What To Do?? - Page 1

1.How often should you play tug with with a 12 week old pup?

2.What to do when the pup continues to want to bite with the front of its mouth?Should you refrain from playing,and tease the pup for several weeks to build the correct bite??

1. Afew times a day, short sessions like maybe 10 minutes.

2. How big is the tug toy or roll? Make sure its not to fat for a good bite. Sometimes when he has a bad bite try stopping the movement and see if he rebites fuller. Also remember he may be starting to teethe so his mouth could be sore.

10 minutes on a 12 week old is way TOO much,  but that's JMO.

I would STOP allowing a bite, and do some drive building...  Tease now tug later,  Those baby teeth are nothing to mess with,  You screw them up and you run the risk of dammaging a permanent tooth,  It's worth the wait, and by teasing now,  once he's done teething you'll have a biting outfit,  I would only tease a 12 week old a couple times a week, but MORESO allow this pup to WATCH adult or older dogs working,  He'll get the idea quickly enough and when it's finally his turn,  He'll likely come on like no other.  Good Luck and Have fun !!

It's worth the wait !

Trailrider is right.  You should be playing these games a few times a day, just be sure to leave the puppy always wanting more rather than stopping only when he is worn out.  Click on this article & scroll down to Raising a Schutzhund Puppy.  You want to play a lot of ball, tug of war, and other games with your pup.  As far as the teeth are concerned, be gentle especially as the baby teeth start getting loose, but not so much out of any supposed damage you may cause.  The reason is you want the dog to always associate good things with these games,  and if the dogs mouth becomes sore he may be a little reluctant to play as hard the next time.

http://www.germanshepherddog.com/schutzhund/faqs.htm#raise_puppy

Vets are dumb and Sueincc is the authority here,  absolutely don't worry about damaging unerupted teeth !!  what was I thinking, following my vets advice as well as the advice of schutzhund trainers,  duhhhhh.  sorry Kreiger.

How often?....daily or more.

If the pup bites with the front teeth, wait for the re-bite. If you don't get it game over. Try the next day. Til he gets it.

It goes without saying that you need be mindful of the teeth and the amount of countering you allow the dog to do. Technique is what you teach at this age.

They will learn if they don't bite correctly the fun stops.

By 12 weeks mine are already biting the puppy tug and with a good re-bite but I start bitework at 5 weeks or so. I have had great success this way.

Always leave them wanting more. I generally limit mine to 3 bites per session but it depends on how they are doing of course. They may only get one bite depends on the session and how they do on that day.

Echo my post was not directed at you, no need for you to get defensive.  The advise Trailrider and I provided is pretty much standard for raising a schutzhund puppy.  Playing tug a few times a day will not injure the teeth, in fact if that were the case most sport dogs would be in pretty bad shape since most are raised playing lots of tug.  You were partially right,  just for the wrong reason!  It's about making sure the pups mouth doesn't get too sore, although I've never seen a high drive pup bothered by it enough to want to stop playing tug!  Of course I don't expect you to take my word for it, ask around.  One thing, it;'s probably not a very good idea to give advise on a subject you are not familiar with.

Our 9-week old puppies get quite a bit of grip work right now.  It's called biting my sweat pants and me trying to walk around the yard with them hanging on.

A drivey pup will bite tugs even when teething.  Be careful then otherwise stay with some tug work.  As has been mentioned, leave them wanting more, don't go until tired.  You've had some good advise here for the most part.

sueincc,   10 minutes several times a day  for a  12 week old pup ???    Explain that !!

Just because you don't know my experience level, SUE does NOT mean I have no knowledge on the subject,  be careful underestimating your enemy can be dangerous.

YES dammage can be caused to unerupted teeth,  moreso when the pups are loosing baby teeth,  But at anytime you can cause severe and permanent dammage to unerupted teeth of pups....Baby Teeth - Pet Dentist Tampa Bay Florida - Veterinary Dentist - Veterinarian Dental, Dr Michael Peak

In the above article provides the following quote "Exposure of the pulp of these teeth can lead to pulpal death and infection, with possible abscess formation. The inflammation or infection at the tip of the deciduous tooth may influence the enamel producing cells of the underlying adjacent permanent tooth resulting in damage to the permanent tooth enamel called hypomineralization or hypoplasia. These affected permanent teeth erupt with enamel defects, appear brown or yellow in areas where enamel is missing, and tend to accumulate plaque and calculus quicker. "

And that dammage was caused to several teeth on a dog when it was a pup,  and now the dogs teeth are all breaking.  NO it's not one of our pups,  But someone we know well, and have LEARNED from !!   ahhh  that's a new concept around here though.

God forbid anyone should bring anything to this board that might be helpful BEFORE dammage like this is done.   Sorry I rained on your Sueincc knows it all parade.

Hell go for it,  cause all the dammage you can by working a 12 week old pup for "10 minutes a day several times a day"  If your dogs teeth all fall out you'll have ONLY yourself to blame.  I really don't give a rats ass,  But thought I would let this poor guy/gal know what I had been told, and also what I have seen FIRST HAND.   It would be nice to be able to do so without the idiots jumpin my shit for trying to lend an experience that might save his/her pups teeth,  After all they care enough to come here and ask,  Should we NOT be providing this type of information for those who ask ???

Nice article about broken baby teeth & retained baby teeth but it has nothing to do with what we are discussing.  Playing tug does not break teeth.