Taking hand in mouth

[Kyleigh]

Kyleigh will be 18 months old tomorrow ... my how time has flown from the time I brought her home.

One of her behaviours that stands out that I haven't found on this forum is this:

When she wants something (outside, hungry, ice cube, play time) she comes up and barks at me once. I'll stand up and say "what do you want?" and she takes my hand in her mouth (VERY gently) and brings me to where she what she wants is (i.e. toy box, kitchen for ice cubes, back door to go outside, her food bowl for dinner time - just in case I forgot LOL)

She's not annoying about it ... it's not like she's demanding something every 5 minutes, and it's not every day or anything, just every now and then (like I've been "neglecting her" LOL)

Does anyone else have a dog that does this?

[hchorney1]

Shadow likes to pull on my hands and sleeves when he wants something, but he's a little more demanding about it.

[huntergreen]

i have not experienced this "mouthing", but my dogs have found other ways to let me know what they want. not sure i would let her continue to use her mouth like this, no matter how gentle.

[gaia_bear]

Gaia does the same thing when she needs to go outside or wants a drink.

[Kyleigh]

Originally Posted by huntergreen

not sure i would let her continue to use her mouth like this, no matter how gentle.

Why not?

[huntergreen]

i would be a bit concerned of what it could lead to. my gsds have never done any type of bite work so prefer not to let them do this. they get things when i decide to give it to them, not when they ask.

[Marnie]

Years ago we had a collie that did that. He was very careful about how he held our wrists in his mouth when he led us somewhere. We never considered it annoying and it didn't happen often. It was fun to see where he would take us.

[Kyleigh]

So you see it as a negative?

As I said in my original post, it's not an every day thing, but any stretch of the imagination. It's usually when I've gotten involved in something, and time has gotten away from me. It's like a reminder ... HEY, I'm here ... and you've forgotten something.

Ky's never done any type of bite work, and she's NOT biting ... she's "holding" my hand in her mouth. Honestly, I can slide my hand out of her mouth with no resistence.

And yes, she does get her things when I give them to her, not when she "demands." This is just a behaviour that I see every now and then ... like maybe once a week ...

It's only me that she does it with, no one else ...

[Jax08]

Jax does that. I think Kaiser did that when I visited Jamie too. lol Max at ACS does that. It doesn't bother me and I usually just grab their jaw lightly and play with them. As long as they aren't gnawing on anyone else, I don't think it will lead to anything. IMO, it's an attention getting thing.

[gaia_bear]

Originally Posted by Kyleigh

So you see it as a negative?

As I said in my original post, it's not an every day thing, but any stretch of the imagination. It's usually when I've gotten involved in something, and time has gotten away from me. It's like a reminder ... HEY, I'm here ... and you've forgotten something.

Ky's never done any type of bite work, and she's NOT biting ... she's "holding" my hand in her mouth. Honestly, I can slide my hand out of her mouth with no resistence.

And yes, she does get her things when I give them to her, not when she "demands." This is just a behaviour that I see every now and then ... like maybe once a week ...

It's only me that she does it with, no one else ...

It's the same with me, she only does it when I'm completely distracted and she's tried everything else to get my attention (going to the door, in the kitchen, etc). I'll look at her and say "What do you think you're doing" and she'll back off but there's never a grip involved.