# Does anyone else have a golden as weird as my Basil?



## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

My sweet Basil has a behavior that does not exist in any of my other dogs(and I own her mom, uncle, grandma, etc). She sucks on things. She will pick up something whether it be fabric or rubber and suck on it. She loves to suck on cloth ducks or the Planet Dog artichoke.. sometimes it extends to my Merrell clogs which she has also chewed on. When she does this, her respirations increase and as one of my co-workers said, it looks like she is "making love to the toy" (with her mouth). She cracks up my family with this behavior, but unfortunately leaves giant wet spots on the rugs. Does anyone else have such a strange dog?


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

My Brady does that. Usually to stuffed animals, but I have seen him do it to blankets too. He almost goes into a trance. No other dog I have had, has done that.


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## Sally's Mom (Sep 20, 2010)

Yes, it is trancelike. I feel it might be a "calming" behavior for her.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

I've seen a couple of Goldens do that, and it looks a lot like nursing, so I wonder if it's a carryover from infancy.


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## luvbuzz (Oct 27, 2010)

My guy rips instead of sucks. I wish he would do more sucking. Stuffed toys only last minutes.


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## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

cubbysan said:


> My Brady does that. Usually to stuffed animals, but I have seen him do it to blankets too. He almost goes into a trance. No other dog I have had, has done that.





Sally's Mom said:


> Yes, it is trancelike. I feel it might be a "calming" behavior for her.


 


tippykayak said:


> I've seen a couple of Goldens do that, and it looks a lot like nursing, so I wonder if it's a carryover from infancy.


My old guy use to bunch up his blanket and suck on it a lot, about 4-5 years ago he suddenly stopped-no idea why. As you've said above, it seemed to be very calming, trancelike. I always felt it had something to do with his infancy too.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

Brady will once in a while even do it with his front paw, like he is sucking his thumb.


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## Ninde'Gold (Oct 21, 2006)

Nope. You guys have weird dogs. No sucking here.

LOL :

Tucker used to chew the crap out of everything, I'm glad he grew out of it.


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## willip (Oct 27, 2010)

I've never seen a dog do that BUT my cat used to do it on an old sheep skin rug we had...she'd lie on it out stretched and suck one of the tufts to the point that the dye came out! Very trance like and perr like mad!! Def looked like she was nursing from it! Eventually threw it away as I didn't think the dye they had used on it was gonna do her any good!


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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

My Hank sucks on his fleece blanket all the time. He was taken from his mother early so we always figured it has something to do with that.


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## LDGrillo (Dec 20, 2010)

I would like to see a video : ) I have never heard of that before, but it sounds cute


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

Tess likes to suck on her stuffies. But her mother and her sister do it, too, so I always thought she inherited it ...Right now she is sucking on an old glove, eyes closed, ready to go to sleep...


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## Rubymom (Mar 14, 2009)

Ruby sucks on the fleece crate pads, has since she was a baby. She will drag one into whatever room everyone is sitting in and lay down and suck on it usually falling asleep. She also gets it when she is stressed or excited as kind of a self soothing. When she gets mouthy we tell her to go get her beddy, definately weird but also very cute!


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## laelinone (Feb 12, 2011)

We too have a 'nurser' of a golden, Coppper developed this trait around the age of 1, he was not taken early from his mother and has no unusual social reasons for this behavior. He will only suck on his own stuffed bears, and always the face, primarily the nose. Never chews on them and prefers them cleaned and fluffy, he has his own few, but tries occationaly to sneak an extra soft one from our daughters room now and then. He would have made a very nurtering mother, we are sure. He is a precious dog , he is now almost 3 and how we love him. What a tender and sweet dog is he.


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

My golden Raleigh did that from babyhood to old age. He made me smile.


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## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Penny occasionally will suck her paw... much like a child will suck their thumb. She, too, finds it very soothing and usually falls asleep.


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## tessalover (Nov 29, 2009)

Saadiah does that too. She likes to take her toys and suck on like the ears and stuff. And she cuddles with her blanket. It's worse when she's tired.


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## amy22 (May 11, 2008)

My last golden, Sandy used to have one special stuffed animal that she would suck on. She would hold it with her two paws and suck on its face. She would close her eyes when she did this. She looked so at peace when she used to do it. She was not taken from her mom early...and it would only be this one special stuffed animal.
I miss watching her do that...Misty and Holly just tear stuffed animals apart...in like 2 seconds flat!


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

Flora doesn't suck on things, but many times at night when she's deep asleep, she makes sucking sounds and motions with her mouth. I figure it has something to do with nursing at infancy. I think it's cute.


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## kridgway (Jun 1, 2009)

I had always wondered if other Goldens did this. Our Cody sucks on his furry stuffed duck but nothing else. He will be 2 in June. We got him when he was about a year old. I didn't notice him doing this at first. He acts like it is a pacifier. It gets nice a slobbery and I have to throw it in the laundry often or it really stinks. He doesn't take it to his bed at night. Glad to know that Cody isn't the only strange one.


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