Our first Bouv - HUGO!

[Plasmatico]

Well Mike we finally got our bouvier, his name is Hugo. He's a 9 week old male, I flew to get him - I didn't want to put him through the stress of flying solo and I wanted to meet the breeder and the rest of the family. Quite remarkable people, really passionate about bouviers - I feel really lucky to have gotten our pup from this breeder.

He is fantastic, a beautiful dark brindle with a star on his chest and some white in the mussel.

I want to learn as much as possible about the breed, I order The Dogs of Flandres book as is quite unanimously considered the best bouvier book available. If you have any suggestions or any recommendations to a new owner, by all means I love to hear from you.

My only concern at the moment is he's a bit mouthy when playing, so I know I need to correct that before it gets out of hand, but I want to do it the right way as I read this breed tends to remember everything!

Anyway, just a short note to let you know we are in the bout family now, really exited and happy of being Dad again!!!

[Mike]

Great! Congratulations. I know about the mouthy part. With our little monsters, uh, puppies, we re-enforce "no teeth, kisses only" and they do learn after awhile. If they do get you use their teeth, don't hesitate to grab their muzzle under the chin and tell them "No teeth" a couple of times. Most of ours are really good about keeping their teeth back when they play or take food. The ones that have learned to kind of suck food right out of your hand are a treat to treat. We have one that tries but forgets herself sometimes. She was the youngster for a long time and I think she felt she was in competition with the older dogs so had to grab her treats fast. She does try if we remind her but since she's pushing 12, I doubt she'll change much all of a sudden.

If you get any pictures, post them.

Mike

[Sue]

Just to add a bit to what Mike said.... it's also helpful to 'catch puppies being good." When Hugo is gentle with his mouth, tell him how wonderful he is. This applies to most everything when it comes to raising a puppy. Desired behavior that you reinforce positively is more likely to be repeated. Too often when people "correct" undesirable behavior, the puppy just sees that as the person playing with him ("OH BOY!") and so puts a little extra energy into his mouthing the next time to get an even bigger reaction from the person.

Another way to avoid this is to keep plenty of stuffed toys, ropes, chew toys handy and whenever the puppy starts chewing on you inappropriately, off him something legal to chew on instead.

Cheers,
Sue

[papaglock]

I have raised many high drive dogs. Have trained and handled police dogs. I have found the best thing for our bouviers was to immediately give them a command such as "No teeth!" and give him a toy to chew on. For my last puppy it took about 5 days of being very consistent. He rarely would try to mouth me after that. Even at 8 years old, when I rough house with him he will not put his mouth on me. By the way, he will take the bite sleeve or tug toy immediately.