So, tell me if this is normal. Arnie is playful and very friendly around people and children, however, I have noticed that he is very mouthy with my wife and myself, but placid and submissive around people we meet out and about who just wanna have a pat. He will nibble us and put our hands in his mouth, very rarely biting hard enough to hurt, he's pretty gentle, but still very mouthy. With strangers, he just sits there and wags his tail and rolls onto his back for belly rubs and pretends to be the cutest thing on four legs. It just strikes me as odd
It is very normal indeed Many Lab pups are much worse than yours, mouthing and biting everything and everyone they come in contact with , so you are lucky that he just chose yourselves Its a stage of development that , thankfully , they do grow out of , if it does become more generalised , distraction is the best way to deal with it, but rest assured , its 100% normal
Definitely normal. My two aren't mouthy, but Shadow will nibble clothing and ears when he's very excited. He only does it to me and my husband, never anyone else - and, if he did, we'd nip it in the bud (so to speak!).
I think it's because he feels confident with you, whereas others are not so familiar. You're his best friends But if you don't want him to do it then just take your hands away and walk away if he is mouthy. That'll take the rewarding aspect of it away and he'll gradually stop doing it. Personally I think that it is important to train a dog not to be mouthy... I don't want my adult dog mouthing some kid's hand and their parents getting irate about it. Teaching our dogs good mouth manners will keep them safe around those who might misinterpret doggy behaviours.
Arnie sounds a pretty normal pup to me. I would think it's much better that he isn't mouthy around other people and reserves those attentions for you and your wife.
Yeah I thought it odd that he only does it to us. He has gotten good at not biting is hard, like he did in the beginning. So it's not really a problem.
