Originally Posted by Birdie Wife

Hi buttercupwafflepants,

Cockers can be particularly mouthy apparently - I got my cocker pup at 8 weeks old and in some ways she has been so easy to train, being so intelligent, but in others she is so stubborn... like the play biting. She is now just over six months and still mouths, but only occasionally with pressure.

My OH likes to play rough with her and his hands would often be bleeding - I got quite cross with him because he didn't tell her to stop in time, and I was trying to teach her to bite more and more softly. So I think it's taken longer that it should have done because of that, but she's definitely getting the idea, and the biggest thing I think that really gave her the hint that it wasn't on was withdrawing attention from her, or if she kept on doing it then she went out of the room for a few minutes. She loves being around people and getting affection, so being excluded worked really well, and I didn't have to do it very often for her to start to understand the consequences of ignoring "ow" or "no".

There is light at the end of that dark tunnel, trust me!