Mouthing / gnawing behaviour - help ?

hi, first day here and already asking for help.

so dont look at what degree i am doing.lol

anyhows, oscar has this tenedency to like mouth/naw blankets and my duvet, he doesnt tear them or anything but it is kinda annoying, and i would pefer he didnt.

i am not sure if its just him settling in but tbh by now it looks like its something else.

i am taking him to the vets next week for health check and stuff, few things i want to check, but his eeth look ok but might be due to pain elsewhere maybe.

i aint toatlly sure, so was wondering if anyone had encountered it before because i havent.

any help much appreciated

thanks

Hi ceiron Quite a lot of dogs mouth things, I think it is originally done for comfort or out of boredom and becomes a habit has Oscar got toys to chew and play with ? I find Nylabones are good and he may like a kong try to distract him by substituting an item or toy he is allowed to chew for those he is not. It is a good idea to get his mouth checked.

when we took taya on about8mths ago-she came with her "comfort blanket"-an old sleeping bag,which she would mouth & sort of suck a bit like a baby would with a dummy,she would go 2 sleep like this 2!that all stopped when her and the other dogs took great delight in shredding it.she has never done it 2 anything else until a couple of weeks ago when one of my boys was poorly and layin on the sofa with his duvet over him,when she almost immediately layed on him and did the same thing 2 his quilt! maybe oscar has a "comfort thing" for quilty types too-if he doesnt seem to want to destroy it,maybe he could have one of his own?

lol, as i sit here with him tearing his blanket

he seems content if i leave him with access to his blanket and bed, just plays with them.

need a few chew toys i think.

he has a knarly white bone thing treat.

dunno what thjey called and a calcium tripe filled thing.lol

but no toys as such.

**goes to ebay.lol

p.s. he ahd a nylabone thing and he ate that withoin an hour

I wouldn't make too much of it at the moment as he's bound to be feeling a bit stressed - just make sure there are lots of alternatives around for him to chew on

My dog Bailey does this if he can't find any toys. So it might go away if you give him something else to mouth or chew. Try different toys, some hard some soft, big, small etc. Then you can see what he likes to chew or play with

Sorry to hijack the thread,but rather than start a new one about Mouthing/Gnawing i want to ask for advice about Ossie.He likes to gnaw/mouth my hands a lot,he is rough with me but with the kids he does it a lot more gently.However if we have people round he gets very excited and will gnaw their hands a lot.I am aware that he is playing,but is this asking for trouble? We all know that a Staffie has a very strong jaw so as he gets older will he just get worse or should i totally stop this gnawing on hands now? There may not be a definative answer to this,but i have never had a dog that does this up until now.So any advice will be greatfully recieved.

It is a good idea to teach bite inhibition rather than to teach the dog that human skin must never be touched by teeth. This article explains how to teach a pup to inhibit the force of its bite: http://www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/berner1/bitestop.htm

Thank you SB,A very interesting and useful article,much appreciated.