7 month old mouthing

Hi,

I have a 7 month old Staffy x Shih Tzu. He was always a "mouther" when he was little (aren't they all?) but he has continued to do it up until now. He is not biting as such, it's never hard enough to really hurt or leave marks or anything. He's just mouthing our hands.

I'm just wondering if we should be getting REALLY tough on him for doing it - is mouthing a lot a sign that he is a potential biter?

We had one terrible day where he got a big fright on a road (to cut a long story short he slipped out of his halter) and I had to grab him really quickly and couldn't let him down because he wasn't attached to anything. He bit me quite hard that time and I had bruises. Apart from that one time (which I think was due to fear) he has never hurt us.

He mouths also when we are clipping him into his harness and attaching his lead.

Just don't want to do anything wrong with his training - I've never owned a dog before. I am the first to admit that we could be more consistent with discipline.

Belinda

I would advise to discourage it. It's best to turn around and ignore him when he does it. He is most likely attention seeking and if you do the opposite he will stop. Everyone has to be consistant and do the same thing every time.

A firm no or yelp can also work as can shaking a bottle with stones in it

Don't worry, it isn't a sign that he's going to turn into a biter! It's the way dogs play with each other, he just needs to realise that he shouldn't do it to humans!

Are there specific times when he mouths? ie when he's playing/getting excited about walks/getting your attention?

If so, then as soon as he does it, say "no!" and stop what you're doing immediately - all play stops, if you were clipping his harness on then you hang the harness back up & wait 5 or 10 minutes before you try again. Totally ignore him for a couple of minutes & then try again.

He should start to realise quite soon that mouthing will result in no attention, whereas not mouthing will get him what he wants.

Millie is 4 and will still mouth from time to time when she plays or is excited and she isn't a biter I just do what jstaff and Caryll advised, firm "no" and the game stops.