accidental biting?

[tintinabulation]

I love playing with Coco. sometimes, I sit down with him, and give him a toy, and hold it out for him to sniff, chew, bite. sometimes I play tug of war with him. in both situations, he has this habit of grabbing onto my hand instead of the toy. he doesn't do it aggressively, though. when I redirect his mouth to the toy, be proceeds chewing on the toy. so I know he's not really aggressive. but could it mean anything else? he occasionally even chews my fingers for no apparent reason. just lies down in my lap, looks at me with these loving eyes, and starts chewing my fingers and making little grunts of pleasure.

 

[Doberluv]

Try to play more quiet games with your pup. When he grabs your hand, stop playing with him, walk away. When he chews or bites the toy which you've replaced for your hand, praise him in a low key way. Until he learns to "give" you the toy willingly when you ask, I would hold off on the tug of war games. Tug is a great game and it's a confidence builder in a dog, but first he should learn to "give" and then you can give it to him, "take." Back and forth so he learns respect. Ending playtime when he gets too rough will teach him that the fun ends when he does that. But it's not fair if you get him too riled up. He can't help himself. So, I'd suggest playing more gentle games with him to try and curb that biting. Puppies do this in their play with eachother, but we need to show them, in a fair way, that human skin is very sensative and that we don't like that.

 

[bubbatd]

I never liked aggressive " play " with young dogs... except among themselves. I agree with Dober with the give and take . Years ago, a man wanted one of my pups and they were all spoken for. He found an ad and got a Golden pup. A year later, he called me again and said he was having problems. The dog kept biting his hands ! Seems like this @ss hole , wore heavy gloves to play with him as a puppy and let him bite and chew ! He finally admitted that he was stupid !! Boy, am I glad I was sold out !

 

[Rubylove]

Ruby used to do this, and it hurts!! You can stop the behaviour, though, and make them pay more attention. As Doberluv said, the minute something goes the wrong way with your game, you must stop and walk away. You are not only teaching your pup manners by doing this, you are establishing your alpha status. You MUST be the one to start, stop and the rules that you make for the game must be always obeyed.

I would suggest teaching him fetch, rather than playing tussle games with him. This will go even further in establishing your position, and he will view you less as a fellow puppy that way, and more his human leader.

 

[casablanca1]

I love playing with Coco. sometimes, I sit down with him, and give him a toy, and hold it out for him to sniff, chew, bite. sometimes I play tug of war with him. in both situations, he has this habit of grabbing onto my hand instead of the toy. he doesn't do it aggressively, though. when I redirect his mouth to the toy, be proceeds chewing on the toy. so I know he's not really aggressive. but could it mean anything else?

I love your header. They don't bite accidentally, although they can be really casual about oops, got your skin. I think aggressive games are okay if the dog's okay with them - not too upset or too wild, out of control. Once they start grabbing onto your hand, though, I'd bump back a little. No, not abusive beating, just a little harder play, move your body into them the next time they come leaping for the toy. If they back down, fine. If they try to escalate, the game's over. If that happens repeatedly and they always try to escalate, then reconsider playing that game.

he occasionally even chews my fingers for no apparent reason. just lies down in my lap, looks at me with these loving eyes, and starts chewing my fingers and making little grunts of pleasure.

Chew him back. He might not be mean about it, but he's messing with you.

 

[okpik]

I have always played rough with my KBD's but took the time to teach them an extra command of "easy". They back right off and lick instead. I like to use my fingers to grab behind the canines and play tug o war. When he gets rough, "EASY" and he starts licking my hand.

My male does get fresh bone agressive and I am still growing back the tip of my thumb from Thanksgiving when he disagreed that I was still the Alpha Male. I bit him back mildly in dog fashion and he has been very easy with the bones since. Their ears are sensative and unprotected.