....i don't think this is a big deal, but i'm a bit puzzled by the selectiveness of the behaviour, so thought i'd ask.

teagan has started mouthing my brother and bf. sometimes, i think, 'sharply' perhaps - she's not biting, but....sort of a robust mouthing, i guess.

she's NEVER done this to me.

with my brother and bf, she knows she has to sit to get petted. she gets very excited when she sees them (her sit consists of her butt wiggling all over the place, but, she's sitting). she really, to my eyes, likes both of them, though i couldn't say for certain where she views them, rank-wise (though my brother does take care of her while i'm away, and that is generally fine, despite she seems to have a tendency to act up a bit when i'm gone, even if it's stuff like accidents in the house). the sharp mouthing has taken place when they first come into the house, or when she first sees them outside.

i'm not sure if she's mouthing out of friendliness, and is just overenthusiastic - but both of them have had 'ouch' moments over the past couple of days.

when she does it, i have her sit away from them for a moment.

luc mouths me, but he doesn't bite at all - he just likes to put his mouth over my hand and sort of keep my hand in there - and since teagan doesn't do it to me, i'm not sure how to evaluate this - just a bit too much, but friendly, or....? is removing her, like i've been doing, the correct approach?

doh! just found this thread: http://leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/211333/page/0/fpart/3

should have done a better search

i guess my question is, is she nipping them, since she's causing minor pain, or is this going past nipping? either way, i know i can't allow it, just not sure if i should be correcting or redirecting her into obedience or something. she's definitely very excited to see them - she's also very excited to see me, when i come home, but never has nipped me.

Hey Jen,

Are you having them wait or ignore her until she's in a calmer state before petting or paying attention to her?
Or is those one of those instances where it doesn't matter if they wait, she'll do this behaviour anytime they try to pet her?
In my mind, if they pet her while she's in that state, she's being rewarded for it.
do they stop petting her the second she becomes mouthy? Or do they keep trying to pet her?

or have you already tried the "ignoring" thing?

it's a pretty new behaviour....i think she's done it....3 times? of those times, 2 times were shortly after greeting her, once was after my brother had been there for awhile.

they do stop petting her the second she becomes mouthy (ouch! and pull away), and then i have her sit away from them for a few moments. i would say there's varying degrees of how playful she's being....once, my brother said 'she bit me!' but then it seemed like she'd mouthed....i think he was mostly startled. my bf feels like it's playfulness that's a bit too much.

she's always leashed, so i do have the ability to easily remove her.

i used to have her be ignored for quite a while, b/c she was jumping up on my family and bf. we progressed to where we are now, but maybe we need to go back to that.

not sure, b/c, like i said, once it was well after the initial greeting, so i don't think it was related to being overly excited at first greeting.

does she stop the behaviour when they say ouch?

It does sound like she's playing like pups do.
But Now would be the time to nip it in the bud (no pun intended)
I would first try re-directing and see how that goes.
Does she understand no yet?
Does she stop when you say No, or does she just stop and then go at it again?
If those fail, i would use a physical correction (but based on how old she is of course).
I was never a big one for letting puppies bite (once they were past a certain stage that is) and would use a correction just to show it was un-acceptable behaviour.
But i would definately try the other 2 before going for the physical correction (and yes, I know "no" is basically a verbal correction, but you know where Im going...lol...I hope)

oh, teagan's not a puppy....she's 6.5 years old. she understands no (eta: i adopted her 11.5 months ago! we're coming up on a year)

i try to use physical correction as little as possible, though she is a relatively hard dog and accepts physical corrections with no problem.

my concern is - she does show rank-driven tendencies on occasion....i don't think she's dominant, but i don't want something to grow and end up being a problem with her behaviour. on the otherhand, i don't want to overreact just b/c it's teagan and her teeth.

she does have a history of aggression, both with dogs and with humans, though i would say the human stuff is for the most part fairly mild - corrections/warnings (not saying i tolerated it, and i think it's past being an issue at this point, though i guess i am a bit more cautious about 'is this just play?' or not given that history). that said, her 'she meant it' bites were totally different, from my perspective, than these excessive mouthings. edited again to add: and her 'she meant it' bites were still restrained, she showed inhibition, even if she was being serious.

i have in the past corrected her for aggression....but what i've mostly tried to do, and maybe this is wrong, but redirect her as much as possible. she will never be trustworthy around strange dogs, i firmly believe, but she can learn the behaviour i expect, and for the most part she has, though she's perfectly willing to exploit any lapse in attention on my part to cease to perform the behaviour i expect. i feel like, she will obey me and what i want, but i can't override her aggressive reaction - i can have her sit when there's a dog on the other sidewalk, and just feel her vibrate through the leash, though she'll remain in a sit. she just waits for an opportunity, which obviously i have to take precautions that she doesn't have.

....which is a bit off-topic.

shoot, sorry i thought you were talking about the new pup!
lol...
ok well that totally changes it.

Now that I know it's Teagan I would say a correction is definately in order. Now, what type of correction is at your discretion.
But, if re-direction and verbal don't work, of course the next step is a leash correction (i think you said you have her on a leash when they enter your place).

Time the correction perfectly though. I would watch very closely and as soon as you see her even reaching for the hand I would correct, or even just try to re-direct by calling her name.
I find that sometimes work's with Tucker. I've learned to read him very well and I can generally stop the behaviour even before it starts by just calling his name so he turns to focus on me.
He also has a mouthing habit, not biting, he just seems to like to show his excitement by grabbing onto a hand or forearm and mouthing.
What concerns me is the part where you said she did it one time well after the initial greeting.
What were the circumstances then?
Anything that would trigger her trying to possibly show a bit of dominance?

well, neb has bitten both of them (puppy biting), but we just redirect, like our FR trainer says

i guess it's new enough i haven't started watching for it.

also, b/c my brother does take care of the dogs when i'm gone, i don't watch him as closely with the dogs as i would a stranger. probably a bad habit.

when she did it after the initial greeting....i don't think my brother had done anything - maybe some slight movement, but if i recall he'd actually stopped paying so much attention to her, though he was next to her and was talking to me, when she did it. hmmm, maybe there's an answer there as well....

maybe i'll take what i'm doing with her dog aggression - watch, try to catch it and have her sit or down before she gets the chance to do it. i'll see how that goes. b/c she's in the house, she's usually on a flat or martingale collar when she's out with me. i've actually stopped using the prong as much outside, as well, b/c she is doing well, and i'm not worried about her breaking it - when i had her in a prong outside, i'd have her clipped into that and the martingale, but i don't think i've lost any safety by just going to the martingale. she is still muzzled outside, of course. but i'll try to work it that way before doing any sort of physical correction. i'm trying to look at most of this stuff as training opportunities, and a chance for us to be a stronger team together.