Chewing against my skin

[Alec]

At some point in the past my dog learned to chew on various items, be it a bone, sock or stuffed animal when she is excited in the house. Awhile ago (maybe 3 months) my dog began picking up the cloth items that she would just chew on normally and pressed it against my body (usually my leg which is closest) and chews on it hard enough to get through the piece of cloth itself but not enough to really grab me or my clothes too much.

Tonight we did our normal routine which includes tug, fetch tug, pushing, heeling, etc. and then she chewed on a fresh bone for about a half hour. I then went into another room with the door closed for awhile (when I'm gone she relaxes) and she went to her bed. But when she heard me she came out and was all excited (grabs a shoe and slings it a little) so I go to the closet (we rotate these chewy type things which keep them fresh to her) and gave her an old sock. Now for the last half hour she has put her legs next to mine and has been chewing on it against my shin. It really seems to have a grounding effect.

My thought is that she really wants to chew/bite me but from my earlier days of stopping the bite doesn't do so. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this situation? Is it a good thing?

[Heather]

Just wanting to say that Happy does the same thing, and I'm interested to know what (if anything) it means/why he does it. He likes to put yucky marrow bones in my lap and stand there and chew them...I am OK with bones by my feet, but not in my lap.

[Lee Charles Kelley]

Originally Posted by Heather

He likes to put yucky marrow bones in my lap and stand there and chew them...I am OK with bones by my feet, but not in my lap.

I think it's a combination of two things. The first is that when our puppies are young and full of "uncontrollable urges," we tend to automatically act like our parents did toward us when we were we were young, and were kind of the same way; we use a parental voice and act the part of the "disciplinarian." We primarily do this to "protect" our puppies from harm, just as our parents did. "No running in the house!" They knew we might trip on a rug, fall down and hurt ourselves, etc. But we also do it to protect our furniture, carpeting, etc. from the puppy's teeth.

When our puppies seem to react favorably to this treatment (i.e., they stop doing whatever they were doing), we're less aware of the negative impact it might be having on how they relate to us - their levels of social attraction, etc. - because unless we've engaged in actual physical mistreatment (and in some cases even then), most dogs will use this "negative" (i.e., predatory) energy as a springboard to act friendly, or even overfriendly, toward us when they're stressed, particularly inside the house.

When they're outdoors they're focused on smells, other dogs, other animals, etc., and their social attraction for us loses its edge.

So that's the first part. (And this is true whether we've raised the dogs from pups or adopted them after someone else has done the "damage.")

The second part is what Alec suggested, that after a dog learns he can use us as a ground wire, i.e., release his energy into us, then, whenever he's given a prey object indoors, and there's any residual stress from those past experiences where the dog was reprimanded for using his teeth, the owner then becomes that final piece of resistance that needs to be overcome.

When my clients' dogs do this, I just play a little keep-away with the chewable object, do a little push away with the dog, then tell him or her to settle. And they usually do.

Anyway, that's how I see it.

LCK

[Heather]

Thanks, Lee. What I had done is just say "good boy, ooh, that looks like a yummy bone," and pick up the bone and put it on the floor next to me (and get out the purell to sanitize my hands, and maybe go change my PJs). Do you think that could be having a negative impact?

[Margot]

Just to add to what Lee said, I think that when you do not scold your puppy for biting but teach it to moderate its bite, what they do in place of what your dogs are doing is chew on your fingers.

Butters chews on the cats like this as well. He will have their heads or paws in his mouth or nibble on their cheeks. They love it.

He also invites me to chew bones with him. I think it is a result of Lee's 'getting into your dogs emotional space' excercises, and your dogs increased social attraction to you. I just pretend to be a fellow lover of bones

[Lee Charles Kelley]

Originally Posted by Heather

Thanks, Lee. What I had done is just say "good boy, ooh, that looks like a yummy bone," and pick up the bone and put it on the floor next to me (and get out the purell to sanitize my hands, and maybe go change my PJs). Do you think that could be having a negative impact?

I doubt it.

It might be helpful to have a rule about where your dog gets to chew things. With most of the dogs I train I teach them that anytime they want to chew something they should take it to their crate or bed.

LCK

[Heather]

Thanks Lee. I have his mat set up next to the couch, he is doing well there in the evenings for about an hour while I watch TV or read. He settles back down with the bone when I place it on the floor.

So re: Alec's post (sorry I co-opted it and went off on the bone tangent) - the reason the dogs want to bring a chew item and chew it right up next to owners' legs is residual stress/resistance being overcome from when owners inhibited biting by the dogs?

Generally if he wants to chew something right next to my feet I don't mind, is it actually working through the stress in a productive way or is it more like the dog occupying the human's space too much/not being differentiated enough?