Another Artie Question

[artiethenewf]

When my husband and I get down on Artie's level to either play or give some affection, he gets excited and goes straight for our face - tooth first. He does not try to bite, but he definitely thinks he should treat us like his litter mates. He also will try to put his whole mouth around the tops or backs of our heads.

When he does it, we close his mouth and give a loud "no," but this then becomes a game. Sometimes I give a toy, but that is never as interesting as my face or head. Arms too.

Any advice? I don't want to give up on snuggling and playing, but both my husband and I currently have small gashes on our faces. Is this typical puppy behavior?

 

[Jorge's mum]

I would stop with the affection as soon as the unwanted behaviour starts, otherwise he won't realise what he is doing is wrong and you don't want this to continue when he is a full grown newf, you just need to become boring to him and remain calm when he displays this behaviour. I watch my dogs around Stanley when he gets too excited around them, they will turn away from him, ignore him like he is not there - they won't feed into his annoying behaviour and he learns that it gets him no where. Whilst you still want to play and greet him if your interaction is bringing his excitement levels too high then you may need to look at how your playing with him etc and be a little calmer in your approach goodluck

 

[YorkvilleNewfie]

My girl is nearly 9 months old, so my memory of this behaviour is still pretty fresh in my mind...(how I wish I could forget!)
Mila was absolutely terrible for a couple of months while teething. I got plenty of unwelcome face, arm, feet, hand and leg play bites at that time. I can't even count how many pants and shirt sleeves she ruined! I tried every training method out there to curb the behaviour, absolutely every one, and still nothing worked. That is until I tried "grounding" her. The moment she would put her mounth on me inappropriately, I would immediately, without a word, grab her collar and walk her into her room (the laundry room) and leave her in there for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, I would let her back out again. I did this every single time she did this. We would joke about it when people would call or come over, saying "Oh, Mila's grounded again!". She was grounded A LOT during that time period. But I've got to say, it worked.

I'd say you should try everything until you find something that works specifically for your dog. Most traditional methods of training don't work for my girl. She's not particularly food or toy motivated and she was a singleton puppy, which I think resulted in her unbelievably obstinate nature. Because of that, I have to get inventive sometimes.

Oh, and remaining calm is a good idea like Jorge's Mum said. We could barely play with Mila during this stage because every time she would get excited, the play biting would get heightened.

 

[artiethenewf]

Thank you both so much for your responses! Kristen, I am so happy to know that Mila did the same thing around this age, and even happier to know that at 9 mos. she has grown out of it!!! Thank you for the advice. I think I will try the "time out" concept with him. Also, Jorge's Mom - you are right. I need to remain calm about it. I'll let you guys know how it goes!