biting/mouthing

Question
I have a 9 month old border collie mix.  Due to inconsistent training, the dog uses her mouth way too much.  

Where most dogs might use their snout/nose to investigate a hand or something, she approaches most situations with her mouth open.  I doubt she's being malicious.  

I'd like to have a plan for getting her to behave in a more socially acceptable manner.  (There's no way we can let her be around little kids, for instance).

The biggest hurdle in my attempts to overcome this issue so far has been that she is so quick.  It's difficult to "catch her in the act" so she associates a correction with the biting.  

Do you have any suggestions?

I should point out that on the whole, she's a good dog.  She knows most commands, and seems to be pretty teachable.  

Chris  

Answer
Hi Chris,
 Sorry for the delay, we are here in Florida and everyone's schedule has not quite returned to normal after the Hurricanes this season.
 I would suggest first that you put her on leash and collar and tried to get a couple of friends to help 'set up' the problem behavior by greeting her and then you will be able to time the correction perfectly.  You are right that timing is very important.  
 Another thing you may consider, but this would take alot of patience to teach her,  redirect her greeting behavior so that she brings her guest a ball.  You will still need to set her up to teach her and you will need to have balls handy, but a dog that really likes to use it's mouth will also like to pick up objects.  If you toss her ball every time you greet her, she will start looking for her ball whenever greeting someone so that she can greet them with her ball or toy.  If you can train her, it will also give you more time to be there if she still needs to be corrected for any mouthing.  She will sure love being trained and you will have fun too.
 Try these first and if you are still having problems, send back another question and I'll give you soemthing else to try.  Also, our website has a newsletter which is geared for German Shepherds but alot of training articles would still apply, if you would like to sign up please go to www.gatorlandk9.com   Best regards,  Dawn Hoppe & Tina K-9