My family consists of my wife, and Doyle. Doyle is our 8 month old chocolate Labrador. He has a very soft mouth, but nips on us and our clothes relentlessly whenever either my wife or I try to dress. He also enjoys goosing. To solve this problem I have him sit/down. Usually he is too excited and has to be told twice or more by me, and will ignore my wife's commands much more often.

He also nips at hands that come in to pet him, especially my wife's. His aggressiveness while we get dressed in the morning, combined with him using his teeth when we want to give him affection for doing things right, has made it hard for my wife to bond with Doyle.

Another problem is that my wife likes to settle in on the couch after coming home from work and watch some TV. After Doyle has been fed and played with, he will still come by and "check-in." Unfortunately he gets mouthy again starts to nip at hands and blankets.

Please help me keep my dog and save my marriage!

There are many ways to correct this kind of behavior. What I have done in the past with "mouthy" puppies is to hold their mouth shut, gently but firmly, while saying "no teeth" then let go. It will take a little while to get it, but I haven't had it fail yet. I have also used a sharp, loud "AH" sound (like the sound of the letter u in the word "up"), and have seen good results as well when adding that to the above action of holding mouth and saying no teeth. When their mouth is on you, say "AH" then take the muzzle gently in your hand and say "no teeth". I have also read that by yelping in a high pitch voice, sounding like a litter mate who has been bitten a bit too hard, that should stop the behavior as well, though I have never tried it. As for pulling at your clothes, a firm "NO" with the removal of his mouth from the object and replacing it with a chew toy is something that has worked for me as well. The pup obviously has bonded with you, more so than your wife. If she is willing, she should spend some quality one on one time with him to develop her own bond with him. He obviously doesn't see her as an Alpha in the pack, and she needs to change that. It will take time, and commitment on both of your parts to make a happy home. Remember, he is still a baby, and will act accordingly for a while more...it will get better, hang in there! Good luck!

Wifes are easy to replace. lol

Ok. LadyA is spot on. try holding the dog's mouth shut after an episode and telling him No. It may take a week or so, but it should work.

[lil mutt]

Originally Posted by gtull1

Wifes are easy to replace. lol

lol!

nice advice from LadyA... dont forget to correct this behavior whenever he do it...

Trying this method. Thanks for the help!

err.. the closing the mouth bit, not the replacing the wife bit.

Ha ha.....as a wife myself, we thank you for not replacing us...! lol

What I have heard is that any kind of attention, even bad attention, rewards mouthing behavior in puppies and adolescent dogs. What we have done with my dog (who has never even threatened to growl at anyone in her nine years on this Earth) was, when she would start to mouth and play too rough, just make a little squeal kind of noise, cross your arms, turn around and ignore her until she calmed down. It certainly did the trick, and I hope that I helped some. Hang in there with your pup! He's going through that "teenage" phase that can make life very difficult for both of you. Also, if you haven't already, I would recommend neutering your dog unless you plan to show or breed him. It will keep the testosterone from overriding his common sense, and diminish the possibility of spontaneous aggression and dominance. I may not be a dog trainer (I'm a groomer), but I have asked about this problem on behalf of customers to the trainers where I work, and they suggested the method of ignoring the puppy if he gets too mouthy or bites. Good luck!

Originally Posted by LadyA

Ha ha.....as a wife myself, we thank you for not replacing us...! lol

Of course we will never been replaced...lol...Anyway good for you Mosean your trying to fixed things better and balance everything...:mrgreen:

I think Jingler training will help stop it, see it on youtube

YouTube - The Miracle Tin Jingler

YouTube - The Miracle Tin Jingler

You should definatly try the new Jingler training methods, have a look at it on youtube, they work wonders

YouTube - The Miracle Tin Jingler

YouTube - The Miracle Tin Jingler

We have found turning away with little or no reaction to be tried and true. We too have a bit of a mouther, and tried the distraction methods, grabbing snouts and saying no, but walking away calmly with no reaction at all generated the quickest behaviour change.

As a social creature, dogs seek reinforcement, and if it is not positive, the next best is negative, but because of the social nature of most dogs, hate complete non reaction which we can use to effectively and non aggressivley teach conforming behaviour.

I think it very important that your wife needs to be able to be pro active without (even though i know you are trying to help, appease and do the right thing) and action disipline without you taking over or interferring. Otherwise to the dog, this can be interperated as the alpha steping in, hence lowering your wifes position in the dogs eyes. It almost seems that the dog has accepted your alpha but is fighting your wife for the second highest position in the pack.

General basic obedince training done by your wife may start to improve things if she persists, it may even help if she used training school or training lessons, so she can establish an alpha role and a build a respect with the dog without you around, yet still have someone help her out if needed.

If you feel you may be dealing with dominance issues as well (which sounds like you may be if he is not accepting commands from your wife) A very non aggressive dominance technique we have used and found to be very successful for all members of our family has been to periodically spend a good day or more each with the dog, going about our normal day to day tasks, with dog on a long lead attached to us. Kato then is in the situation where he is forced to follow family member around, creating a follow the leader scenario. Given that he is on lead through these periods we are able to correct poor or unacceptable bahaviour, if he has tried to lead, the family member at the time performing this task is to turn the other direction and not allow him to lead, if he tries to go through the doors or down the stairs first he is corrected to go down after the leading human. If he is asleep on the floor infront of the chair and the leading human wants to go past, he is made to move, not stepped over or around. We will continue this for as long as is needed, sometimes it may only be a matter of hours sometimes a good few days is needed to keep his behaviour and accptance of our dominance in check, and will go through this periodically to remind him of our expectations.

Dont give up, labs are renowned to be quite energetic boistress puppys and because of their inteligence have an ability to push buttons, and try and get away with things, but if lead in the right direction, are very commonly well mannered, even tempered adult dogs.