Mouthy Sheltie female

As to the pant leg biting the thing that worked with Sca was ANY nipping at ankles or pants meant I stopped. That is the opposite of his hearding me to hurry. It didn't take long for him to stop but then he is my good dog. Spitfire despite his many spitfirisms was never a nipper or chewer of stuff not his.
 
I thought I would add my recent experiences which may help. I have three dogs of my own and have gone through mouthing with two of them (my lab and spaniel). My lab was really awful at first, but now he is a very gentle dog. As for my cocker spaniel, well, they don't call them 'cockerdiles' for nothing! I had scratches, teeth marks and sore hands for the first six months. Through the summer months when I was wearing a t-shirt I looked like a self-harmer! But my spaniel has gone through that stage and is also a very gentle mouthed dog.

My brother brought a border collie pup home at Christmas (that brings us up to 4!). She was a farm dog with limited experiences of people aside from her breeder. She is a really bad mouther, the worst since I had Cadbury. She gnaws on your hand in play, but she also bites if you are restraining her by her collar, or holding her and she wants to go down. She also nips at trousers and pulls sleeves - though interestingly enough she never does this to me, only the other members of the family.

Having gone through 3 puppyhoods in 6 years, I am at that stage when naughty nipping isn't going to cut any ice. If I have her collar and she starts to bite me to get away, there is no way I will remove my hand until she stops! No matter how hard she bites (and she really pushes it to the limited, though not hard enough to draw blood).

I take no nonsense. If she mouths in play I say a firm but gentle 'ah' or 'careful' and remove the toy for a moment. Then when she is calmer we play again. I make sure she gets plenty of rest, because she is worse for mouthing when tired. If she gets rough with the other dogs, or starts biting at clothes/hands when I am not interacting with her, she gets put in the kitchen.

One last thing, with Sparrow I did allow her to chew gently on my hand as a small pup (roughly up to 4/5 months). I did this because I read it enables them to learn how delicate human hands are and teaches them bite inhibition for later life. This has worked with all my guys, I never allowed hard biting, but gentle nibbling (best I can describe it) was ok. Sparrow no longer mouths and has grown up to be very good around hands.

Mouthing is a phase most puppies go through, some worse than others, but with kind, consistent training they all grow out of it:wink2:
 
Mina'sMommy -She even often brings things back to me although she won't release items yet.-
This is normal, but nice that she brings them to you and not run away with them, so it's important that you teach her to get rid, , if necessary. by having a reward but always lot of praise.

Minnie ran away with her stuff when I got her, so first she had to learn to come to me and then subsequently deliver, so I using much praise, she learned it very quickly, but it really requires a looooot of patience :yes:

--It's like I'm playing with big dog instead of a puppy Is the wild play okay? It feels so rough, especially for a Sheltie?--

My personal opinion is:
No, absolutely not, it's your job to get her to play a quiet game, and if you can not, stop the game, if necessary. by going away.
Teach her for example. to find things, maybe her food she has much need to use the brain.

I would not let her play wild games with many dogs yet, she is obviously overly excited,
Find some of her own age and size, and then you have to reprimand her if she gets too wild.

Talked about earlier, she might be taken early from her mother, and needs to learn some basic things.
So constantly hold in mind that everything takes time. :hugs
 
Instead of exercise you can do mind games with the puppy to wear her out, (I know after I brought Honey home, also a pet store sheltie, they were a must or she was crazy!)

One of my favorites was placing a large sheet in her cage, tangled up with food inside. She had to dig to get to the treats so it was work for her paws and for her mind. Another is to place food inside that water bottle she likes to chase. If she's having to easy of a time getting them out of the top (or to hard) put the cap on and cut either a smaller or larger hole somewhere else on it.

Also, I don't know about the validity of this suggestion, but maybe a puppet like toy when she's playing with you so she doesn't get as many chance to bite your hand? It might not stop the mouthyness while she's a puppy but it could help her from having formed bad habits once she grows past teething. They recommend doing that with kittens when they're in this stage.

When Honey was teething I had a wooden ring I was making into a bracelet...I let her chew on that so long as she wasn't working it to the point of getting splinters :hide (I know, wood + dog = bad) but having chewed on pencils as a kid...I can attest there's just nothing quite like the way wood gives just enough....they're even making necklaces for kids who are teething now...
 
At 11 weeks she's teething so needs lots and lots of different things to chew on. Wet face washes are useful too (as the cold eases the burning in the mouth). If the 'ouch' approach isn't working, go completely the other way. If she nips all attention is removed.

Just keep at the redirecting and preventing. It may appear to not work but she is learning - a week is not a long time. It is going to be tougher for her because her mouth hurts.

At first she was shy (being one of the smallest dogs) and got knocked over a few times by the big dogs but didn't seem to mind, within no time she was chasing after dogs twice her size! I'm not kidding! Barking and snapping at them. She is very fierce. I'm actually kind of worried she's too aggressive/fierce?
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She is showing clear fear aggression. You mention she got knocked over and didn't mind. The snapping and barking at the bigger dogs is her minding. She isn't being fierce, she's being scared and telling the other dogs to back off. Don't ever let other larger dogs push her around as you can easily end up with a fearful sheltie (and injured, there's a big weight difference between a sheltie and lab). You are her protector, and she is only a small puppy - your job is to keep her safe so she doesn't feel the need to do it herself.


It's like I'm playing with big dog instead of a puppy Is the wild play okay? It feels so rough, especially for a Sheltie?
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My personal opinion is:
No, absolutely not, it's your job to get her to play a quiet game, and if you can not, stop the game, if necessary. by going away.
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I agree, never play rough with a puppy, or even a dog. Firstly, you are teaching her your hands are a toy and secondly your are teaching her to be rough. So many times I have owners turn up to class saying their dogs are too rough and bite and jump and they want to stop it. They blame the dog, but it always turns out it was the owners fault - they taught the dog to do that by playing rough. Dogs don't get when it's okay to be rough and when it isn't.
 
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Thank you all so much for replying

We are very gentle with her but will be even more gentle (keeping in mind that we have yet to conquer her trust and her heart and giving her all the patience to do so) :smile2:

The "ouch" and ignoring still doesn't work (she will happily continue when we ignore her or stop moving and sometimes it hurts so much that a movement is inevitable on our part) (Same when she grabs my hair) I'm now walking around with bitter apple on my shoes and pants, it helps a bit :smile2: As for the hands mouthing; I would love to pick her up up saying "no nip" and give her a short time out to try for now.

Sometimes she does chew gently, it's almost a lick chew. Shall I stop this too or allow gentle chew drooling?

I give her plenty of rest (and praise), I'm trying to keep to the schedule of: wake up; go for a walk outside (10 min), give her food, train with treats for a few minutes, play time, walk outside, train time, crate. ( about 1 hour) than 2 or 3 hours rest in her crate. Sometimes this goes perfect without mouthing but sometimes she's just too wild from the moment she wakes up.

I gave her the bottle with treats and the sheet tangled with treats for her playtime, fingers crossed this will be a success :biggrin2:


We absolutely agree with the problems being due to owners that's why we are on this forum, to figure out what we can do, where we can correct our behavior.

What I mean with the "rough play" "wild play" is: (games that make her excited/wild) I'm not rough handling her by pushing etc. ( but I am indeed guilty of encouraging her to go beserk in some games :o :( )

1) Her chasing after me/herding when we are outside.
2) Her chasing me inside (here she gets overly excited/wild)
3) me getting her rowdy with a toy that I trow away and getting her more excited by asking her to bring it back in a super excited voice.

So stop all the games that get her in this wild state of mind right? Even the herding outside?
 
Mina'sMommy -- I give her plenty of rest (and praise), I'm trying to keep to the schedule of: wake up; go for a walk outside (10 min), give her food, train with treats for a few minutes, play time, walk outside, train time, crate. ( about 1 hour) than 2 or 3 hours rest in her crate. Sometimes this goes perfect without mouthing but sometimes she's just too wild from the moment she wakes up --

As you probably know, my English is not so good, and maybe I misunderstand something, but in my eyes she gets far too little time outside, she must have some walks, that last much longer she need be out and read "dogs newspaper" and quiet experience the outside world, it is important for her socialization, and she will be so tired of using his nose, and her brain relaxes.

Where is the time when she just is with you in the house or garden, without any activity ???

I know that is usually "over there" to use these crates, which I probably never going to understand. :no:
Do she lies asleep with the door open ??? she has so many hours in the crate. When the door is open so it's ok

I have never had all these problems as I see many here in the forum have. I have the last 30 years had 3 German shepherds - one at a time.

My puppy / dog are with me everywhere when I'm at home, it follows me, if it want, have a pillow or basket to put themselves in when they are tired, or just on the floor (or the couch).
They will not be shut away (crate) so they obey and follow the agenda. and they follow the leader (me). :lol:

As a puppy is the very first thing they learn is, they have to come when called - on command - get rid - things they have in the mouth, both things they learn, so they do it with joy and pride, after that I put requirements on how old they are, i and guides them in the right direction, always with love.

They are only away from me, if I have things where they can not join.

I think I'm saving myself for many disappointments, in this way, as I have always had such happy and obedient dogs. (What people tell me)
oh my god a long answer, just hope you can find some help in it.
 
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Hanne said:
Mina'sMommy -- I give her plenty of rest (and praise), I'm trying to keep to the schedule of: wake up; go for a walk outside (10 min), give her food, train with treats for a few minutes, play time, walk outside, train time, crate. ( about 1 hour) than 2 or 3 hours rest in her crate. Sometimes this goes perfect without mouthing but sometimes she's just too wild from the moment she wakes up --

As you probably know, my English is not so good, and maybe I misunderstand something, but in my eyes she gets far too little time outside, she must have some walks, that last much longer she need be out and read "dogs newspaper" and quiet experience the outside world, it is important for her socialization, and she will be so tired of using his nose, and her brain relaxes.

Where is the time when she just is with you in the house or garden, without any activity ???

I know that is usually "over there" to use these crates, which I probably never going to understand. :no:
Do she lies asleep with the door open ??? she has so many hours in the crate. When the door is open so it's ok

I have never had all these problems as I see many here in the forum have. I have the last 30 years had 3 German shepherds - one at a time.

My puppy / dog are with me everywhere when I'm at home, it follows me, if it want, have a pillow or basket to put themselves in when they are tired, or just on the floor (or the couch).
They will not be shut away (crate) so they obey and follow the agenda. and they follow the leader (me). :lol:

As a puppy is the very first thing they learn is, they have to come when called - on command - get rid - things they have in the mouth, both things they learn, so they do it with joy and pride, after that I put requirements on how old they are, i and guides them in the right direction, always with love.

They are only away from me, if I have things where they can not join.

I think I'm saving myself for many disappointments, in this way, as I have always had such happy and obedient dogs. (What people tell me)
oh my god a long answer, just hope you can find some help in it.
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Hi Hanne,

I'm not a native English speaker either, your English is very good :)
She can't be outside too long lol, I'm a North Western European but trust me when I say that it's a bit colder here (Pittsburgh) lol it's -18 degrees with layers of snow:eek2:

When we are both home she's out of the crate longer but if we aren't active with her (training or play) it's often a short time before she goes beserk on the rug on or us. When I put her in her crate she often falls quickly deep asleep while otherwise she keeps herself awake and gets funnier/wilder. If she is out playing calmly or taking a nap we leave her be longer ;)

This whole crate thing is new to me too, we never did it in Holland either but I do have to say that lots of US dogs are super well behaved.
 
I think you are on the right track, but it is really hard when she's teething. My current male was hand reared and was also a mouthy pup. He still wants to nip at my ankles when I run. It took some time, but with lots of redirecting he does now look around for something else to put in his mouth other than my leg. I couldn't ever cure him of the need to nip something though (usually it's a stick or his lead).

Part of her training is setting her up for success. You know she will nip if you run, so give her something else to nip. Maybe instead of chasing you tie a toy to a rope and drag that with you when you run - she can chase and nip the toy. I did that with both dogs when they were younger and they loved it. That way her instinct to herd is satisfied and she can still nip something.

When you play, just make sure your hands aren't part of the game. Always put a toy in your hand so she has something else to nip at. Seeing as she will nip atm better that to keep something handy that she is allowed to nip.

With the licking/little chews, I wonder if it is partly some suckling. If it is she will grow out of it. But I would prevent her doing it.
 
Mina'sMommy -I actually thought you were a neighbor to us in "Denmark". :lol::lol:

Yes, the Sheltie is- in itself- a well behaved race.

They are very sensitive, so -to the fact- I have this "back of the head" all the time in the education of Minnie :hugs
 
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