Puppy Play or Aggression?

I've read the articles on here about how to stop puppy biting, and the different postures/body language that express play vs aggression, but I haven't found anything that tells me how to determine weather his biting is a simple expression of play or if he's striving for dominance. Anyone know how to help me distinguish between the two?

The body language should help. Also the strength of the bite. If it is light or inhibited it is likely play

How old is ur puppy?? If young its unlikely to be dominance or aggression. It's more just pushing their luck, loki is a terrible mouther and still is sometimes!!!

If we're talking about a young puppy there's no aggression or dominance but its hard work to put them off biting we've all been there theres a good reading about in in the forum but well try and give you the connection later.

If hes biting hard its down to his lack of respect for you at the present time if its just normal mouthing its just a phase all pups go through the trick is repetition and consistency always tell him no when he mouths and a firm no and light slap when hes too rough I am going through the same right now and currently have a big cut rigt down the centre of my beak thanks to my little guy, good luck

In our puppy preschool we were told that it isn't good to entirely stop puppies from mouthing you as they never learn restraint if they aren't given an opportunity to test ther strength and for you to stop them when they are too hard. Funnily enough this was one of the easiest things to train our girl on. We use 'delicate' when she is in a mouthing mood and allow her to use our fingers as a tool. Now she starts off really delicate as she knows her limits, and sometimes tests us by going harder and the moment she starts putting more strength we say the word and she stops.

When Gordon was young and mouthing we used to give him a toy to chew on to replace our hands!!, it could be that he's teething so a piece of frozen carrot or a frozen t towel will cool his gums and give him something to chew on. Good luck x

Don't slap your puppy, for god sake. What is with people?!?!?! As others have mentioned, body language is key. Can you explain (in fine detail, if possible) what body language you are seeing, as well as an antecedent to the behaviour?

bronson blue boy wrote:If hes biting hard its down to his lack of respect for you at the present time if its just normal mouthing its just a phase all pups go through the trick is repetition and consistency always tell him no when he mouths and a firm no and light slap when hes too rough I am going through the same right now and currently have a big cut rigt down the centre of my beak thanks to my little guy, good luck

i have never slap any of my dog has owner of this forum i don't recommend this at all hard or light slap.. a quick ~NO should be good enough

Im quite sure it's not aggression, It's generally when he's in play mode, and excited about meeting new people He'll run around and put his butt in the air like any playful puppy. He also wants to constantly mouth visitors, and sometimes a little harder than he should, the problem is usually scratching with his teeth instead of a puncture from biting. "No" by itself hasn't been too effective in the case of visitors, but when it's just my wife and I he's pretty obedient. We've just been removing him from the room when he gets to mouthy with visitors and is too wired to respond to a "No" Any tips?

Im going through exactly the same with Elsie, my 11 week old, she mouths quiet frequently which is soft and playful, but sometimes she'll get over excited and snap at our hands, heels and clothes ect. How I deal with it is try to take her mind off it by offering her a toy, if it doesn't work then I have a tin can with stones inside, a couple of shakes and the noise 99% of the time will stop the biting instantly! Providing I don't over use the can shaking, Im sure itll work for some time...Well Im hoping anyway!