A friend says most dogs she encounters want to take her hand in their
mouth and hold it gently for a few seconds. Why do they do this?

wrote:

A friend says most dogs she encounters want to take her hand in their
mouth and hold it gently for a few seconds. Why do they do this?


Bacon-scented hand lotion?

Kathleen

on 2005-07-07 at 07:48 wrote:

A friend says most dogs she encounters want to take her hand
in their mouth and hold it gently for a few seconds. Why do
they do this?

some dogs are mouthy by nature (e.g. retrieving breeds).
however, i think holding a person's body parts in the mouth is
generally done in order to control that person. i think it
should be discouraged.

--
shelly
http://www.cat-sidh.net
http://cat-sidh.blogspot.com/
http://letters-to-esther.blogspot.com/ (updated 6/26/05)

said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

A friend says most dogs she encounters want to take her
hand in their mouth and hold it gently for a few seconds.
Why do they do this?

Some say that the animal might be demonstrating a degree of
trust by holding a hand in its mouth. I disagree - it may be
trust, but only as it's related to some apsect of control.

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.

On Thu, 7 Jul 2005 09:59:04 -0500, shelly
wrote:

on 2005-07-07 at 07:48 wrote:

A friend says most dogs she encounters want to take her hand
in their mouth and hold it gently for a few seconds. Why do
they do this?

some dogs are mouthy by nature (e.g. retrieving breeds).
however, i think holding a person's body parts in the mouth is
generally done in order to control that person. i think it
should be discouraged.

Heh. You guys clearly haven't met my Matty, who gently puts his mouth
around my hand just after I've gotten home and he's really, really
glad to see me. He alternates placing his mouth around my hand with
spinning in circles, which is a little problematic because he's a big
dog. I often stand still and hold my hand out until he's finished
saying hello.

It's a fairly common Greyhound behavior, and not related to control or
dominance or anything like that. Matty is a spook and wouldn't dream
of trying to 'control' a person.

Mustang Sally

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
...

Heh. You guys clearly haven't met my Matty, who gently puts his mouth
around my hand just after I've gotten home and he's really, really
glad to see me. He alternates placing his mouth around my hand with
spinning in circles, which is a little problematic because he's a big
dog. I often stand still and hold my hand out until he's finished
saying hello.

It's a fairly common Greyhound behavior, and not related to control or
dominance or anything like that. Matty is a spook and wouldn't dream
of trying to 'control' a person.

Is it also possibly a Dalmation behavior? My Dal does this, the
hand-in-mouth thing.

flick 100785


Mustang Sally

On 7 Jul 2005 19:02:49 GMT, Rocky wrote:

said in rec.pets.dogs.behavior:

A friend says most dogs she encounters want to take her
hand in their mouth and hold it gently for a few seconds.
Why do they do this?

Some say that the animal might be demonstrating a degree of
trust by holding a hand in its mouth. I disagree - it may be
trust, but only as it's related to some apsect of control.

Unless it's a lab, in which case it just means, "I must always have
something in my mouth and I must use my mouth as if it were a hand and
are you sure you don't have some food item hiding in there somewhere?"
all at the same time.

--
Paula
"Anyway, other people are weird, but sometimes they have candy, so it's best to try to get along with them." Joe Bay

on 2005-07-07 at 20:29 wrote:

I often stand still and hold my hand out until he's finished
saying hello.

that sounds like a safe plan!

It's a fairly common Greyhound behavior, and not related to
control or dominance or anything like that. Matty is a spook
and wouldn't dream of trying to 'control' a person.

yeah, that doesn't sound like a control issue at all. but, i
did say "generally." G

--
shelly
http://www.cat-sidh.net
http://cat-sidh.blogspot.com/
http://letters-to-esther.blogspot.com/ (updated 6/26/05)

On Thu, 7 Jul 2005 21:56:34 -0500, "flick" wrote:

"sighthounds & siberians" wrote in message
.. .

Heh. You guys clearly haven't met my Matty, who gently puts his mouth
around my hand just after I've gotten home and he's really, really
glad to see me. He alternates placing his mouth around my hand with
spinning in circles, which is a little problematic because he's a big
dog. I often stand still and hold my hand out until he's finished
saying hello.

It's a fairly common Greyhound behavior, and not related to control or
dominance or anything like that. Matty is a spook and wouldn't dream
of trying to 'control' a person.

Is it also possibly a Dalmation behavior? My Dal does this, the
hand-in-mouth thing.

Neither of my Dals did, and the other Dals I know don't, but that
doesn't mean anything. I only say it's a common Greyhound behavior
because a lot of GH people say their dogs do it. However, a lot of
Greyhounds also don't do it - - only one of my current 3, neither of
my GHs that have passed on, and I can't recall any of the 200+ foster
Greyound we've had doing it. Maybe it's a behavior more related to a
dog's individual temperament than to its breed. Do you think your Dal
is trying to control you when he does it?

Mustang Sally

On Fri, 8 Jul 2005 09:07:56 -0500, shelly
wrote:

on 2005-07-07 at 20:29 wrote:

I often stand still and hold my hand out until he's finished
saying hello.

that sounds like a safe plan!

Oh, yeah. You should see Matty trying to spin in circles as he moves
through the house.

It's a fairly common Greyhound behavior, and not related to
control or dominance or anything like that. Matty is a spook
and wouldn't dream of trying to 'control' a person.

yeah, that doesn't sound like a control issue at all. but, i
did say "generally." G

I know, I'm just pointing out other situations in which that behavior
occurs.

Mustang Sally