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Very Mouthy Foster Dog
Hi All! We have a foster dog, Fletcher, who is somewhere between 3-5 years old. He is a staffy boxer mix and we’ve had him for about 5 or 6 months. He is a really sweet dog but sometimes he gets so energized and starts playbiting us with really hard bites. He is in recovery from pneumonia from when they found him on the street. We are able to walk him but we’ve been told to not overdue any kind of exercise so that it irritates his lungs. I suspect that if we were able to exercise him more perhaps he would be calmer especially in the evening. As it stands we give him enrichment toys, boxes filled with smaller boxes and paper filled with treats, so he can tear them apart, he gets bully sticks, he eats from a slow feeder and a Kong. I don’t know what else to do in order to reduce his energy level! Tonight for the first time he play bit me hard enough that it broke the skin. I want to help him stop playbiting altogether, if possible. We’ve tried ignoring it, I know we need to wear more layers of clothing so that we can ignore it better. Does anybody have any other ideas as to things we can do to stop the play biting or to enrich his day even more, if that’s the problem, without additional physical exercise? Thank you for any suggestions!!
Andi
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11 Replies
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Hi @andi ,
It sounds like you’re already providing many wonderful enrichment outlets for Fletcher. Something you might add is treasure hunts or food hides around the house so he has to use his nose to locate the food or toys or food puzzles. I’d leverage most of his daily rations for the enrichment activities. Try to schedule them at times when he’s most likely to get overly aroused and begin mouthing.
It’s a bit of a pickle due to him not being able to engage in some energy-draining aerobic exercise. But I don’t think ignoring the mouthing is going to be a useful strategy — the activity itself probably feels good or fun to him, so he may not need your attention or acknowledgement to reinforce it.
I bet you’re already doing training with him — what skills have you been focusing on? You might want to add TOUCH (hand targeting) to his repertoire so he learns to do something other than biting when making contact with human flesh.
If the mouthiness happens somewhat predictably, i.e., at certain times of day or in specific contexts, one option may be to tether him to something sturdy at those specific times — you’d then remain in that tether zone with him, giving him a food puzzle and/or interesting things to chew on. But you’ll be ready to mark the very beginning of mouthing with a word (like STOP) and if he doesn’t stop right away (which he won’t, almost certainly, at first), you can instantly step out of his tether zone and ignore him for a bit. Wait for him to calm down and then return. Repeat as needed. Done consistently, he should come to recognize the STOP word and cease the mouthing attempts because he doesn’t want to lose your company.
I know how painful this sort of over-aroused mouthing can be, and I don’t think people should have to just endure it. One other option is to try a taste repellent on your clothes to see if that has any impact.
Looking forward to reading ideas from other DD members.
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Thank you Virginia! Those are a lot of great ideas! I’m going to try them one by one and let you know how they work!! ???? Andi
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Good luck, @andi — I’m looking forward to feedback.
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Well I am happy and surprised to report that the tethering with a brain game has worked! I know he really LOVES looking for food plus the tethering seems to calm him. Maybe he has been over stimulated this entire time?! Last night I sat in the tether zone and offered a couple of find the food games. He did remarkably well! He didn’t play bite anyone! Tonight I was not home during the bewitching hour so I left some games already prepared with instructions for my family. When I got home I was told that he completed one puzzle and jumped on the couch and went to sleep! I am really surprised at how easy this was! I am also sad that I didn’t reach out for help sooner!
Thank you again, Virginia! This has been a wonderful eye-opener and will help me with my training clients as well!! ????❤
Andi ????
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YAY!! So glad it helped!
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Oh what a wonderful change for this boy! @andi and @virginiad . Yay yay YAY!!!
I loved your suggestions, too, Virginia. I will definitely keep those at hand. It seems there are more mouthy dogs who need to learn other ways to get human attention.
It does make it difficult to find ways to exercise with the physical limitations due to the pneumonia.
Thank you both for sharing this conversation. He sounds like a great dog.
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Paula, He really is a great dog! We love him so much and plan to adopt him as soon as his lungs are clear! ❤ And, I am using Virginia’s suggestions for one of my mouthy student puppies! I see them tomorrow! Crossing my fingers that it goes half as well! ???? I’ll let you all know how it gies! ????
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Ooooh, @andi , you have to share feedback after your see your client’s mouthy puppy. ????????
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@andi
Oh, I’m so happy for you that Virginia helped you out with her advice. Such a beautiful turnaround!
Also very exciting to have this plan available to help your mouthy student puppy. I agree that I am keeping this plan on my training arsenal.
This community is sheer GOLD!!!
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Agreed!!!
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Interesting topic. Thanks for brining it up, and I’m glad it worked!
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