# How to teach "easy" or "gentle"?



## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

I am pretty sure that if the biting got too bad Fankie would correct the behavior.

I work with teaching easy or gentle when I hand out treats. I hold the food in my closed fist and if the dog bites for the food I say " no" pull my hand away and as I put my hand back down I say "Be gentle".


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## monarchs_joy (Aug 13, 2011)

I had hoped too that if he bit too hard that she would correct, but she isn't other than whining and turning her head away. She has cuts and teeth marks around her face from where he's biting on her. It's not an aggressive thing. He just isn't getting the hint that he's biting too hard. I think part of the problem is that she's really whiny when they play anyways (her play style). Half the time I'm confused if she's whining because they're playing or whining because he's biting too hard. I guess Finn is too? 

He responds to "no bite" for humans and immediately stops. I've tried it once or twice when he's biting her and he stops for a second but then gets right back at it. Part of the problem is that if I say "no bite" or "eh eh" for him, then she stops playing and thinks she's doing something wrong. Our Boxer is a rescue and is very skittish/sensitive. I'm not shouting or yelling. Any interaction with them is always in a normal/happy voice. I must be doing something wrong. I feel like he's dense about it and she's super sensitive. 

I like the idea with the treats, but he's already really gentle about that. He got it early and fast that teeth never touch humans. Every now and then he has a lapse in judgement (where the "no bite" comes in), but I'm not sure he would put his mouth on me so I could even teach it with a treat. Are there other ways to teach it?


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## Jige (Mar 17, 2011)

Does Frankie liek to play fetch? or Tug? 

You might try distract him when he starts getting to rough and have them both play fetch or play with a tug toy. You could use a command like "Lets play. That woud signal to both that you are ALL going to have some fun. When he gets out of control you could use " lets play" and toss one of his toys to distract him from biting Frankies face.


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## monarchs_joy (Aug 13, 2011)

She does fetch and loves to play. This would definitely work to get his focus off of the "let's bite Frankie's cheek" game. Will this teach him the bite inhibition I need/want him to learn though? Does this go away all by itself with time? This is an important lesson I want him to really "get" (e.g. adjust your bite and be gentle). He's my first puppy so I'm trying to make sure we lay really good foundation. I really appreciate all of your ideas. I'm not sure what the deal is and why he just doesn't seem to "get it" with her.


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## Goldens R Great (Aug 19, 2010)

I was having this same issue with my Finn  and Rindy a few months ago. He was really attracted to her eyes, in particular, probably because she is on eye meds. I wasn't very happy when I found bleeding cuts around her eyes one evening. I knew he was just playing and had sharp little puppy teeth, but I was really worried he was going to hurt her eyes. I started a thread asking for advice and the main advice was to redirect him, and if that didn't work I should separate them. Rindy did correct him during their bitey face playtime, but he was pretty relentless. I worked on redirecting him, tried squirting him with a water bottle when he went for her eyes, but finally decided the best solution for the time being was to end the bitey face and rough housing. A few months later they started back up again, but he was much gentler the second time around and no longer had the puppy teeth so I let them continue with it. Fortunately it's all good now. We haven't had any problems and they have a grand time playing bitey face and wearing each other out.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

If he's leaving marks, I don't think you can trust dog communication to sort this out.

I also think a soft mouth exercise would be good, though I don't say "no" with mine. I just hold the food in a closed fist with a tiny bit of the treat showing between my thumb and where my pointer finger curls. If the dog uses teeth, I pull my thumb up to hide the treat completely. If he's gentle, I open my hand more and more until he can get the treat free. With a little practice, you can react very quickly and really show the dog that teeth means the treat goes further away while gentle mouth means the treat gets looser and looser until he gets it.

As far as managing the problem directly, I'd simply separate them for a minute every time Finn starts putting his teeth to her face. You have to monitor directly for a while, but if he's always getting interrupted and kept away from her for a minute until he calms down, he should learn that the behavior takes away what he's enjoying. For semantics' sake, this is called a negative punishment technique, where you remove something the dog likes in order to reduce the frequency of an unwanted behavior.


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## hotel4dogs (Sep 29, 2008)

He is picking up on her cues....her cues are that she will allow it! So it's up to you to step in and let him know that it's simply not acceptable. I agree with Tippy, a time-out is probably the most effective way to correct him without scaring her. If he gets removed every time, he will quickly figure out that it's not something that's allowed.
Meanwhile, congrats on getting him to figure out the no human parts in the mouth so quickly! I hear this is a very mouthy litter!


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## monarchs_joy (Aug 13, 2011)

Thanks everyone for help and advice! I've really been thinking that I need to fix it, so I'm glad to have some possible solutions. 

Two questions, possibly dumb. What's the best way to separate them? Should I step in between them and body block? 

Second, if he's licking at my hand during the "gentle" exercise with the treat is that okay? Just no teeth? I tried it with him a bit earlier. He gets a tiny bit of teeth out if I have a bit of the treat hanging out between my thumb and forefinger. By the 3rd time of tucking my thumb back over the treat he just stopped dead in his tracks, sat, and gave me his "awaiting for further instruction" look. He does this when he's not understanding what I'm asking of him. I'm not doing something right


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