As I'm walking and doing things around the house my dogs will lick my hands, like a sneak attack. And my hands are right around their mouth level. Since I have a newborn I'm trying to keep my hands clean and it's really annoying.

My question is, do you think this is a dominant thing, like, "pay attention to me now" or just a play thing. One of my dogs will grab my hand in her mouth, that's probably more of a dominant thing....

With GSDs the hand grasping in the mouth is often simply a greeting done when you return after being absent from them, or when the dog returns from a walk or other activity with someone else away from you. I've thought of it in that context as a reaffirmation that the pack is reunited, as GSDs really don't like the pack to be separated.

But, the same GSDs who do hand grasping, don't tend to lick; so it's probably not applicable in your situation.

I now have a Chessy who is a licker. He never takes my hand in his mouth though. In his case, he seems to be a little on the insecure side; so it is definitely summissive. I have never been bothered by the hand grasping, but I find the licking to be annoying.

I think it is more often submissive, especially the licking; but the grasping can be either submissive or dominant, depending on the dog and context. But submissive would probably be the case in more dogs than dominant.

I'm going back to GSDs after this. They are the breed that better suits my personality and temperament.

I don't think this is exclusively a GSD behavior at.
My Husky does the same thing, he will give a little kiss on the hand now and then, but he also likes to hold my hands, or ankles in his mouth. Its very gentle and he will let go as soon as I pull my hand away so I don't worry about it too much. I do however hold his ankle or "wrist" in my hand from time to time when we are cuddling, just to make sure he lets me do the same. (But I might just be a little silly )

I read somewhere that in wolf packs they do this as a sort of trust exercise within the pack. I have no idea if that is true or not but it made perfect sense to me.

 Quote: jennifer lee

I don't think this is exclusively a GSD behavior at.
My Husky does the same thing, he will give a little kiss on the hand now and then, but he also likes to hold my hands, or ankles in his mouth. Its very gentle and he will let go as soon as I pull my hand away so I don't worry about it too much. I do however hold his ankle or "wrist" in my hand from time to time when we are cuddling, just to make sure he lets me do the same. (But I might just be a little silly )

I read somewhere that in wolf packs they do this as a sort of trust exercise within the pack. I have no idea if that is true or not but it made perfect sense to me.

No, it is not exclusively a GSD trait. But since my experience of living with dogs has been primarily of GSDs, I used them as an example. How widespead it is in other breeds I don't know.

I have a fair amount of wolf experience and have been a consultant to a couple of small zoos regarding wolf behavior problems in the past. Yes, it is a wolf characteristic and it seems to be some sort of pack bonding ritual.

If you don't like it, don't let them do it.

Excellent response. Cuts to the chase.

It's both a submissive thing and a "I want attention" thing for my GSD:

When my girl gets a hard correction from me, she will crawl very submissively to me with her ears back and try to lick my hands.

On the other hand, when both my husband and I are on the couch with our feet up on the ottoman (which is where she likes to drape herself across) she will lick his feet constantly, but won't do it at all with mine. Since I'm the alpha between the three of us and he's the one that mainly plays with her, I take it as a "I want attention" sign when she licks him.

 Quote: Sharon Eliot

... When my girl gets a hard correction from me, she will crawl very submissively to me with her ears back and try to lick my hands.

I know this is off topic and also not even a question, but when did that ever stop
me.

This dog does not sound at all like a dog who needs or will do well with a hard correction. This is not a reaction I want to see.

If this is the dog who shut down over the e-collar after abusive past training at the hands of a previous owner, then it goes double.

But even if not, this kind of reaction to a correction would make me stand back and re-evaluate my methods, which really need to be tailored to the individual dog. I know that we sometimes forget that what was needed with another dog is not necessarily what is needed with the one in front of us.


.... and back to hand-licking ....