Mouthing and Stress?

[Macy]

This past week has been a stresser. My SIL was staying with us while my FIL was critically ill in the hospital. We were all a bundle of nerves with the health roller coaster, my SIL most of all. She is not handling the situation well. When SIL was in the house, Macy would go up to her and mouth her on the wrist. Not a bite but would literally put her wrist gently in her mouth. Macy ignored me and did this continually. I would tell her to stop and she would go around the chair and repeat. The only evening the mouthing didn't happen was when we had good news for a change and thought he would be discharged the next morning.

I've never seen Macy behave this way. Was she picking up some weird vibe from SIL?

[BaconsMom]

Bacon comes over and "holds my hand" when he notices I am super stressed or worried. He either puts his head on my hand or puts his paw on mine. These wonderful dogs know so much. I have had times where I didn't know that I was getting anxious (I have had mild anxiety for most of my adult life) but Bacon was there, to comfort me with a wet nose and a furry head on my lap.

I have never encountered the mouth holding, but Bacon does know what "go bring me daddy" means, and will soon fetch his hand and bring Jake to me. Maybe Macy was trying to comfort her in her own way. Dogs observe a lot, and maybe she was just trying to hold her hand

[Maxx&Emma]

Maxx holds my hand often. I never associated it with anxiety though, it is usually when he is happy. He can be super clingy when I am anxious or upset though.

It sounds like Macy was trying to comfort your SIL.