# Playful biting



## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

1) Management: Don't give him opportunties. If you are playing and he is getting excited, go for a calm slow walk or some training or settling or some sort of quiet activity for a bit before resuming play.
When you are at home and your husband is going to be in the room, have your dog in another room crated, or with a great chew-toy in the room, or tethered at the toehr side of the room with a chew toy. crate/tether him BEFORE he gets mouthy to prevent the behavior.
2) Training: Get into a class that specializes in self control and good response to cues. Train a "go to bed/mat" cue so that your dog can be in the room, non tethered, and sent to his mat if he gets wild. Train a solid leave it, so you can cue before he gets wild. 
3) If you mess up your management and your dog starts to mouth, just stand still, like you do outdoors. Anything else can be fun for a puppy or stressful...both fun and stress could increase his mouthing responses. If he is mouthing VERY hard, calmly and quietly leave the room/yard for 30-180 seconds and then resume a less exciting activity.


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## GoldenBearBailey'sMom (Aug 31, 2010)

He's quite good with all of the other cues he's learned (and usually with "leave it," with the exception of when I'm the "it"!) Do you have any recommendations for getting a golden to consistently leave something? I've found, despite what our puppy obedience trainer said, it's not always feasible to carry around a baggie of treats to reward him for something like a "leave it."


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## RedDogs (Jan 30, 2010)

You shouldnt need the treats to get the leave it. But early on you should reward with food AFTER he leaves something (only then pulling out the treat!).

If he is not responding to the cue, you need to find an instructor who will teach you to get a more reliable behavior. Maybe post a bit about how you taught the behavior? and we can help modify and appropriately challenge your dog so that he learns it works in other settings?

Most people who aren't getting reliability have not worked the dog up to the setting/distraction level where they need the behavior, or the foundation behavior is not strong enough (they progressed too quickly)


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