Episode 101: If It's In My Mouth, It's Mine!

The Dog Professor, Robb Lust, from the Edgefield Animal Care Center, talks about "if it's in the dogs mouth, it belongs to them!" So how do i control my dog when he likes to bite and play tug-of-war all the time? The Dog Profesor is here to help!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Jordan Mean Studio is the Dog ProfessorRob Lusts from the edge Field to Animal
Care Center. It is another episodeof the Dog Professor podcast, and today
we are talking about your lovable dogsthat say, if it's in my mouth,
it is mine. Correct, correct, correct. It's something always a
problem and it starts, you know, when when dogs are pups, and

(00:21):
a lot of times, you know, we've talked about this before, there
are certain behaviors that you know,owners encourage and biting, grabbing, controlling
things with their mouth is is definitelyone of those things that owners tend to
accidentally encourage as along. So whenpups start growing, you know, you

(00:42):
first get a young pup, everybody'scomplaint is always about, oh my gosh,
those when's he going to get ridof those needle like teeth that they
have because they're biting and chewing allthe time and this and that, and
a lot of people make a hugemistake during this time period with their pup
and I see it all the time. It just drives me bananas as they

(01:03):
let the dog actually chew on theirhand, you know. And the dog
rule is there's just a few dogrules, and we talked about them before
the dog in front is the dogin charge, the dog on top of
the dog in charge, and ifit's in my mouth, I own it,
okay. So their mouth becomes basicallya hand. So anything they put
in their mouth, in their mind, they're they're taking ownership of it.

(01:26):
And if you decide you're going totake it out, you're gonna have to
fight for it. We got aproblem. Yeah, So I see owners
all the time. They're letting theseyoung pups because the pups going through their
teething stage, and we've talked aboutpuppies needing outlets for that type of chewing
when they're young, sometimes something hard, sometimes something soft, depending on what

(01:47):
they're feeling that day as they're tryingto get rid of those baby teeth and
get those adult teeth in. Butthe something soft should never be yours,
a part of your body or yourclothing or any of your property or anything
like that. That is not whatwe're talking about in that case, because
of the ramifications of dominance that isestablished with a pup at that stage.

(02:09):
All right, when they take whenthey train, and we talked about this
in the hundredth episode a week orso ago, when they train police canine
dogs. Those dogs are trained toput something in their mouth, tear it
off, and then walk around withit as a trophy. It builds that
dog's confidence that they are in controland they're dominant over that situation. Well,

(02:34):
that's not something just magical that theylearned. That is a dog trait
that's been established with a pup sincethey've been growing, and the first steps
to get them to that point isto give them something and then try to
fight it out of their mouth.You actually develop a pup's ability to hold
on to something and fight for somethingwhen you engage them with tug of war,

(02:59):
right, okay? Or you knowI've seen, like I've said,
like we started this out, peoplelet the puppy chew on their hand and
they go, well, I justthen I tell him know if it gets
too hard, Well, no,that's not the point. He doesn't understand.
He understands what the limits are.But you've already passed step number one
by letting him put your hand inhis mouth. Now you know what the

(03:21):
rules are when your pup has thatinteraction with you. Your neighbor or your
friend that comes to the house doesnot know that those are the rules here.
That in the pup's mind, giveme your hands so I can put
it in my mouth, because that'swhat my mom lets me do, or
that's what my dad lets me door whatever. So it's never, ever,
ever a good idea to allow anypart of your body into a puppy's

(03:45):
mouth. And why is this anatural behavior for them? Watch puppies with
other dogs, or watch older dogswith other dogs. In their world,
they instigate battles for dominance, whetherthey be knocked down, drag out rounders
where somebody's bleeding at the end ofit, or whether it's just a quick
wrestling match to see who's going tobe the boss today. Those are always

(04:09):
invited to take place by a youngerdog going up, usually and grabbing or
biting on something, whether it bethe older dog themselves, or whether it
be something that the older dog looksat as a possession or whatever. That's
the game. I go up,I put it in my mouth. Now
what are you going to do aboutit? That's what they're doing in those
cases. Okay, It's not likegiving a baby a pacifier or a security

(04:32):
blanket or something like that. It'sbasically the dogs saying I'm in control of
what's in my mouth at this pointin time. So rule is always anytime
to teach a puppy how to actcorrectly, to start to teach a puppy
where they fit in within the hierarchyof the house, because that's important.
If you don't teach it, somebodyelse will. And if you have multiple

(04:54):
dogs in the house we've talked aboutthis in a couple episodes, the older
dogs will start to teach that puppywhat's appropriate and not appropriate, and they
do it by biting. Okay,So when your puppy puts your hand in
his mouth, it's always a no. It's always figurative bite back on your
part. Okay, now, don'tbite the puppy, all right, come

(05:15):
on, people. But my pointis you have to respond like another dog
would, and in that case itis usually a startle correction, like a
quick no or or whatever. Butlong story short, we do not let
the dog put our hand in hismouth and chew on it and to make
him feel comfortable ever. Ever,the other thing I see a lot with
not so much with pups, butas dogs get older and we start to

(05:38):
go out and take him for walksand everything else is the old leash in
the mouth. Okay, look,my dog's walking himself. He's carrying his
leash in his mouth. Yes,he is walking himself, and you are
being drug along for the ride.Okay, you are nothing but a weight
at the end of that leash atthat point in time, because in his
mind, once that leash is inhis mouth, he is back in control
of the walk and you are nolonger in control of the walk. And

(06:00):
why does it occur. It usuallyoccurs once you start taking control of the
walk. The dog says, well, fine, I'm not gonna do let
you do this. I'm driving thisbus. And that's when they grab the
leash, put it in their mouth, and then we're back to fighting with
him the game. Okay, thisgoes a little bit back to the tug
of war episode we talked about.But these are all things that dog shows
you your hand, the leash,toys. You see dogs interact with toys.

(06:26):
You know, where everybody I gotthree dogs, everybody gets the exact
same toy. Because we're all aboutfairness and everything. And at the end
of the day, my French bulldoghas all three toys in the bed.
Why because she's the big be incharge. Of things. Okay, that's
that's just how she is, andshe's the smallest and it doesn't matter.

(06:46):
In her mind, everything belongs toher and she's willing to fight for it.
Therefore, you know she doesn't haveto fight for it at all.
They're all hers anyway. So mypoint is is that it's not a matter
of comfort or chewing comfort or security. A lot of times when it comes
to a young pupp that wants tograb everything or bite at you or bite

(07:09):
at your shoe or your pant legor whatever, ninety nine point nine percent
of the time, it's the puptrying to go, Okay, can I
control this situation? Or can Inot control this situation. So let's say
we're in that puppy stage, okay, and we're getting we're dealing with this
play biting, and we're trying toget it under control. The worst way

(07:29):
to deal with the play biting isthe moment the puppy bite. You want
is to run away and put thepuppy away. Okay, you have to
They learn by action reaction. We'vetalked about this over and over again,
and it's not one action, onereaction, and the puppy has learned for
the rest of their life. Ithas to be over and over and over
again. I didn't ace math thefirst day I went to math class.

(07:51):
I don't know that I ever acedit, to be honest, but I
did get better at it over constantpractice. Okay. And that's the same
way with it it is with yourpup. So how we deal with puppy
play biting right away is we getthe pup out, and the first thing
we do before we start tackling allthis other stuff. What do you think
the first thing we do is witha pup when we're going to start to

(08:13):
learn to control, well, weput them on a leash. Oh my
gosh, ding ding ding win orwinter chicken. Yes. Why because you
can't teach a student if you're allowedto run out of the classroom. Yeah,
okay, So we get them usedto have an a leash and collar
on. That's the first thing thatchips away at this idea that they're going
to run the show when they comeinto the pack. Then we get down
when a puppy's really juiced up,and we play with them. We play

(08:35):
with around their ears, we playaround their face. I'm actually at that
point inviting the play biting. WhyBecause if I can push the button and
bring out the action that I wantto fix, it's that much easier rather
than me being surprised by the actionwhen I'm not prepared to respond to it.
Okay, so we invite that actionas soon and I'm not talking about,

(08:56):
well, that's a hard bite.I better correct that that one was
a soft bite. I'm not.No. As soon as I feel any
part of the inside of that puppy'smouth on my skin, that's when I'm
given a correction. And if myfingers are my hand are in the puppy's
mouth, I'm grabbing some part ofthe puppy's jaw at that point, along

(09:16):
with saying a sharp, stern,startling no. So I can grab the
bottom jaw, I can grab thetop jaw, I can grab whatever,
and a quick little squeeze in ano. Now. What that does is
it startles a pup for a secondalong with the no. So we have
the noise correction, and we havesomething that the puppy feels very much the
same as when Mom bites and givesa quick woof or whatever. It's the

(09:37):
same exact correction. Stop getting thisidea that it's mean that you do this.
This is what old or more dominantdogs do. But I'm not going
away, Okay, I go rightback to the play that we just did
and try to invite another response.Now, since the puppy was a little
bit surprised and startled by the reactionthey out the last time they put they're

(10:01):
going to be a little bit morecautious. And if I'm petting around the
ears, petting around the face,and the puppy decides not the play bite
me, then what's the puppy gettingin return at that moment? The puppies
getting all the love that they want. So it's not hard for a puppy
to understand. When I went tobite, I got a reaction that I

(10:26):
wasn't comfortable with. But if I'mnot putting my mouth on that thing that
keeps rubbing around my ears and faceand everything else, that thing keeps rubbing
around my ears and face, whichI really enjoy. So no, no
no brainer here, I'm gonna quitputting that thing in my mouth, all
right. So you have to havethat back and forth re reaction reaction response

(10:46):
with your dog for them for apuppy to really learn I push this button.
Bad, I push this button good. Everything I want I get,
So I'm going to push this buttoninstead, same way. The problem is
is that as a dog gets older, it doesn't become so much about getting
the attention because most owners, withmost dogs, if the negative attention that

(11:09):
a dog gets from you is nottoo bad, it's as good as positive
attention. Correct. Okay, solet's all visualize the Golden retriever that has
just had his leash put on himand he's all juiced up, and the
first thing he does is grab holdof the leash because he knows his owner
will start hollering about this word noand then start fighting for the leash with

(11:33):
the golden retriever, which is exactlywhat the golden retriever wanted and why they
grab the leash to begin with,because they know that the owner will get
frustrated after a minute or two releasethe leash. Okay, Which to the
dog who has one goal today,not twenty or not not five appointments,
they got to attend to one goaltoday, and one goal today is to

(11:56):
win a game that they get youinvolved with. And he just did it.
He got you to quit the tugof war game because you got frustrated
and went away, and that's whatinstigates the grabbing of the leash. The
next time we get the leash outand everything else is because they go,
oh, yeah, you're going tocontrol me. No, not today ha,
and then here we go. Sothe point is this becomes another training

(12:18):
exercise. Well, like we talkedabout a couple couple episodes before, when
people want to take their dog fora walk, they're not interested in training
their dog. They're interested in gettingthe walk done and trying to burn the
energy from the dog so they cango about doing what they want to do
the rest of the day. Soregardless of how the dog is acting,
they still take the dog on thewalk. So that's where you see people

(12:41):
walking around the block with the dog, with the dog having the leash in
their mouth. The walk is moreimportant than doing it in control. Okay,
And that's why we've been training dogsfor thirty years, is because people
keep encouraging those bad behaviors and thenthey wonder why the dog is so much
worse on all the other behaviors aroundthe house. It's because we're not controlling

(13:03):
that walk. So how do weget how do we win that tug of
war game. How do we winthat game without encouraging it is always a
hard part for people to understand.So this kind of goes back to whether
it be the leash that the dogwants to engage in the tug of war
game or the retrieve game where you'rethrowing the toy out and they bring it
back and then they want to instigatethat tug of war game, then the

(13:26):
rule is always this one. Wetry to gain physical control of the dog.
Okay, so it might be Igrab a collar when they come at
they're close enough before I start togo for what's in their mouth. All
right, Once I start to gofor what's in their mouth, I'm not
going to try to yank something outof their mouth. That is not gonna

(13:46):
work. I'm gonna grab what's intheir mouth, whether it be the toy,
a ball, the leash, whateverit is. I'm gonna grab what's
in their mouth with one hand,and I'm grabbing their collar or whatever with
the other hand, and I'm holdingand I'm going to give them a command.
I don't care what you say,drop it, give it, thank
you, whatever you want to say. Give them a verbal command and they're

(14:07):
gonna go, what do you mean, drop it? Well, I don't
know what that means. So they'regonna just look at you silly for a
little bit. So at that point, I'm gonna ask them to drop it.
I'm not gonna try to pull thetoy, but I'm also not going
to give ground when they pull thetoy. I'm gonna try to stay there
and stay steady. I'm gonna takemy fingers as they're on the toy.
If they're not releasing it, I'mgonna reach up underneath with my hand underneath

(14:31):
their bottom jaw, and I'm goingto pinch my fingers on either side of
their jaw where their top jaw andtheir bottom jaw meat, and press in
basically between the top and bottom jawand press the skin and the lips in
in that area. That's a sensitivearea when a dog is trying to hold
on to something physically. When youpress in there a lot of the times,

(14:54):
and this is a heck of alot easier with a twenty pound puppy
than it is an eighty five pounddog. Okay, so work on it
early, people, So but thepoint is is when you press in there
a lot of times they have torelease. That's a that's where we press
when we try to open the mouthso we can give them medication or a
pill or whatever. But where thattop jaw and that bottom jaw meat,

(15:16):
that little gap right in there,that's where we press. That's where we
press the cheeks in to get themto release. And then when when they
release the tension, then I'll thenI'll say the word again, drop it,
and pull the thing out of theirmouth. Okay, Now you need
to be careful at this moment becausedogs that are really juiced up and they
don't like losing that argument. Thefirst thing they do is snap back at
what you just took. So that'swhere we snap the leash, snap the

(15:39):
collar, give a quick no,and then again the command that we just
gave them. No, drop it, no, thank you. Okay,
whatever it is we're teaching them,I'm taking that away. And if this
becomes an issue at this point wherethey get mad about it and they want
to turn it into a fight,then you walk away with a toy.
The toy does not go again,the ball does not get thrown again.

(16:00):
We don't go for the walk.Okay, if you're going to act like
a knucklehead when I pull in andjust the Cedar Point parking lot with my
kids and they're acting like idiots inthe car. Okay, I'm not gonna
say, well, you guys havebeen acting like idiots. I'm going to
reward you by taking you to CedarPoint in my car. We turn the
car around and we leave Cedar Pointat that point in time, because then

(16:23):
they learn and then that they understandI was acting like an idiot, so
we didn't go. I didn't getrewarded for acting like an idiot. It's
the same way with your dog's toy. You're not bound by law to throw
the ball again, okay. Ifthey're not deserving of having the toy thrown
again, if they're not deserving atthat moment of going for that walk because
it's become a fight and it's becomea stress for you, then they don't

(16:44):
go on the walk. Okay.Reward the positive. You release that ball
and guess what, the ball willtake off again. You don't make it
a fight when you bring it back. Okay. And you always, always,
always the rule with any toy,anything with the leash, anything that
belongs to you, to prove itbelongs to you. Every time you walk

(17:04):
away with it. You don't allowyour dog to walk away with it.
You don't walk in the house andlet your golden retriever walk off with the
leash in his mouth. Okay,you don't walk in your You don't take
the toy or let the dog decide. When they're done playing the game and
they go over and lay under thetree with the toy, you grab the
toy, you go put it away. It doesn't come out again until the
next time. Control. It's alwaysabout that, you know. We look

(17:27):
at it as a game and wecan partmentalize things all the time. Well,
we're playing, I don't want tobe the boss. Okay, I'll
be the boss when somebody comes tothe house, or I'll be the boss
when we walk around the block orwhatever. But right now we're playing,
I don't want to be the boss. You're always the boss, or you're
not. In your dog's eyes,it's not my rules. I don't make

(17:48):
these rules. They are the dogrules. Okay. So if you're not
the boss when you go for thewalk, guess what when somebody comes to
the house, you're not the bosseither, okay, Or you're not the
boss here or here. You areeither in that role all the time or
you are not. And that's onceyou learn that, And once you get
that mentality with your dog, youcan still love the tar out of them.

(18:11):
Okay, but but there I lovethe tar out of my kids,
but they also know that I'm theboss, all right, So your dog
has to have that same thing.The problem is everybody's always in control,
you know, or trying to bein control all day long with their work,
with their kids, with everything else. The last thing they want to
do with their dogs because they don'twant to do all that they just want

(18:33):
to relax. Is they don't wantto be the boss. And you know,
unless your kids are crazy out therebiting people, you might want to
worry about your dog a little bitmore than what you do. In that
case, I love that. Telleverybody how they can hook up with you
at the edge Field Animal Care Centerif you need any more of that information
or or you know worre. TheEdgefield Animal Care Center in Central Ohio is

(18:53):
a full service pet care facility wherea veterinary hospital boarded facility, training facility.
We have daycare, all online storeall that stuff. The easiest way
To find out all about that,or to catch up on some of the
past episodes of the of the DogProfessor podcast or whatever is, you go
to our website Edgefield Animalcare dot com. You can get all that information right

(19:17):
there. Edgefield Animalcare dot com goodstuff. You can check us out on
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hit right there that you want tofollow, and every time we post a
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