Puppy Mouthing At Other Dogs

[BelleBot]

How do I stop Fenrir from mouthing/biting other dogs?
The vast majority of the time Fenrir is lovely with other dogs, he's very well behaved, he'll sometimes try and initiate play by hunkering down and wagging his bum in the air, but he'll soon get the message if the other dog doesn't want to play.
However with 3 dogs so far he's mouthed/gone to bite the other dog. It's happened with 2 puppies, one a very bouncy cocker spaniel and the other a very bouncy doberman. And today apparently it happened with a fully grown staffy (I didn't see it, I got told by the staffy's owner).

The doberman's reaction was to mouth back and play, and the owners just recognised it as rough play but we discouraged it anyway. The cocker spaniel was much the same but her owner got really antsy and worried so I kept Fenrir away and stopped all interaction. The staffy's response was to growl at Fenrir and Fenrir kept his distance but the owner wasn't best pleased as apparently Fenrir made the first move by mouthing/biting. I didn't see or hear anything so I'm not sure what happened exactly, but I'll take the owner's word for it.


I really don't want people to think Fenrir is attacking their dogs, how can I discourage this behaviour? I praise him when he interacts well with other dogs which is most of the time, but he doesn't respond to food out on walks so I can only give verbal praise and I'm not sure how well that gets through to him.

At first I thought it was just bouncy puppies he was like this with, but today's incident with the staffy has concerned me. I really don't want him to continue like this when he's a big dog.

I'd love any advice you can give.

Here's a picture of my growing boy as I know you all love pictures.

[Removed #5]

I can think of at least a couple of examples of what you're seeing here, so with that said:

1)  He's a puppy, like human children, they like to explore and puppies explore with their mouths.  That's also how they play since they don't have any hands.  My normal caveat here, as long as there's no major blood he's not doing anything that any other puppy wouldn't do, let them play.

2)  As far as the adult staffy, there's a thing called "puppy license" - an adult dog will let a puppy ( up to about 6 months old ) get away with mayhem.  It's a natural part of puppy development.  When said puppy over-steps his boundaries, the staffy will let him know - in no uncertain terms - but won't hurt him when he does. rereading, the Staffy's growl was his "suggestion" that Fenir was getting too playful and he needed to back off, quite normal.

 

If you try to stop this behaviour, you are interfering with a very normal part of puppy development and it may just bite you in the end (pun intended).  When a puppy gets over zealous with another puppy that puppy will cry and back off ( that's what we suggest a human do when a puppy gets over zealous, right? ).  This is when and how a puppy learns bite inhibition among a lot of other 'doggish' rights and wrongs.

As far as the other people being concerned, I'm sorry, that's their problem.  If you want a dog that doesn't know how to "bite gentle" (in play) then feel free to stop them - but as I said, you're putting the future of the dog at risk.

 

edit:  Accept the fact that Husky's play rougher than most other dogs ... that's not a problem.  Will he outgrow the mouthing and playfulness, probably, but it's not going to be tomorrow - he'll probably be a playful puppy for  another year ...

 

Sorry ....

[Removed #5]

BelleBot has been on-line a couple of times and checked this thread ("Who read this thread?" comes in handy)

 

Thinking that she may not have appreciated my comment ... someone else???

[BelleBot]

I do appreciate the comment, I've just been online on my phone and don't like replying on such a tiny screen.

 

So I guess it's a case of educating the other owners that he's just exploring with his mouth/playing and it's a puppy thing. He doesn't cause any damage when he mouths/bites, but it does seem to make other owners thinks he's aggressive or attacking their dog. I guess I'm just apprehensive over what other owners think even though I know he's not an aggressive dog.

[valkyries]

you'll find when he's an adult you'll still get the same reaction from most other dog owners, they don't understand huskys play hard and will walk the other way xxx

[PiercedMrsP]

Glad you posted this BelleBot (not glad you've had issues, but you know what I mean). On our last couple of big walks on the local common with Keeta where she's come across other dogs she has been doing much the same. At first it was only with a couple of small dogs so we thought maybe it was a prey drive thing and kept her away but last time she was "biting" at all the dogs she came across, including a huge Great Dane. None of them seemed particularly impressed by her behaviour, and their owners certainly weren't, so we were wondering what we were going to do abut it. I did a load of research and figured she was trying to get the other dogs to play but that maybe she didn't realise biting/mouthing wasn't necessarily the right way to go about it.

Keeta isn't a pup (she's 4) but we think she only had interaction with the 2 dogs she grew up with (a big older male husky and a smaller Heinz 57) and didn't really get walked much so had little interaction with "stranger" dogs so I guess she probably never learned the polite way of inviting play. Does anyone have any idea how to get her to be a bit more "polite"? Even a bum wiggling in the air would be better lol

Sorry to hijack you're thread a bit BelleBot!

[Steve]

I agree with Al on this. Huskies do play rough. Best thing is if you got to know fellow dog walkers who don't mind, time your walks to coincide and just let them get on with it. I have one friend with a rough playing cross husky, and it does sometimes scare me to see how far the skin can stretch on my dog's neck, but I don't interfere if they don't complain...and they love the tussle. She brings her dog round to my garden so they can play off lead. Definitely pays to have friends with huskies, as they do tend to know how to play with each other. Most importantly, they will let each other know when they've had enough or need to moderate how hard they are biting. They're also the same age - 18 months, which helps.

[Removed #5]

PiercedMrsP - when a dog wasn't able to learn how to play as a puppy and then wants to play when they're older it's a tough thing to tackle - for both the dog and the owner!

I have two dogs here, Avalanche - my Alaskan "puppy" (at 2.5 yrs he's still a BIG puppy) and Sasha - a rescue Sibe who at - let's say - 3 has very little idea of how to play.  To say that this combination has gotten "interesting" is to put it mildly. 

I've had Sasha now for about 8-9 months and she's beginning to realize that what Avalanche wants is to have some fun (( c'mon, ya ol' 'biddy! )) I've had a few good spats where she told him to leave her alone - didn't work for her; I've had a couple of serious "discussions", which also didn't work ( as I said, Avalanche is nothing more than a big dumb puppy! )

There is a certain amount of interaction that isn't "I want to play!!" --- "Leave me alone!!!" so Sasha is finally beginning to lighten up and play somewhat - she still really doesn't seem to be sure what this is all about, but also isn't snapping at him every time he initiates play.  We have a common ball that she will tease him with, so she's getting the idea.

What your dog is doing ( and my Avalanche does ) is the equivalent of human teasing, it's saying "I didn't learn how to play right, but I know I can a reaction if I tease you!" and the thing is, most dogs realize what's going on which is why they were, to use your words, not too impressed with her behaviour.

Now for the "Ah, what to do ....???" If you constantly "correct" her, obviously, incorrect behaviour, she'll never learn how to play.  "So I should just let her go up and 'bite' a strange dog??" Well, no ... that's going to be frowned on as well ..

What I would suggest is to locate someone who has a large dog (Husky playmate size) and let them play - as long as it is play.  If it looks like it's going to get out of hand then you stop it. She, like Sasha, will gradually learn to play by playing.  It may get nerve wracking as they "adjust" "to each other, but in the long run - and this may take months - it be well worth it.

... and you haven't really hijacked the thread, this is the opposite side of what you get when a puppy wasn't allowed to be a puppy and learn how to play.

 

edit:  Steve's timing and pictures are perfect!!!  Those are the pictures of two Husky's having a ball.  It'll look like - and sound like - mayhem and murder but, as he says, when enough is enough they'll let each other know. 

Thanks for the photos, Steve ....

[PiercedMrsP]

Thanks Al, that's some very good advice. She does seem to be trying to get a reaction out of the dogs she meets and the are no signs of aggression like growling, hackles, teeth baring or anything. One feisty little Jack Russell she met gave her nose a bit of a nip and had a bit of a growl at her which seemed to be his way of saying "I'm not interested" so some of them are telling her I'm just not sure she's getting the message! Steve's pictures are very helpful - I think that's the sort of thing she wants to engage the other dogs with. They do look like they're having a real good scrap lol

Unfortunately most of our friends are either not dog owners or only have little dogs so we'll have to expend some effort finding some people with bigger dogs willing to let them play with her. Unfortunately we don't have a nice proper dog park anywhere near us where we could take her. Will have to see if there is a walking group or something locally who might be willing to help. I wonder if you can get puppy socialisation classes for adult dogs?!

[LittleLuka]

Mine mouth all over each other when playing. I was fortunate to already have Luka when I found my Knox (pitbull mix) because Luka taught him bite inhibition basically. He lets Knox know when he has had enough. However that is rare because well he is a husky.

I wouldn't interrupt play or you'll have a huge issue breaking him of mouthing later and I specifically mean mouthing you.

[king tyson]

Sorry for hijacking the thread but there was no point on starting a new one on the same topic..my husky is 17 months and he just recently starting growling when he plays with other dogs, not all of them which is wierd..I took him to the dog park for the first time in a few months and of course he was excited, he was playing with a malamute just fine both trying to dominate the other after a while, after a lab came in and my boy didn't like him one bit even tho the lab was very submissive, my boy kept going after him and really trying to bite him, it would start as a normal rough play then my husky would be get mad so I had to stop him, I have him timeouts and nothing worked so I guess maybe he just didn't like him...took him back to the same park a week after and he was still growling when he plays and I'm scared that he will keep doing it until he gets angry and hurt someone's dog, he has never shown this behavior till recently, so what do you guys think the problem is? Overall he's a quite nice dog, very sociable so I don't know if it's the fact that he hasn't gone to the park in a while.

Thanks

[king tyson]

Can anyone explain please?

[Elyse]

I think you should start a new thread - its no problem for us...and you'll probably get answers because, right now, people have probably assumed you're replying to give the OP some suggestions. 

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

Is he actually being aggressive or just vocal? Mine sound horrible when they play together but it is just play

[king tyson]

That's the thing tho, he seems fine but at random

Time he gets really vocal where he gets mad..I have no explanation except maybe he's trying to establish dominance or the fact that there are some dogs he doesn't like because they are dominant also...he's well socialize and I've gotten compliment on how great he is with all types of dogs but lately it's been wierd he's vocal and that one time he wanted to fight that lab/husky mix for no reason, the dog did not do anything and my boy kept picking on him

[king tyson]

The other day we ran into another 4 month old husky and he kept jumping on my boys face and biting him and he growled to let him know to stop but another big dog walked by and my boy just kept growling at him and wanted to go at him

[CARRINGTON]

Balto plays extremely rough with all other dogs no matter how small or how big (yes he will go after a dog to play that is twice his size and can knock him out with one paw) for some reason those are his favorite dogs to play with. It is normal and neither leave hurt. However, we do try to keep him away from small dogs playing to rough because he likes to initiate play by stepping on their backs and for some breeds that can kill them. If the other dogs don't mind then I say let him play that way he will know when enough is enough when the other dogs let him know that is enough.

[king tyson]

The thing about that is I don't want him or the other dog to get hurt...i guess I'm just scared that If he keeps growling he will become angry and start fights resulting in him gettin hurt or hurting other dogs

[king tyson]

The thing about that is I don't want him or the other dog to get hurt...i guess I'm just scared that If he keeps growling he will become angry and start fights resulting in him gettin hurt or hurting other dogs

[Storm Angel n Auroras Mum]

auroras very snappy with my two but they do tell her off. and also she tells them when theyre too rough.

[unison24]

My dog is the same way. Most of the time dogs put her in her place because she wants to play rough and a lot of dogs do not like that.