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Does your GSD sort of shake hands.....

1793 Views 8 Replies 9 Participants Last post by  jake
Does your GSD sort of shake hands.....

But with their nose instead??? When I get home from work, usually after the dogs settle down, I get the nose in the hand greeting from Perle, Sable and Hannah, not just a touch, but where they root their nose into my hand. The first time this happened was about 12 years ago with a friends shepherd named Amber. Having just eaten dinner, I thought she had smelled some food odor on my hand, but she was not sniffing, she just pushed her whole snout into my hand and held it there for several seconds. I notice only GSDs seem to do this. Jazzy will extend her nose, but she will move her head around if you try to touch her nose. Maxie too, was a big time snout in hand greeter. Does anybody else's GSD do this, or any other dogs for that matter??
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Re: Does your GSD sort of shake hands.....

my dogs both to it, but i believe they're trying to toss my hand to the top of their heads for rubs
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Re: Does your GSD sort of shake hands.....

Ours do that too, maybe because I taught them to target my hand when they were young. It's sort of developed into an alternate recall signal - I can hold out my hand from across a room and they'll come running over and bump it with their nose, and I'll stroke the muzzle. I did a lot of muzzle handling when they were little too, putting my hand across the top and gently holding it, resting it in my palm, etc. If we're walking along at the park they'll come up from behind and shove their noses into our hands sometimes.
Re: Does your GSD sort of shake hands.....

Eli is always sticking his nose in my hand. I think he just wants to feel my touch!
Re: Does your GSD sort of shake hands.....

Yep, Gunner does it too. He's the only Shepherd of mine who ever has, though. And now my Golden, Riley, does the same thing. Probably because he's watched Gunner do it and has picked up the trait.
Re: Does your GSD sort of shake hands.....

Elle does it, don't know why, but when the first time we seen her she was 10 weeks old in the humane society, and when I picked her up she nuzzled to my hand, and jst sit there for a long time, I thought she was trying to get my scent, but now 2 years later, she still does it.

Emma, puts her paw in your hand, but she has been taught the command to shake hands, so she just does that to everyone, thinking they want to shake, then slightly puts her teeth on you, but doesn't bite, then gives you a big GSD lick.
Re: Does your GSD sort of shake hands.....

Heidi does it too. When she's happy, she'll run up to me and bump her nose into my hand. She'll do it to greet me too. It's pretty cute.
Re: Does your GSD sort of shake hands.....

Bruiser is the only Hooligan that does this. He always does it to my right hand - it's not a sniff but actually putting his nose in my hand.
Re: Does your GSD sort of shake hands.....

Jake does traditional shake-but also offers a paw when not asked to-looks silly sitting there with a paw waving in air.As to nose nudge that usually occurs in a more private area,
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