gracie's mouthiness drew blood

**lisa** · 11-03-2009, 05:14 PM

Gracie was doing so good with the mouthiness...she was finally slowing down with putting her mouth on everyone's hands, until tonight. We were out in the field across the street and my 73 year old neighbor (who does not look or act a day over 55, God bless her) came over to see Gracie. Gracie was very excited and rolling around with sticks in her mouth, My neighbor took the stick away, afraid that Gracie would joke on a piece of it. No problem there, still rolling around over excited. Then my neighbor reached down to pet her and "chomp". Not in an aggressive way at all, tail wagging away...but still made a nip that drew a little blood. I was mortified. Thank God she loves dogs like I do and was not upset at all. I was more upset than her. I obviously corrected her immediately with a stern "No Bite and a tug on the leash...she didn't seemed fazed at all. How should I handle this behavior. Thanks for your help.

**Labradorable** · 11-03-2009, 05:17 PM

I think you handled it fine. Teach her (and your visitors) that she must be sitting or laying down nicely to be greeted. It has helped a lot with Dozer. No one who comes onto my property gives him attention unless he is calm. Not ever. He learned quickly what is acceptable and what is not. That being said he is still a puppy so he has his moments.

**SweetSasafrassy** · 11-03-2009, 06:07 PM

But how do you train your visitors to withhold affection until the beast has calmed down?

**Labradorable** · 11-03-2009, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by SweetSasafrassy

But how do you train your visitors to withhold affection until the beast has calmed down?

Easy. Tell them not to and be stern (but polite). I've never had a problem telling people "please don't pay any attention to Dozer until he has settled" because MOST people would rather pet a settled dog anyway.

**justine** · 11-03-2009, 08:35 PM

Yup I agree with Samantha. It's hard. Really hard. But make sure that everyone - in your house, friends, family, strangers, etc - EVERYONE knows what to do. Abbey gets very excited but I make sure to tell them to ignore her completely until she is sitting down, then she can be pet and given attention.

**MNLab** · 11-03-2009, 09:43 PM

Ditto what Samantha and Justine said!

**BigBrownDog** · 11-03-2009, 09:45 PM

The skin on an older person can be pretty fragile - that could be part of what happened here. Could be her usual degree of tooth pressure on more fragile skin. She still needs to learn to calm herself and use her mouth appropriately.

**sarah** · 11-04-2009, 06:09 AM

definitely agree. I would say "i'm sorry Gracie is still in training and she only gets affection and pats after she has calmed down and is sitting nicely I hope you do not mind" if she doesn't calm down then she doesn't get pats and advise your neighbour "i'm sorry, maybe we can try again tomorrow."

I did this ALL THE TIME. Even out in Public, kids and adults who wanted to pat Milly need to wait until she was in a sit stay and was relatively calm. She soon enough learnt that not compiling with these rules meant she did not get to meet these fun strangers. Be consistent, maybe enrol the help of a few neighbours and friends to help with this.

We also (not on purpose) seemed to have taught Milly to carry toys with her to 'greet' her visitors. It really helped curb the mouthiness.... now if someone comes in the front door she grabs a toy to greet them and cannot greet them without a toy. A bit extreme but it doesn't hurt anyone........ she was always going to be a mouthy dog (hey.. she is a lab right?!?!) so the toy is a great substitute for someone's hands.

**Lucky6** · 11-04-2009, 07:08 AM

My 6 yr old ONLY gets mouthy when she is about to go outside or when your petting her belly and she is getting excited. She never applies pressure just puts her mouth around your wrist. I either yelp or make a eh-eh sound and stop whatever I am doing. She stops right away...and of course tries to look pitiful. When walking to the door to let her out as soon as she comes to me to mouth my jacket I will make that sound and she runs to the door to sit down and wait. I know she will catch on eventually it just takes consistency. If I didn't have small children,(which she has never mouthed), I wouldn't mind it so much but since I do have kiddos I try to nip it in the bud.

**lisa** · 11-04-2009, 08:24 AM

Originally Posted by sarah

definitely agree. I would say "i'm sorry Gracie is still in training and she only gets affection and pats after she has calmed down and is sitting nicely I hope you do not mind" if she doesn't calm down then she doesn't get pats and advise your neighbour "i'm sorry, maybe we can try again tomorrow."

I did this ALL THE TIME. Even out in Public, kids and adults who wanted to pat Milly need to wait until she was in a sit stay and was relatively calm. She soon enough learnt that not compiling with these rules meant she did not get to meet these fun strangers. Be consistent, maybe enrol the help of a few neighbours and friends to help with this.

We also (not on purpose) seemed to have taught Milly to carry toys with her to 'greet' her visitors. It really helped curb the mouthiness.... now if someone comes in the front door she grabs a toy to greet them and cannot greet them without a toy. A bit extreme but it doesn't hurt anyone........ she was always going to be a mouthy dog (hey.. she is a lab right?!?!) so the toy is a great substitute for someone's hands.

Gracie also likes to greet people when they come over with a toy and I find this def helps with the mouthiness. Maybe I should carry a toy on our walks