Vespertine 200 Posted November 16, 2016 Report Share Posted November 16, 2016 My puppy is the mouthiest. She wants to be chewing on something at all times. When she chews on an inappropriate object (electrical wires, our coffee table, the rug), we redirect to a chew toy. More challenging is that she wants to have our fingers in her mouth when we're cuddling her. She isn't biting, she just wants to chew. What are your thoughts on mouthing? I had read Ian Dunbar's approach of teaching them soft mouthing before phasing out mouthing entirely, by yelping when they mouth too hard, but we're starting a puppy class and the advice they're giving is to ignore the puppy and be boring whenever mouthing occurs. She just turned 12 weeks today and seems a little young for full-blown teething. Does she need more mental stimulation? Other ideas? 2 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Crinkly 15,586 Posted November 16, 2016 Report Share Posted November 16, 2016 Oh, I sooo sympathise. Tara was, is and always will be A LICKER. It is just in her nature, and I kind of feel that denying it to her is an act of mental cruelty. But my goodness it used to get too much at that age! She is much better, but she is still the NOISIEST Licker in the world!!! In your situation I would follow the Puppy Class advice, unless (after giving it a nice long trial) it isn't working. That is because just about anything will work, provided it is consistent. Really consistent. So you need everyone in the household doing exactly the same thing. 4 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Missysmom 24,975 Posted November 17, 2016 Report Share Posted November 17, 2016 Amen to the consistency and Everyone doing it-- my hubby teases Missy constantly with his hands and Sooo she still play bites in spite of all my efforts to stop it.. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Anonymous 1,665 Posted November 18, 2016 Report Share Posted November 18, 2016 I'm living this right now with 17 week old Buddy Our vet gave us these very strong rawhide strips. He hardly consumes any of them but it seems to be the only thing that he will really sit down and gnaw on. He enjoys being on my lap and I hold the rawhide for him and he gets a good chew in I did the yelping-but-letting-him-mouth-lightly technique and now I am moving on to the be-very-boring technique thanks to some advice from here. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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