter tries it Kasey jumps all over her. I keep telling my 13yr old to do the same thing but she does not want to listen! My husband did try the pinning her down thing but all it did was make me and Kasey ticked off! She would come back fighting and was so much worse! I finally got my husband to walk away and ignore her and what a difference that made!


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## toliva (Nov 24, 2011)

You have gotten good advice. Between now and your puppy class, I would try to focus on establishing trust with Mercy, and try very hard to forget the "rule as queen" theory. 

You can work on training tricks with her even at such a young age. Go on youtube and find some puppy training videos - I love kikopup. There are lots of fun things you can do that will tire out her mind and at the same time build a trusting relationship with her.

WMAG - mornings were the worst for us too! We went thru a phase where as soon as the kids came down in the AM, Zeke was biting, humping - acting totally crazy. It was really aggravating. I posted here when I was really struggling with it. We dealt with it and now at 5 months he is pleasant and fun in the mornings. Now in the mornings he runs to each bedroom and greets each kiddo with calm happiness. He usually steals a stuffed animal or sock, but not to chew on - he likes to come bearing gifts. It's adorable.

Mercymom, things will get better . Mercy is just being a puppy, but she knows you are the Mom. Just work on building that trust, forgetting the domination stuff, and you will have a calm, sweet pup in no time at all.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

I wanted to suggest watching radar for the weather and storms. With 2 babies to get outside, timing can be everything. ALL babies are 'better' when they have had a chance to play outside!

It will get better!


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## my4goldens (Jan 21, 2009)

It does get better. Be patient and consistent with her, but stop the alpha pinning stuff. It isn't working and could backfire. My puppy, Tugg was a terrible nipper/mouther. To be honest, I don't know what I did that really helped him get over it, but it seemed around his 14th or 15th week, one morning I looked at my husband and said, we haven't been nipped in that last few days !!! And since then, in the mouthy respect, hes been wonderful. My son and daughter in law have a puppy around Tugg's age, they also have a 6 year and a 2 year old, I babysit a couple times a week for them, and their puppy was constantly nipping at the kids too. When I was there yesterday, I noticed that Wrigley really had improved in that respect too. Just give Mercy some time, I think you are expecting way too much from her at her young age.


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

Hello my friends! The last thing I want to be is cruel with my pup. I want to have grace and mercy upon my Mercy. I don't really think she's being a rebel, but I wish to teach her manners so she doesn't mouth people when she's full grown! I am still working with her with as much patience as needed. I know she is a baby, and have planned to treat her as such and still will. I could be esteeming her as disobedient because I am seeing my previous dog in her, where I shouldn't. I always want and strive to learn how to be a better owner towards my dogs. I desire to teach Mercy right from wrong using the proper training methods. She will always be my *baby princess girl*.:smooch: I tried giving her ice today, because I was told that that helps. I didn't get around to it until today. She really loves it! Is there is dog toy that you can freeze that will entertain her for hours?


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## laprincessa (Mar 24, 2008)

MercyMom said:


> Hello my friends! The last thing I want to be is cruel with my pup. I want to have grace and mercy upon my Mercy. I don't really think she's being a rebel, but I wish to teach her manners so she doesn't mouth people when she's full grown! I am still working with her with as much patience as needed. I know she is a baby, and have planned to treat her as such and still will. I tried giving her ice today, because I was told that that helps. I didn't get around to it until today. She really loves it! Is there is dog toy that you can freeze that will entertain her for hours?


It's not really a toy, but I had something called a Chilly Bone (may be spelled differently) for Max for teething - basically a bone shaped thing made of canvas that you got wet and froze. He was never enthusiastic about it, but Mercy might be. I got it at Petsmart for like ten bucks, maybe?


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

laprincessa said:


> It's not really a toy, but I had something called a Chilly Bone (may be spelled differently) for Max for teething - basically a bone shaped thing made of canvas that you got wet and froze. He was never enthusiastic about it, but Mercy might be. I got it at Petsmart for like ten bucks, maybe?


Oh yeah! I've seen those! Thank you.


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

you can put filling in a Kong and freeze it. loads of possibilities!


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## jzedalis (May 10, 2012)

We have the same issue!! We are just replacing body parts with toys! Hopefully it will work!!!


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