Is it okay to let my dog mouth me when we play?

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HeroOfHyrule
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Joined: 4 May 2020
Age: 23
Gender: Male
Posts: 9,247

25 Aug 2021, 2:00 pm

I have a dog that just turned two and when we play together he (very gently) mouths me like he does to other dogs. He's never bitten me and I don't let him jump on me or anything like that. I don't mind the mouthing and find it cool that he's comfortable enough to play with me like he plays with dogs, but since he's a pitbull mix I don't know if I should let him do that in case he does it to someone else and they wrongly think he's being aggressive. I've only had one other dog (a pomeranian) that didn't really mouth me even when she was young, so I'm not sure what to do. lol

I'm probably being too paranoid, and everyone he's met has thought he's super friendly and nice so far. I just know some people act weird at pitbulls so I don't want him to make someone upset by trying to mouth them if he plays with them, but I also personally don't mind the mouthing since he's not actually being aggressive.



Spunge42
Deinonychus
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Joined: 2 Feb 2020
Gender: Female
Posts: 379
Location: Texas

26 Aug 2021, 8:18 pm

I don't see a problem with it. Every dog I've had is a large breed and all of them play this way. None of them have ever bitten anyone. All my dogs have had lots of training though. They don't play with people outside the family and close friends this way.

On the other, there is a lot of pit bull prejudice in the world. Many people see them as inherently aggressive which is ridiculous, but you're never going to change those people's minds no matter how your dog acts.

If you are super stressed about it though, I would take him to a trainer for a least a session to train him to only play that way with your family and that its inappropriate with others.

If your extremely nervous and stressed about it when he's around others he will pick up on that stress and think your afraid of other people. This isn't a good road to go down bc then he'll get fearful of people or he could be aggressive to protect you. So it's best to train him that it's only ok to play bite with you and not others to set safe ground rules for everyone.

Hope that helps. I went through a year of training with our service dog and we talk about this stuff a lot :D

If you have more questions don't hesitate to ask.


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