To think is not how dogs 'say hello'?

[ilovewelshrarebit123]

Just to start, I've never owned a dog so don't really know if I'm be over cautious. I'm concerned about a dog my friends boyfriend has, that is very boisterous.

This morning my daughter (9) was playing at my friends house who lives on same road as me.

I went there to bring her home and her boyfriend (who was nowhere to be seen) had left his adult staffy there.

As I walked through the door it launched itself at me and bit me on my hand. It wasn't aggressive but it definitely bit my hand and my friend said that's how he says hello!

It didn't break skin or hurt that much, but I was shocked.

She had 5 kids in the house as some of the neighbours kids were there. Her own staffy puppy and this adult dog were literally running in circles around the furniture and the kids.

They were fighting over the same toy and growling at each other.

This BF is the dogs fourth owner as apparently 'he's a handful'.

Am I being over cautious by saying my DD can't stay if the dog is there when she turns up.

I trust my friend but she's blinkered when it comes to her (knobhead) BF and will not stand up to him.

I wouldn' go back. I would just not let my daughter go round. It sounds a very chaotic situation.

It was mouthing -quite common in puppies, definitely not something that should be encouraged or laughed about. It can bloody hurt in a big dog!

i love staffies but that dog, due to its fuckwit owner , is sn accident waiting to happen.

How old is the dog ? Adolescent dogs can mouth when over excited but this is to be discouraged.

Actually i can't even begin to start with the wrongness of this scenario and my dd would never cross their threshold again as they are clearly fuckwits and i wouldn't trust them eith my chold. dog or no fog.

If you're concerned about your DD then trust your gut and keep her away. My dog mouths my hand but knows not to do it to strangers, it is an "I'm excited to see you" thing

What type of dog was he? Some are mothers and some are biters! A dog mouthing can feel emotionally like being bitten but is quite different.

That said "A bit of a handful " for 3 previous owners is a big red flag.

How old is the dog? Young dogs do mouth playfully, and might continue to do so if they're not trained out of it. I have a staffie cross who's nearly a year old and still gets mouthy when he's overexcited. If it didn't hurt or break the skin then I doubt it was an aggressive bite. That said, I would make sure that they are never leaving the dog unattended with children, purely because that is a stupid thing to do with any dog and any child.

The dogs sound very overexcited they need to be taken for proper walks or they become bored, frustrated and make their own fun .....

Ok so dogs mouth then, but surely it should be some how told this isn't right? Its an adult dog and his owner wasn't there.

They don't live together and you're right the owner is an absolute idiot.

I have nothing to do with BF as he treats her so badly and I'm sick of biting my tongue.

Puppies tend to 'mouth' when they are little - ie they will sort of nibble at hands or feet, not biting hard but sort of chewing; it's a playful and affectionate thing that dogs do to each other, but obviously it's not so pleasant when they're doing it to people. However, when dogs are properly socialised and trained they grow out of it.

Some dogs persist when they are a bit older, but there are lots of things that can be done to encourage them to stop. Your friends should be taking steps to discourage the behaviour and certainly not letting him run up to visitors and mouth them - if he gets over-excited when new people arrive then there are lots of things they can do to help him be calmer and politer.

If your friend's dog is already on its fourth owners then it probably hasn't had any proper training/care/socialising, but your friend's boyfriend needs to take a bit of initiative so his dog's manners improve and he matures properly. At the moment he's an adult dog behaving like a puppy. Sounds like they could with some advice from a dog behaviour expert as an adult dog shouldn't still be 'mouthing' like that. It's actually not really aggressive behaviour as such, but it's certainly not well-behaved or appropriate.

Dogs running around together and growling at each other over a toy is 100 per cent normal; dogs growl and playfight all the time.

However, five kids and a couple of boisterous dogs all running round at once is a bit chaotic. I love dogs and grew up with them, and our dogs were super-gentle and not particularly excitable, but if there was a houseful of kids my mum didn't have us all running around in the same room simply because it's all too much and too chaotic for all concerned. If we wanted to run around we'd go out in the garden and if there were lots of kids playing indoors the dogs would be in a different room to avoid them getting trodden on/tripped over/stressed out. It's just common sense, and it sounds like that might be a bit lacking in your friend's house.

Agree it sounds like mouthing rather than biting, which is common in young dogs, although should be discouraged and the dog should be taught only to mouth toys. If he's had several inexperience owners it sounds like they've reinforced the behaviour rather than discouraged it.

He sounds very boisterous as well. He sounds like a young, not very well trained dog rather than a vicious dog, but I wouldn't want him around children because they're likely to get knocked over or jumped on, Staffies are powerful dogs and this one probably doesn't know how strong he is so likely to hurt a child by accident. It's unlikely he'd bite viciously but not a risk I'd take with an untrained dog and a child.

I am a total dog lover but no way would I want my 5 year old in a house with over excited dogs, one of which has had to be rehomed three times because of it's behaviour, running around unsupervised and untrained.

YANBU.

I have an adult dog who sometimes forgets his manners and mouths when he gets overexcited. He is a very good natured and affectionate dog without an ounce of malice or aggression in him and mouthing is completely different from biting, however obviously it could still be shocking and distressing for someone who doesn't know him well, so for that reason I closely manage his interactions with people and don't allow him to greet anyone until he is calm. In the OPs case the owners sound completely irresponsible.

I got bitten randomly by a stranger'a dog yesterday. That doesn't help you, I just wanted to moan about it.

My 1 year old Goldie holds your hand in his mouth as a greeting. We discourage it as it's generally not popular however it's certainly NOT biting and doesn't hurt.

I breed , train and compete with my spaniels so I know a fair bit about dogs.
The house you describe sounds like a pretty nightmarish environment for dogs to be honest, the poor dog probably doesn't know whether he's coming or going and mouthing your hand was probably not even totally deliberate. He was probably in such a tizz that he didn't really know what he was doing.
Dogs need a calm, stable home with basic training consistently applied and they will be happy and well behaved.
Just like having kids!