I took Ben for a walk at a local park a few hours ago, and was on my way home when I ran into a little girl (who proudly told me she is FOUR!) walking with her father. I did what I always do and got Ben to sit as they passed, but she stopped and asked if she could say hi. The father told me they have a Staffordshire Terrier and she has been around dogs all her life, so I said yes. She approached Ben correctly and was very gentle with him, but sometimes when he gets really excited he is still a bit mouthy, so I kept MY hands near his head holding him, while she stroked him and rubbed his belly. His mouthiness is almost always gentle now, but I am working on him not doing it at all. However, if he DOES bite too hard, I'd much rather have him do it to ME than to a strange child. Especially now that he's teething, he can be overcome with the urge to chew.
Anyway, she was having a blast paying him attention, but she noticed that he had his mouth around my arm (I was wearing a leather jacket so he wasn't hurting me anyway).
She said "he's trying to bite you"
So I told her "He's not really trying to bite, he's still got his baby teeth, and he needs to lose them, like a person does. But chewing helps his mouth feel better until he gets his big dog teeth."
"Oh" she says..."So when the doggy tooth fairy comes, he'll stop?"
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