Nosing!

[Chinchi]

When anyone tries to stroke Darla, she has to put her nose all over that hand. It doesn't seem to matter where you are stroking her either, she even does it with belly rubs. She's not at all aggressive, but lots of people are put off from stroking her now. Some just don't like to be poked with a wet nose and others think she's moving in to bite. I must say, she still does have a terrible habit of mouthing on fingers, and is noticibly worse with children's fingers. Each time she does it I tell her off and the children stop stroking. But them when they try and stroke her again so does it again. We end up going round in circles.

 

[2GoodDogs]

My boy does this too, my hand will go limp immediately and all my attention is withdrawn. If I am not real cozy on the couch, I get up and move away from him. If I am all cozy then he needs something else to do and has to do puppy push ups till he walks away, not so sure why he wanted my attention in the first place...

 

[Justme]

...I must say, she still does have a terrible habit of mouthing on fingers...

I tried to teach my boy the "No Mouth" command, but that didn't work.

Then, one time, when he (gently) mouthed my hand I said "Ow!", and looked at my hand as if it was injured. He never mouthed me again. I felt guilty about making my boy feel bad, but it worked.

 

[jomuir]

Both of ours do that too. Esp. Forrest, he's a bit more insecure.

 

[2GoodDogs]

My young'un does it because he's pushy, rude and demanding. That's what I love about him most actually, but I've dropped a lot of stitches when knitting and that flipper nose of this comes up and tips my hand! Or when I'm needing my hands on something else at the moment ...

I have way often indulged him in "petting on demand" and that's okay, except when its not. So, I am working on giving him the not right now signal.

He does it with other people too, again, he's pushy, rude and demanding. And I love him soooo much.