# How to train to have a SOFT mouth?



## bryant88 (Jan 22, 2013)

Zeus really likes to play Frisbee but he breaks them in his mouth on his way back to me. Is there anything I can do to keep him from doing this? Any advise would be great.


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## mandiah89 (Jan 18, 2013)

get a flexible frisbee? lol GSD are well known for distroying toys, they do not have soft mouths, they were never meant to have them, its not something you can train that I am aware of


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## bryant88 (Jan 22, 2013)

Ya ive been getting those plastic Frisbee's and they only last one throw. lol. Guess I need to find a rubber one or something. I figured there had to be a way to train them not to bite down so hard.


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## bryant88 (Jan 22, 2013)

One of my best friends has a GSD that he uses for retrieving. Hes a die hard hunting dog and he has a very soft mouth. But I don't know what the trainer did to help with that.


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## SukiGirl (Aug 31, 2012)

We worked on the command 'easy' ALOT with Suki when she was going through her land shark phase. I would give her a toy and tell her 'eaaaaaaaaasy' (be sure to elongate the word). If she would show any of her teeth in her attempt to take the toy/treat/whatever, I wouldn't give it to her. Try using the 'easy' command with the frisbee and practice passing it back and forth with him asking 'can I have it?', he gives it to you, then you say 'easy' and he takes it back.


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## WVGSD (Nov 28, 2006)

If you visit a pet store such as Petco or Petsmart, they usually have soft flexible and/or rubber frisbees/discs in the toy aisle. Kong makes a soft rubber one and even Wal-mart has flexible fabric frisbees in their pet aisle.


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## bryant88 (Jan 22, 2013)

Awesome. Thanks


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## Guardyan (Aug 29, 2005)

A friend bought us a Zisc from West Paw Design. They have pet safe, durable products - here's their site: 

Home | West Paw Design

I love their stuff!


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Labs have been bred for centuries to have a soft mouth. GSDs have been bred for centuries to have a firm grip. Why buy one when you want the other?


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

hyperflite jawz discs are indestructable, but don't float...
my dogs fold them over like taco's to carry them. And soft mouth, not when it comes to high drive toys!


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## gsdmi (Apr 4, 2009)

I am going to copy/paste two documents I received from Kathy Sdao on teaching a soft mouth. I can't figure out how to attach, so will paste in. I know it might not apply here, but for anyone looking for tips on how to teach a soft mouth here they are:


Solutions to biting really hard when taking treats:

a) put the treat IN the dog's mouth, not NEAR the dog's mouth. Teasing the dog is a self-reinforcing behaviour - owner holds treat a little too far away from mouth, dog bites while grabbing it, owner holds it further away from mouth next time, dog has to grab harder, etc.

b) smear gooey stuff - Cheez Whiz, liverwurst - on a wooden spoon and whip that over to the dog to reward him - I didn't say get a big gob of stuff on the spoon, the point is to teach the dog to lick the spoon rather than biting it. Biting gets practically nothing, licking gets more.

c) when the dog is licking the treat off the spoon, smear the gooey stuff all over your hand. I know, disgusting, but I had a litter of 10 Giant Schnauzer puppies who were awful - really, I had dreams about vampire dogs - and those needle teeth - for some stupid reason I smeared liverwurst all over my hand, gritted my teeth and stuck my hand in the whelping box, and voila, they all licked and not one bite, and no biting after that.

d) put the treat in the palm of your hand, hold it there with your thumb, and shove your whole hand, palm first, at the dog, whipping your thumb out of the way at the last second. The whole hand coming at him makes the dog back up a smidgeon, and there's nothing to bite.

e) sit calmly with the dog sitting and offer him a treat, whip it back if he lunges at it, offer it, whip it back, offer it, whip it back, offer it, whip it back... when he comes at it gently, click and let him have it.

f) teach hand Zen. A little self-control on the dog's part slows him down, and encourages the owner so they might be capable of putting the treat IN his mouth, or have the timing and observation skills necessary to see whether the dog is lunging or going to take it gently.


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## gsdmi (Apr 4, 2009)

#2 -- source is M. Shirley Chong, The Well Mannered Dog 
Subject: Re: Snappiness w/treats

> Shirley gave me a quick lesson in how to teach Trav to tone down those "shark-like" qualities…. In some cases, it's rather subtle (in fact, even experienced trainers that felt they were holding their hands still or stationary, had subtle movement) -- in other cases, typically novices, it's more dramatic. But the pattern is there (videotape and then do slo-mo replay and you will likely see this).


Yep! And I've added in how to counteract this tendency on the part of the human without having to get into one of those "yes, you do!" "no, I couldn't possibly!" arguments.

There's generally two components to dogs that habitually shark (out of excitement at training or food in general, not dogs that shark out of fear): grabbing and actual tooth contact. Dogs that grab are more likely to shark simply because they are grabbing, so I try to fix that first.

The fix is simple: make it a rule that dogs are never reinforced for grabbing. This means that if the dog reaches out for the treat, the dog most certainly should not get the treat! I make the whole idea clearer for the dog by holding a treat between my index finger and thumb and reaching towards the dog's head with my hand. If the dog tries to grab I whisk the treat away and start circling the dog's muzzle. I circle because most dogs get tired of grabbing faster when they're getting dizzy. The goal of this exercise is to be able to reach the treat out in ultra-slo-mo and the dog refrains from grabbing. This also helps fix the human tendency to dart the treat towards the dog.

Fixing the sharking is equally simple: I hold the treat between my index finger and thumb and as the dog's mouth opens for the treat, I press down firmly on the lower jaw as I release the treat. After I release the treat I "get out of Dodge fast"--I get my fingers out in a hurry. No point in leaving them there to be chomped. Dog's jaws work the same as ours--we move the lower jaw to meet the upper jaw. We don't usually move the upper jaw down to meet the lower jaw. By pressing down on the lower jaw, it prevents the dog from closing their mouth on my fingers. If the handler presses down on the lower jaw every single time a treat is delivered from hand, the dog will either start to relax their jaw as they take the treat or they hold their teeth closed and lip-nibble the treat from fingers. Either way is fine with me just so long as they aren't feasting on human flesh with every treat.

With a recovering sharker, I might not want to have to work on treat reception every time I train--so I'll deliver the treat in an alternate way to my fingers. I might deliver the treat on a metal spoon or fork, throw the treat on the floor or drop it into a bowl stationed on the floor nearby.

I personally don't use a cue for "take it nicely." My goal is a dog that *always* takes it nicely! So it's default behavior and I don't cue it. I think of it in the same way I do housetraining; when I leave the house, I don't tell my dogs "don't pee in the house!" I simply assume that once housetrained, they aren't going to pee in the house unless some dire emergency presents itself. No reminders needed.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

try a Wham-O frisbee.

to teach my dog not to snatch food out of my
hand i would first make him sit. then i placed my
left hand on his chest. with the treat in my right hand
i raised to the slowly nearing his mouth. when he lunged
for the treat i held him back with my left that's on his
chest. as i raised the treat i said "don't snatch". my pup 
went from lunging and snapping at the food to pushing forward
a little to sitting still untill i reached his mouth with the food.
he also started opening his mouth slowly when being hand
fed or given a treat.


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