# jumping up, biting clothes,hard mouthing with teeth help please



## kcapone

I have a 60 lb 10 month old golden, who is usually very sweet natured. Lately, however, she gets these bouts of excitement and will begin to jump up on me and my husband, bite our clothes, and mouth of hard with her teeth, she does bite / break the skin, but needs to get our arms / hands in her mouth. I have tried the "yelling ouch method", but that does not seem to work. I have tried the stern no, and putting her in a submissive lay down with the "mother claw" with my hand, but she just doesn't seem to stop when she is like that. NO rhyme or reason as to why, we exercise her plenty with walks, back yard, pool, so it is not that. I know she is only playing and does not mean to hurt us as she is not aggressive, but it beginning to scare me and I need to stop her immediately. I am pretty desperate so any advise is welcome.


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## Mirinde

Pinning her is probably making her more frustrated and is generally not the way to go (I find that any time you have to get physical with a dog, it backfires...horribly). I'm sure a lot of people can pipe up with links as to why the mother claw pin is ineffective. 

However! Man, it sucks when they do this! The best thing to do is to not respond at all, if possible. Cross your arms, turn your back and "be a tree". If that fails (and it usually takes a while for the dog to really learn that jumping and mouthing doesn't get them any attention) the recommendation I've heard most often is to keep a spray bottle in your pocket and spray them when they do this. Unfortunately, golden's have a tendency to loooove water! I know the first time I tried this, it turned into a Super Fun Game Where I Bite Mom and She Gets Me Wet. Then my trainer recommended putting vinegar in the water, because it will sting when it makes contact with their eyes and nose without doing any damage. So far, we've had great success and we've only had to use it maybe three or four times. I was uncomfortable with the thought if it stinging at first, but it works very quickly and my poor fiance kept getting mouthed in...unpleasant places...due to Iorek's current height.


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## kcapone

how much water to vinegar do you use? I will try that as just water alone will be too much fun. great suggestion


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## Mirinde

Our trainer recommended half water and half vinegar, but because I was feeling a little uncomfortable with the aspect of it stinging, we started with 2/3 water 1/3 vinegar, so far, that seems to be enough. 

(By the way, I was also worried about it making him stinky like vinegar, but for some reason it doesn't...so that's a plus)


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## mleclair

great info! thanks!


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## dberk

"Being a Tree" is what worked for me. I agree taking a more aggressive approach will often either escalate the violence - either because it provokes your dog and/or it sees it as another form of attention/affection. 

My pup (until about 1.5 years) - had bouts of excitement - during training, during walks, when people visited, etc. Seemingly out of the blue. Some of that is probably just do to still being a puppy. So, some of it may hopefully go away on it's own.


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## BriGuy

Cookie goes through phases of doing this too, and the only thing that makes them stop is to turn my back and ignore. 

The other thing I combined with this was to do some "calm down" training. The first part was to teach a "relax" command, which pretty much means stop what you are doing and lay down. This is handy when you can see the dog is getting close to the threshold. 

The second thing I worked on was to play tug and get Cookie very excited, then I would turn my back. When Cookie stopped tugging and got into a down, I would click and treat. This attempts to teach the dog that seeing my back means that playtime is over.

Good luck! 

Brian and Cookie


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## crazy daisy

sometimes it's boredom...with it's toys or chewing toys.

may I suggest soup bones???? raw and fresh from the butcher


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## Norman's Mom

Have you tried teaching the "Enough" command? My 5 1/2 month old puppy had this same issue, and still does it from time to time, but at least he stops when we say "enough". You can teach this easily. Whenever you're finished playing a game, training, etc., just say "enough", give a treat, then walk away. She'll learn fast, then you can use the command when she has these bouts of excitement, or going "turbo" as I like to call it.


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## Bella's Mama

When dogs jump up on me, I always put out my knee quickly so they run hard into my knee. It has worked for me.


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## JazzSkye

I invested in two great books when I got Jazz six years ago, and they served as the basis of my training him: "How to be your dog's best friend" and "The art of training a puppy" by the monks of New Skete. They're known for their German Shepherd breeding program and they "re-train" problem dogs of all races. Their advice on jumping worked for Jazz: when you feel a jump coming, extend your arm quickly toward the dog's face and put your hand up in front of his eyes, say "stop, no jumping" and put him in a sit. Might be worth trying. They also advocate working with the dog by leading him up to greet a willing participant on a leash and putting him in a sit, then having the newcomer crouch and say hello.

For the mouthing of hands, their advice was to stick a finger down their throat to elicit an unpleasant and dissuasive gag reflex, which worked perfectly on my puppies, who both quickly stopped the behavior. You then open your palm for them to lick, as licking is allowed. But for an adult....????? Not sure of the wisdom of that; I suppose it would depend on the dog's character and whether you justifiably fear getting your finger bitten off.

For biting clothes, I used to close their mouths and hold them until they whined while saying "no biting clothes" ad immediately giving them an object ok to bite, and this also worked. Again, not sure you could do this with your adult dog without risking getting bitten.

Hope this helps.


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## alice

*new member says thanks*

thanks - just logged on today and already alice is doing much better with the sprites in the face when she kinda loses it periodically when walking - she's 6 months old and i was beginning to think she was aggressive but no just a case of the zoomies while walking - so thanks knowing it's "normal" helped me to adjust my attitude


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## iansgran

I am a positive training person and think the being a tree or leaving the room works best. Also it is best if you reward the good behavior. Teach the pup what you want her to do, sit, lie down, go to her place, and reinforce that again and again. Polite greetings is hard but it is also a must.


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## samchu_mammy

When Sam was puppy, he used to do that, and it always happen during our walks. At first, we tried to ignore him, like everyone else, be a tree. However, his teeth were so sharp, actually hurt me. Although I am a positive reinforcement believer, in situation like this, I had to do something. I first knee him at the chest, and then quickly step on his leash, so he couldn't get up on me. Usually, after a few second, he would calm down, then we start walking again. At this time, I would praise him like crazy for rewarding him back to normal. 

Good luck with training, and please fix this ASAP. Most dogs do grow out of it, but I've also seen dogs still do this to their owners when they are 3 years old or older.


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## Deb_Bayne

Bella's Mama said:


> When dogs jump up on me, I always put out my knee quickly so they run hard into my knee. It has worked for me.


I was told by my trainer not to use the knee, the chest area on Goldens is not very tough and can easily hurt or injure them. I find the best is to turn around, cross arms and look up and away from him. Wear old clothes around them until this has been successful most or all of the time.


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## Usha Maceio Brazil

I had this problem with Kelly and was lost. Being a tree did not work at all. I was confining her, or myself in the kitchen. Suddenly I discovered why she did it: *it was her dog way to ask me to play with her*. With a little bit of training we changed the biting to snapping her mouth, something she does when she wants a treat. She will bite our pants and try to take our socks off from time to time, but now we can say no and she stops. Then we call her to the kitchen and give hugs and treats for being such a good girl.


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## Usha Maceio Brazil

I also discovered she would bite and hold my hands only when she wanted something from another room in the house: treats or toys! How I did it? I let her grab and walk (ouch). She would bring me to the kitchen and do the snapping. Now she won't do it anymore. She just snaps. 
Actually, I wonder. Is snapping bad for her teeth? We taught her do it on cue, we do with our hands, and she repeats.


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## Usha Maceio Brazil

Finally, I got the avatar working...


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## alice

thanks all - when she grabs my hand, arm, clothes in the house she is definitely asking for play or for me to go somewhere - usually she wants to go do her business but when she loses it outside i haven't found a single trigger - thought it was sand or smells but it just happens all of a sudden - i don't have enough old clothes to let her rip it so i have been stepping on her leash and just staying there for a few minutes which works but not consistently - it gets scary but i keep in mind that it is "normal"


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## Mufasa

My puppy has a big problem with hard mouthing too. I don't think he means to hurt us but his teeth are very sharp and it leaves marks on the skin of me and my family. The thing that bothers me the most is that it's impossible to put your face anywhere close to his because he'll try to nibble at your face. He only does this when he's excited but it still poses a problem. I plan on trying out the vinegar water method tomorrow.


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