Rescue dog mouthing our other dog

Polmop

Hi, We adopted our rescue dog a couple of weeks ago, he is settling in fine but the past few days when he has been out with our other dog playing he has started mouthing her. Yesterday he was mouthing her throat and she yelped. This is definately play and not more, but how do i stop it.
If i do shout at him he is really scared and is not happy as i dont know the story before we got him.

antw23uk

To be honest if its not done in an agressive way i would let them sort it out between them. She will eventually tell him off.

You could try distraction play but you have to be spot on all the time otherwise you could be doing more harm than good by praising him for the action you dont want :rotfl:

Fosterdog

I have to agree that she will tell him off if he goes too far. When she yelped how did he react?

At least 50% of my foster dogs mouthed a lot when playing with my girl and she is very tolerant but she would tell them in no uncertain terms when they went to far and they would all back off and calm down a bit.

It's no different to children playing, now and again somebody gets hurt but it doesn't mean it was serious or intentional.

Caroline_a

How old is he? If he's under 18 months or so it's quite a natural thing for them to go through - mum dog will usually tell them off, and your dog will too. Dogs usually do sort themselves out - even mine who have been together since younger dog was a tiny pup still play quite hard, and my older dog will tell the little one (ha!! he's not that little!) off in no uncertain terms when the playing gets too rough. If they get too noisy I tell them off, which stops the noise level, but I would say if both dogs are reasonably happy playing, let them sort it out.

Polmop

Hi, he is 12 month old, and he did back off when she yelped.
Thanks

Molly41

My two westies mouth all the time prior to going out for a walk and feeding. It is a game but if Molly yelps and it quickly stops as Pops has gone too far. I do tell them to stop though if it tips over - which it can do which you can tell by the difference in the noises they make.

Sagz_2

At 12 months he's still learning about his new big-boy teeth and what they can do. It's good that he's mouthing as he is learning how far he can go and that play stops if he bites too hard.

If you really want to stop his mouthing you could teach him to carry a toy when you are out on walks.

My 2 spend hours canoodling on the sofa: the little one chews the big ones neck the big one puts the little ones whole head in his mouth and chews! Both have fantastic bite inhibition and have never cause each other damage (although they do sometimes get a bit sticky!).