Thread: is this behaviour anything to be worried about

our dog is 14 months now and does a couple of things i havnt had before and wondering if i need to be worried he will gently grab you on the hand and try and take you for a walk theres no aggresion with it also if the kids are swimming he likes to go out and swim around amongst them checking they are ok if they have thier hand where he can grab it he will gently grab a hand and try and bring them back to shore is this anything to be worried about

Originally Posted by northdude

............he will gently grab you on the hand and try and take you for a walk theres no aggresion with it.........

What is your weight like, overweight? Could he have your health interests at heart?

Originally Posted by northdude

.................if the kids are swimming he likes to go out and swim around amongst them checking they are ok if they have thier hand where he can grab it he will gently grab a hand and try and bring them back to shore .........

Most admirable. IMHO your admirable chap is totally fixated upon the interests and welfare of your family. As he is only a "young un" I anticipate that over time, he will gradually come to realise that your children enjoy being in the water, can take care of them selves in water and do not need rescuing.

As for "your walkies" I anticipate that over time, you will gradually come to realise that he and you need to bond and get out and about more.

Frankly I am VERY impressed with your canine.

Hes an American bulldog x sharpei

One of the best dogs I ever had used to do that. In fact is favourite trick was to find and bring stray women by the hand to me. They were usually puzzled but amused by having this experience.

Originally Posted by Woody

One of the best dogs I ever had used to do that. In fact is favourite trick was to find and bring stray women by the hand to me. They were usually puzzled but amused by having this experience.

How can i train my dog to do that

Originally Posted by Martin358

How can i train my dog to do that

in carterton? .... are you sure?

That behaviour seems benign but could lead to a challenge for pack leadership in the future. Your dog is not long out from puberty. I would make sure that I lead the pack out from the house / house area. Don't let the bastard run out ahead of you and lead the pack. Make sure that you keep dominance as 'pack leader'. Dogs like to feel that the pack that they are in has a strong leader. If he does something wrong I would grab a good handful of skin on the dogs shoulder, push it down on the ground and growl just like the Alpha dog in a wild pack. No need for a stick. Those American Bulldogs are protective of their pack and aggressive towards strangers interacting with pack members and that behaviour is not what would be normally expected with other breeds. Good Luck

depends how much time you have

you can get rid of it by "crying out" when he grabs you with his mouth
a dogs mouth is its hands so it is just trying to get you to do what he wants.
I prefer my dog "asks" she (and my new old dog is learning) to do like a double take where they look at what or where they want you to go then back to you twice

i dont want my hands inside my dogs mouth unless i put them there

its not a concern but i wouldn't encourage it, whats cute now may become a problem later

agree the pulling by hand thing isnt too flash........perfectly great if house on fire and its telling you to get out...... the water thing is awesome...our big black bruiser used to do it all the time...both our kids learnt a bit of water safety /its not so scary with his help...we would put life jacket on the kids and I would wade out with them as deep as I could go and still keep them above water...then call Willy out...he would be there in a flash and kids would hold his tail and get towed back into shallows...dog loved it...he would ALWAYS put himself between them and deep water.
agree if ANY pain from hand grab...yelp so dog knows its not on youve hurt me.
good luck and good on you for asking.

theres no pain you can easily pull your hand away it doesnt appear to be agressive behaviour at all

but it is dog trying to make you do what DOG wants.........another common way is to walk infront of you/stand in your way.
nah no biggy now and your johny on the spot so will be able to judge better than anyone else.

I agree with M Duck, it's not a problem now, but will eventually lead to the dog squeezing a bit harder with one of the kids to push them down the pecking order.
I assign words for a lot of things with my dogs. My dogs know what the word "biting" is, so in this case I would say "no biting" just as the dog goes to mouth someone, to let him know that is not the thing to do. He will find another way to get you to follow him. Mine go off and come back to me a few times in a row, till I realise they want me to come outside and deal with the possum/hedgehog or other pesky critter.

Dogs don't care if they are at the top of the pack or the bottom, but they need to know where they sit in the order or there will be trouble at some stage. As they mature, it is natural for them to push the boundaries to establish exactly where they sit in the pack, and that's the time to watch for.

He sounds like a hard case fella

Happy pair right there

Originally Posted by northdude

theres no pain you can easily pull your hand away it doesnt appear to be agressive behaviour at all

I have just remembered an incident about three years ago where a bloke I know had his dog being taken for a walk by his mum and one of her friends. They met up with the other woman's daughter and grandson - so not strangers, dog mouths the kids hand in play and the next day the Police arrive and the dog gets put down !!