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I have bred, raised, trained, and rescued Labradors for more than 15 years and I have met MANY labs that have mouthing problems. Although I have heard of many of these ideas above, I have found them all to either be too hard for the average owner to stick to or they actually promote more mouthing. A lab mouths for one of two reasons, they want your attention or they think they are playing with you. The idea is to teach them that this play is not okay! Your idea of putting your dog on a leash is great when you have people come to the door.
To begin teaching your dog not to mouth you or others what I do is first of all is take the dog for a walk and exercise him until he is not so hyper. Next I encourage play with a favorite toy. As soon as they mouth you, rather than the toy, take your hand and close your dog's mouth firmly, (this is not to hurt him!) make eye contact, and say "NO BITE". Then turn your back to him and cross your arms, ignoring your dog for a few seconds. Once they are calm, repeat this process. This works very well because you are stopping all play and refusing attention when your dog tries to mouth at you, which will quickly teach him that he only gets your attention when he is being calm and nice. Do this a few times each day, no more than 10 minutes at a time, and your dog will start to turn around. Also teach your guests to come into your home with their arms crossed and ask them to ignore your dog until he is calm.
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Source(s):
http://dogs.about.com/cs/basictraining/f/biting_nipping.htm
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My weimaraner used to have a really bad nipping problem like that. Anytime someone walked in the room, or she met someone new, or met them again she would immediately run up and nip at their hands. So I started squeezing her lip to her teeth and she gradually got better. I do this anytime she is biting at anyone and she has almost completely stopped all biting of any kind. I think it worked very very well.
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angusmacg
Wash your hands, and while they are still damp, rub some Cheyenne pepper over them. Let your dog out and when he chomps on your hands he'll get a mouth full of unpleaseantness. If he only does this to new people, have a friend give you a hand.
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I had a doberman that would always jump up on people when they came over. And he was huge, so you can imagine how freaked out people would be. It took some time - possibly several months - but eventually he learned that he had to sit down and calm down before anyone was allowed to pet him.
Good luck with the training.
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Take him on a lot of walks and expose him to a lot of people and dogs. Does he do ok if they are on the other side of the street? Down the block? If so, the more exposure he gets like this, the better.
Try to distract him from them by making him sit and look at you. You ignore the people and dogs too, just keep looking at him and trying to get him to do your command.
Gradually as you build up his confidence and desensitize him to dogs and people approaching, he should start listening to you more quickly, and eventually not bark at all. I've seen dogs trained like this, and actually when a person or dog approaches, they automatically sit and look at their owner for a treat.
Source(s):
http://www.ehow.com/how_4506793_stop-dog-from-barking-strangers.html
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Answered Question
M$1
December 22, 2008 05:34 PM
How do I keep my lab from mouthing new people?
I have a 3 yr old black lab (i adopted him at 2 yrs old) that will always mouth the hands of any new person he meets. Some people freak out and I can't seem to get him to stop. His mouthing has decreased in aggressiveness (he used to chomp harder) but he still does it. What can I do?
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| December 23, 2008 07:22 PM |
To begin teaching your dog not to mouth you or others what I do is first of all is take the dog for a walk and exercise him until he is not so hyper. Next I encourage play with a favorite toy. As soon as they mouth you, rather than the toy, take your hand and close your dog's mouth firmly, (this is not to hurt him!) make eye contact, and say "NO BITE". Then turn your back to him and cross your arms, ignoring your dog for a few seconds. Once they are calm, repeat this process. This works very well because you are stopping all play and refusing attention when your dog tries to mouth at you, which will quickly teach him that he only gets your attention when he is being calm and nice. Do this a few times each day, no more than 10 minutes at a time, and your dog will start to turn around. Also teach your guests to come into your home with their arms crossed and ask them to ignore your dog until he is calm.
| Asker's Rating: |
• I have tried this and it has worked for myself. I didnot think about having other people try it.
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Other Answers (7)
December 22, 2008 05:37 PM
Labs are a very playful breed and it can be difficult to break them of these kind of traits. As strange as it might seem the "yelp and shun" method does seem to work well. This method (along with a couple of other options) can be read about at this source:
Source(s):
http://dogs.about.com/cs/basictraining/f/biting_nipping.htm
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December 22, 2008 05:40 PM
Here's what I would do. Any time he mouths you, grab him around his jaw and squeeze his lip skin (the part that hangs down over his mouth) onto his teeth. It will hurt him(you can do it lightly at first to see how he reacts, then heavier later if he's being particularly bad about it), but he'll be fine. My weimaraner used to have a really bad nipping problem like that. Anytime someone walked in the room, or she met someone new, or met them again she would immediately run up and nip at their hands. So I started squeezing her lip to her teeth and she gradually got better. I do this anytime she is biting at anyone and she has almost completely stopped all biting of any kind. I think it worked very very well.
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angusmacg
December 22, 2008 05:50 PM
I've actually tried that when I play with him as he starts to bite. It actually seems to aggravate him so he bites harder...
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December 22, 2008 06:04 PM
That was the same thing with my dog, but I just kept persistent. If they get aggravated and bite harder, squeeze harder. If they whimper, that means they're learning the lesson. It took quite a while of doing this, and I got more aggressive if she got more aggressive, but now she doesn't bite anyone's hands anymore. Don't know if it will work for all dogs, just something that worked for me.
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December 23, 2008 12:54 PM
I am actually leashing him and standing on the leash, restricting his movement, while visitors come in. Once he is settled then I take the leash off. This also gives me a free hand to greet the visitors and provides better control of the dog. Unfortunately when he does greet people he will mouth their hands.
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December 22, 2008 05:51 PM
this is a good suggestion but he is used to me at this point so only mouths my hand if we play.
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December 22, 2008 05:58 PM
EASY! Wash your hands, and while they are still damp, rub some Cheyenne pepper over them. Let your dog out and when he chomps on your hands he'll get a mouth full of unpleaseantness. If he only does this to new people, have a friend give you a hand.
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December 22, 2008 06:24 PM
With any dog, it's all about repetition. Whenever he does that, say "NO", and push his mouth away and tell him to sit (hopefully he already knows that command). Any time you have company, tell him to sit immediately. Don't allow your guests to give him any attention until he sits down. It's going to take some time, but you just have to keep doing this until he gets it. Also, don't play rough with him where you allow him to chew on your hands. This will just confuse him. I had a doberman that would always jump up on people when they came over. And he was huge, so you can imagine how freaked out people would be. It took some time - possibly several months - but eventually he learned that he had to sit down and calm down before anyone was allowed to pet him.
Good luck with the training.
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December 22, 2008 07:32 PM
Training needs to be an ongoing (i.e. never ending) process until the dog is behaving as you wish. Have you tried spraying water on his face with a regular water bottle/spray nozzle? Take him on a lot of walks and expose him to a lot of people and dogs. Does he do ok if they are on the other side of the street? Down the block? If so, the more exposure he gets like this, the better.
Try to distract him from them by making him sit and look at you. You ignore the people and dogs too, just keep looking at him and trying to get him to do your command.
Gradually as you build up his confidence and desensitize him to dogs and people approaching, he should start listening to you more quickly, and eventually not bark at all. I've seen dogs trained like this, and actually when a person or dog approaches, they automatically sit and look at their owner for a treat.
Source(s):
http://www.ehow.com/how_4506793_stop-dog-from-barking-strangers.html
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