Dog using us as a chew toy

My dog often wants to do those mischievous "puppy" nibbles too. After spending some time with our Doberman rescue organization's trainer, I learned to just gently hold his mouth shut and tell him "no biting" when he gets into that mode. For my dog, I can practically predict when he'll do it. First, he'll roll on to his back. Then he'll start pawing. Next comes that puppy "smile" which immediately precedes the nibbles. Right when he does the "smile" I grab his mouth and let him know that the nipping isn't acceptable. I'm not rough, but it's enough for him to get the point, and he usually keeps on playing but without the nibbles.

Then there was another situation where he would do "drive by" nips. These were precedes by those puppy "idiot runs" when he starts zooming around the yard. Sometimes he would do a little nip as he ran on by. Perfectly timed e-collar corrections stopped these bites.

FWIW, I had initially tried the screaming "OW!" but that never worked with my dog. It appeared to makes the bites more interesting for him!

I went back and looked up this behavior from one of the training classes I went to for puppies. Here's an general over view of how they approached this nipping and mouthing behavior. Its a good read from a general aspect. To me it sounds like the other boys are able to deal with the behavior but the younger one can't. I would get them to all stop rough housing with the dog to stop this behavior.

From St Huberts puppy kindergarten training excerpt.

"Puppy Nipping and Mouthing

Most puppies are perpetual biting machines. Puppies often nip or mouth the clothes and body parts of people and other animals as a part of play and in greeting. Puppy biting, although at times quite annoying and sometimes painful, is, in fact, a normal and essential developmental behavior. At this age, puppies are both actively teething and interacting with their new surroundings and pack members as puppies usually do… with their mouths. Although puppy mouthing is normal and natural and isn’t usually intended to do harm, it can tear clothes and results in cuts and bruises on bare skin. Conversely, the strong jaw of an adolescent or adult dog can inflict serious injury if the dog is not taught to inhibit the force of her bite. Addressing the nipping and mouthing problem in stages will help to teach your puppy to soften her mouth and not use her teeth to get your attention. Be patient. Don’t expect this to work miraculously overnight. Shaping any behavior or eliminating an unwanted behavior takes time. If you are not having success after a month, please speak with your trainer.

• Teaching acceptable behavior. Rather than just focusing on eliminating the biting, you must also think what you really want from your puppy instead. I your puppy nips or mouths people when they pet her, try giving her a tasty bit of food or a chem. Object to occupy her while you pet her, or teach her to sit quietly for a tidbit when you try to pet or greet her.
• Minimizing inappropriate behavior. Never encourage your puppy to grab you or your clothes. If she does or nip you or your clothes, cross your arms and look away from her or walk away from her so she learns that nipping gets no response from you. Don’t laugh, look at her or give in to her play as this rewards the behavior. We do not recommend roughhousing with puppies, since you are inadvertently encouraging her to bite your hands. If your puppy is worse when children are playing, try to keep her separated from the play or put her on a leash so her behavior and be controlled. Never let children tease or excite puppies into nipping and mouthy behavior.
• When your puppy is biting, you must teach her that biting hurts. Puppies are very good at teaching one another this through their interactions and play sessions. If you watch the puppies during playtime, one might nip at another pup a bit too hard and the “victim” will let out a yelp. The result is, play stops. But only momentarily. Dogs don’t hold grudges. They quickly resume play and the “bitee” learns to use her mouth a bit softer to keep the game going. We recommend you use the same technique, one the pup understands. Whenever your puppy places her mouth on your body or clothing, let out a very loud “OUCH” so she knows it hurts (even if it doesn’t, don’t let her know the truth!) For some puppies this will startle them and inhibit their biting. For some puppies, it may actually increase the biting. Try to find the correct pitch that gets the point across. After you yell “OUCH”. Leave the room for 30 seconds – time out - and return, making another attempt. If, after several sessions, the puppy is still biting, ask yourself how much exercise the puppy got that day? If it wasn’t adequate, this may be your answer. If it was, then discontinue this exercise. You may want to try other ways to punish this bite behavior. Try making a loud sound from a whistle or air horn. To make any punishment work whether yelping or loud sounds, you must catch hr in the act, not afterward and you must punish her every time she nips in order for it to work. Pet her quietly or give her a chew toy when she does stop the nipping to reward the calm, relaxed behavior. Don’t punish her by hitting, slapping or kicking or other physical means. This sort of punishment can cause fear or aggression or even make the problem worse. "

I hate being mouthed--so my puppies all learn very young that putting their mouth on any part of me or my clothing stops all interaction immediately.

The information that Kratty just posted is very good in general. The only part I disagree with is the business of treating to distract the puppy. I've seen it done and frankly think it sends at best a mixed message and at worst the message is that if the puppy bites they can then expect to be treated.

I don't hold mouths to stop biting--it rarely will extinguish the behavior and often will be taken by the puppy simply to be another variety of play.

I've had excellence and generally rapid success with stopping the interaction with the puppy as soon as it is obvious that the pup is getting amped up. I like to avoid those needle like puppy teeth entirely if at all possible. But a nip, nibble (they are all bites--and I don't want any!) is an immediate OUCH!!! from me and I leave the area.

It's true that puppies learn bite inhibition from their mother and their litter mates and that is really where it is best taught but I frankly don't want my dogs biting me (even if it is properly inhibited) and my goal is to stop it entirely. They can bite toys, bones, balls etc and in my household the rules are hard and fast.

Consistency in training not to bite is probably the most effective thing you can do. Which is why I don't allow nibbles, little nips etc--dogs don't make the kind of fine differentiations that people do and I really don't care to have to start working the biting kinks out because a puppy who is learning rules doesn't "get" the difference between nip, nibble and bite--I feel you'll have much better success and quicker results by treating it all as a bite....period.