Young puppies mouthing/chewing humans

When we got Molly, she preferred to chew her chew toys....and the furniture. She didn't really want to mouth and chew us, thankfully. So I'm a bit unsure about this one and would like some advice, especially from those who have raised many a young pup and who breed and raise litters.

My neighbour has recently acquired a Jack Russell pup. She had a pup many moons ago, but since then has had small, adult rescues.

The pup is 8 weeks old and is intent on chewing every part of you, and your clothes. He has plenty of chew toys, and I've advised her to tell him 'no' from the start when he mouths and replace said human with something he can chew. He will litterally hang off your arm or hand with a baby puppy growl and his jaws have to be prised off. I know his gums will be sore as he's teething.

She bought a teething toy which has been frozen then given to him, he chews it for a few minutes then gets fed up and wants to chew you again. I've also suggested giving him ice cubes, which apparently helps.

If you're sitting on the floor he'll launch himself at you and try and get up to chew you, if you're sitting on the chair or sofa he'll hang on to your trouser leg and try to proceed to climb up your leg.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks a lot.

Sorry but LOL @ the mental image of the pup climbing up your trousers!

I used to Yelp at Len like another pup would do. he grew out of it eventually.

I'm not kidding you, that's what he does! He's tiny, too. It is really funny but obviously it has to be discouraged from the start.

I'll suggest that she yelps when he does it. I can see the neighbours thinking she has a pack of dogs in the house as she'll be doing it all day long, until he surrenders and goes to sleep.

I do the whole yelping thing too. Seemed to work with Vienna and seems to be working with Quinn too. Just make it loud, sharp and high pitched lol. Shocks them out of chewing anyway lol then you can distract them with a toy they ARE allowed to chew on hehe. x

At that age, everything has to be quite gentle. They are still learning about everything and can be easily scared...yet can also easily learn that unwanted behaviours are good fun.
There is, I am sure, a good article on here about mouthing that will help.

At 8 weeks I pretend to yelp and cry, as another pup would...in an attempt to stop the behaviour, so I will yelp and make a big fuss, then cry like a pup...normally that interrupts the biting, and I will then offer something better...a toy to play with etc. There are allsorts of teething things, there's no reason why an 8 week old pup couldn't have a kong stuffed with it's food for example.

The thing to do with the yelping is keep it calm...too much can over excite.

It is also wise to watch for what the triggers are. Pups will often mouth out of frustration or tiredness...no mad playing etc..best to totally avoid the times it may do it. The pup should also never be rewarded...so no laughing or prasing it inadvertently.

Hope this helps.

We adopted Piper at 12 weeks, she was not a little pup anymore but because she hadn't had much interaction with people (she was found with her siblings and mom hiding in the woods) she had to be taught that mouthing a person was not okay. A source I read recommended yelping once like a puppy would and then walking away. It seems to have worked with her, she knows that anytime she gets rough the fun ends.

To be quite honest I generally yell no really loud when my pups grab me. And all play would stop. But with Chance that didnt work as he would just pull at clothes or something else and thought that was fun too. So I resorted to grabbing his lower jaw when ever he bit at me. Its not painful too them just pretty uncomfortable. I would only hold it for a few seconds but it taught him that biting people was bad and resulted in being uncomfortable and he learned pretty quickly and now will not even accidentally grab onto you, he very careful.

I tried the yelping thing but I realised it made me sound like a squeeky toy and Ben loved that
I have to admit that I am bad and only trained him that mouthing was bad if it hurt
so basically played away but if he got too mouthy I then put my hands behind my back and curled my toes away so he had nothing to chew on
if he didnt stop then he was removed from me - off the bed or sofa or into the other room

I got all excited therre - thought you had a new pup
Know what you mean about the climbing - I was amazed by Bens retractable claws - before he got outside his claws were so sharp you coulb pick him up and hold him to your chest and he would cling on there like a little dog shaped cat