Behaviour of shelter dogs - advice?
I hardly ever post things on the dog side! I just need to draw from the well of PT canine knowledge if that's OK. :D
I've never owned a dog and so the animals I probably have the most trouble with at my voluntary job at the shelter is the dogs. Recently I've observed the behaviour of a handful of dogs when I've taken them out of their kennels and just want to ask a few questions.
The first one may seem a bit daft. A lot of the time I take the dogs out and let them run in the field, they seem to like jumping up and trying to nip my hands. I realise they're excited to get out of the kennel environment and to get some attention, but sometimes it gets a bit out of hand. Yesterday as I was taking the lead off the dog got over-excited and just whipped round and grabbed me. It wasn't a bad bite and it didn't break the skin but it did hurt and bruise. I'm pretty sure the dog didn't do it because I hurt her in any way.
Of course with a lot of these dogs we don't know their history and most of them are unsocialised or don't like being touched in a certain way, but sometimes I just think the dogs are nipping at my hands more so than with other people. Could it be some way I'm behaving that is making them do this? I do play fetch with them quite a bit, but quite often, I throw, the dog runs, but nothing is brought back, and that's when they try to nip. With the more soft-mouthed dogs it isn't so much of a big deal but when it's staffies (which we have A LOT of) with their jaw power it could be a little more serious.
Next question, we have a sweet staffie cross in that wants to play with rocks all the time. :confused: I don't mind her picking them up and pawing them but she drops them at my feet and whines like she wants me to play fetch with them. The rocks she picks up are usually fist-sized at least and I'm not going to throw a rock that heavy about! :eek: I throw her toys but she doesn't bother, she wants the rocks. I then feel bad because she's not really getting as much fun out of her freedom as the other dogs. Has anyone else experienced this?
Finally, for people that own staffies, how much grass do they eat? I know dogs will eat grass sometimes, but with staffies, they seem to run around like mad things, then stop, and graze like sheep!! Zsa-Zsa (RB cat) used to eat a lot of grass now and then and it would make her sick. Should I let the dog eat as much grass as it wants, or should I stop them after a while? I don't want to make them sick, because one, we have to clean it up (;)) and two, it often means they bring up their dinner with it, meaning they'll probably go to bed on an empty stomach.
Thanks in advance, any advice appreciated.