# Mouthing, nipping, biting



## Stanleysmum21 (Nov 16, 2021)

Me again, 

I had a breakdown today. I feel like I can't do this.
I'm ok with the toilet training, it's tedious but I'm all for it.

Today my cockapoo for a new confidence. My kids were sat on the sofa and he started playing on the floor, chewing on his toys, rolling around with his stuffed animal and generally mauling his blanket.
This I don't mind. I dont even mind if he wants to have a try at my hand as I can control this and fold my arms and ignore when he's taken it too far.

However he is now getting frustrated he can't get on the sofa, so he puts his paws up whining to get on. Normally I will insist on all playtimes being on the floor but when he's playing so... "Roughly" I don't want the kids to be involved in it as I know this is his time to start bringing out the teeth.
I took him outside to burn off some steam, he started to go for my feet, I just quietly moved away.
When he started realising I wasn't playing he started scratching the door trying to get back inside and whining so I assumed he was a little more relaxed but then he got inside and go the zoomies.
I normally leave him to it as it's a safe area he can't harm himself but he jumped up at my eldest when she was.on the sofa and barked at her baring his teeth.
I told her to ignore him but whatever was available to try and bite on he had a go at.

I don't know how to stop this behaviour, I don't want him playing like that around my children. 

Any helpful hints on where to go from here would be brilliant. Thank you.


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Did you see all the pups playing together when you got him? Pups play rough and it takes time for them to learn we are much more wimpy than another dog. Puppy blues are totally normal but just be aware this is normal puppy not bad or wrong behaviour.

They will get super bitey when they are over tired, over excited or frustrated and sounds like he got over excited and frustrated today. You need toys to redirect his mouthing onto, to ignore the inappropriate stuff as much as you can and recognise that there will be times he will be a bitey monster until he grows up a bit and learns. One of my favourite exercises for babies is to teach them to let go of a tuggy toy when asked as they start to develop some self control and can then learn a verbal "leave" which helps hugely. 

Play gentle tuggy, side to side and low down on the same level as his head and then grip toy fairly near his mouth with a closed fist and cover rest of toy with your hand and hold totally still and just wait. As soon as he lets go of the toy tell him he is wonderful and IMMEDIATELY play again - the starting play again is the key, he will learn that when he lets go of the toy he gets to play the fun bit again. Should start to get faster and faster at letting go and you can start to introduce the word - you can and do get nibbled whilst teaching this and need to just put up with it I am afraid. Once they have learned to let go when asked I then stop playing with a pup if they catch my hand when playing so they learn to be careful.


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## Lena11 (Aug 1, 2021)

When he gets too much, I have simply left the room and said calm down or sot (if he knows that command) through the door and went back in. If he continued, I did it again. Cockapoos love attention, so this worked to calm him down. For smaller ‘chewing/biting attacks’ just put a toy in his mouth.
There are different reasons he could be this hyper: not enough excercise (doubt it here), tired (a puppy’s body pumps out adrenaline when too tired), hungry or simply begging for attention/play.


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## Stanleysmum21 (Nov 16, 2021)

2ndhandgal said:


> Did you see all the pups playing together when you got him? Pups play rough and it takes time for them to learn we are much more wimpy than another dog. Puppy blues are totally normal but just be aware this is normal puppy not bad or wrong behaviour.
> 
> They will get super bitey when they are over tired, over excited or frustrated and sounds like he got over excited and frustrated today. You need toys to redirect his mouthing onto, to ignore the inappropriate stuff as much as you can and recognise that there will be times he will be a bitey monster until he grows up a bit and learns. One of my favourite exercises for babies is to teach them to let go of a tuggy toy when asked as they start to develop some self control and can then learn a verbal "leave" which helps hugely.
> 
> Play gentle tuggy, side to side and low down on the same level as his head and then grip toy fairly near his mouth with a closed fist and cover rest of toy with your hand and hold totally still and just wait. As soon as he lets go of the toy tell him he is wonderful and IMMEDIATELY play again - the starting play again is the key, he will learn that when he lets go of the toy he gets to play the fun bit again. Should start to get faster and faster at letting go and you can start to introduce the word - you can and do get nibbled whilst teaching this and need to just put up with it I am afraid. Once they have learned to let go when asked I then stop playing with a pup if they catch my hand when playing so they learn to be careful.


 That's amazing advice and one I'm not too ashamed to say is what I can handle when I'm home on my own.
Here's the shocking part, my kids aren't babies 🤣🤣 my eldest is 15 and my youngest is 9.
They have never been around animals really and when they have it's always been with an older more relaxed dog so this is something they have never experienced.
I may be harsh saying it but they are kind of soft when it comes to things that may hurt or scare them. It's my own fault I've Molly coddled them.

I just had a major breakdown almost convincing myself to send him to a new home that knew how to handle dogs and puppies. 
He's so loving and affectionate when he's on the floor with me, walks over and plpnks himself in my lap and will it for hours sleeping beside me.
It's the crazy play moments I can't handle very well


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## Stanleysmum21 (Nov 16, 2021)

Lena11 said:


> When he gets too much, I have simply left the room and said calm down or sot (if he knows that command) through the door and went back in. If he continued, I did it again. Cockapoos love attention, so this worked to calm him down. For smaller ‘chewing/biting attacks’ just put a toy in his mouth.
> There are different reasons he could be this hyper: not enough excercise (doubt it here), tired (a puppy’s body pumps out adrenaline when too tired), hungry or simply begging for attention/play.


So I shouldn't try to get the kids involved with playtime?
He does scare them and like I say I'm fine during the day when it's just the two of us but the kids come back and he gets excited but in a way they don't understand.
He does sleep a whole lot and gets quite hyper after we come in from the garden when we want him to go potty.
Apart from that we can't go for walks etc just yet to calm this side of him down until we find a vet that will give him his second vaccine.


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## Lena11 (Aug 1, 2021)

Oh no! Do get the kids involved, but tell them to wait a bit when they come into the room until he is a bit calmer and then make sure they play with a longer toy (rope toy or snake etc) calmly with him and not tile him up. Tell him to sit (lots of command training to stimulate him mentally) and give him treats before the kids come into the room instead of having a play session.
You can do it! I got frustrated as well, so I get it, but it will all be worth it and you are doing better than you think! Sending a hug!


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## Stanleysmum21 (Nov 16, 2021)

Lena11 said:


> Oh no! Do get the kids involved, but tell them to wait a bit when they come into the room until he is a bit calmer and then make sure they play with a longer toy (rope toy or snake etc) calmly with him and not tile him up. Tell him to sit (lots of command training to stimulate him mentally) and give him treats before the kids come into the room instead of having a play session.
> You can do it! I got frustrated as well, so I get it, but it will all be worth it and you are doing better than you think! Sending a hug!


Thank you the hugs honestly mean a lot, I feel like I'm on my own with all this, as well as running my own business from home and having two kids to look after I just got overwhelmed and teary. 

I can't get him to sit yet, he's just too exciteable. Especially if I have treats in my hand he just won't stay still as he knows there's food in there.
I have contacted every trainer in my local area I possibly could to get some one to work with me to just get them to show me.how to do it correctly.
Like I say he is so affectionate, he's been asleep almost two hours after his outburst earlier. The kids are happy because he's asleep the TV's on and it's moments like this that make me think yes, this is why we have him.


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

It is really normal for kids to be horrified too. The image is a cuddle with a calm pup not a mad bitey thing zooming around the room like mad. 

For sit have one small treat or piece of his food, hold it enclosed in your fingers at his nose level and lift very slightly to get a slight head tilt backwards which should make the bum go down. As soon as it does release the food


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## Stanleysmum21 (Nov 16, 2021)

2ndhandgal said:


> It is really normal for kids to be horrified too. The image is a cuddle with a calm pup not a mad bitey thing zooming around the room like mad.
> 
> For sit have one small treat or piece of his food, hold it enclosed in your fingers at his nose level and lift very slightly to get a slight head tilt backwards which should make the bum go down. As soon as it does release the food


Tried today, definitely one I'm going to have to work on. When he hears the treat bag rustle he goes into a frenzy 🙄🙄


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

OK - take two treats out of the bag, put one down on the floor for him to eat to get initial excitement out of him then call him and get second treat held to his nose and list slightly - its one of those things its easier to show than describe


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## Stanleysmum21 (Nov 16, 2021)

2ndhandgal said:


> OK - take two treats out of the bag, put one down on the floor for him to eat to get initial excitement out of him then call him and get second treat held to his nose and list slightly - its one of those things its easier to show than describe


Ooh I'll try that, thank you. ☺


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## Stanleysmum21 (Nov 16, 2021)

Just a little advice,
Today got quite exciteable, during out floor time play he got a little over excited and a toy no longer satisfied his need to play. He ignored my efforts to put a toy in his mouth and instead decided to jump up at me and continue to try to bite my arm.
I stood up with my arms folded and said "ouch" as the advice ive been given and it did seem to work. I could see him thinking about what he had done for a moment and then bunded off to find a toy.
Is this a process I need to repeat in order for him tog et the message that he cant push it too far.... OR.... did I push it too far? I continued to play and he didnt really give me a sign he had had enough and perhaps I had tried to play when he wasnt interested and that was met with frustration?

He sort of growls during play also, Im unsure if thats a natural doggy thing or if I was winding him up. We were just playing tug of war and a little bit of fetch.


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

They can get over excited when playing and stopping the play and standing up is perfect - sounds like he got the message too. Ouch works for some pups and winds others up - but sounds like you did well.

Growling when playing is perfectly normal, some growl more than others but not a problem.


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## Stanleysmum21 (Nov 16, 2021)

2ndhandgal said:


> They can get over excited when playing and stopping the play and standing up is perfect - sounds like he got the message too. Ouch works for some pups and winds others up - but sounds like you did well.
> 
> Growling when playing is perfectly normal, some growl more than others but not a problem.


Perfect thank you so much.
I've let him mouth on my hand this morning, I'm trying to teach him when it's gone too far which hopefully will help with the lunging and jumping to bite.
He's found a new spot to sleep when the kids are around which is my jumper on the floor. At the moment I have to be with him when he's sleeping but he's learning really quickly.
Only one accident this morning but that was my fault because I wasn't paying attention.
😊


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