Play Biting

[Guest lasharp1209]

I'm curious whether people allow their greys to play nibble, snap at their hair, be generally mouthy, etc. Our foster does this when he gets excited about playing or going on a walk, and I don't mind as it doesn't really hurt, but I can see how it would maybe be frightening or potentially painful if he did it to a child. We don't have any of the human variety but his future home might, and I wondered if you all thought this is something we should work on, or if it's a behavior that is okay. Thoughts??

[Guest Bang_o_rama]

Many many dogs have "mouthed" me and not one has ever done me any harm. I have hands that can play, comfort or punch, according to my nature and the circumstances. I'd hate to be yelled at for all of them. I figure that a dog doesn't have hands, she has a mouth.

~D~

[Guest scfilby]

Our boy does this... air snapping, nipping at the hands, mouthing the arms.. we like it, he is expressing himself.. others don't, so I think it is something in a foster situation that should be mentioned to potential adopters, but not discouraged in the foster home.

[Trihounds]

I would at least expect the foster home to teach the dog some limits. Some get carried away and may do it a little hard. Our boys do it and know to be careful as we've corrected or let them know it was too hard with a 'ah ah' or 'ow'. They quickly learned the limits of mouthing. But I agree....they are expressing themselves and communicating, which is good interactiong and bond building with our pets (or fosters).

[Guest lasharp1209]

That was my initial feeling - it's a natural expression and I think it's cute. But I will keep it in mind to mention, and discourage it if it gets too rough. Thanks

[Guest Bang_o_rama]

Bang will be chewing a stuffy to death, tugging on one end as I pull on the other, and if her teeth meet my hand she just stops and drops it. We never taught her to do that. Dogs* definitely know what can be chomped on and what is to be mouthed gently; millions (or 5,000; opinions vary) of years of evolution have given them that control.

~D~

 

*Cats too, maybe even better, since they have claws to deal with as well.

[HJsM]

My feeling on this is you need to TOTALLY discourage it. While it may be cute to some, to other potential homes it may be both annoying and by letting the dog use his mouth to tell you how he is feeling or what he wants, it becomes too easy to bite. Ignore it and physically move yourself away from him when he does it if you want to break him of the habit. Which I would.

[Guest jettcricket]

When I get home from work, my two boys go wild....Dave starts nipping (mostly on my butt) and Duffy does the play bite and the mouthy thing on my hand. They are so similiar in personality and at times compete for Mommy's attention. And, yes, sometimes it does hurt! I have tried to discipline them and try to discourage it, but they don't listen. I find when they get too crazy all I have to do is take a rolled up newspaper and slap in my hand...it works.

Edited February 25, 2010 by jettcricket

[PrairieProf]

Play biting is Beth's one and only bad habit that I can think of (well, if you don't count hogging my bed!). I know I give her terribly mixed messages since I basically don't think it's a good thing but she also does it as a sign of playfulness and too often I find it cute and don't discourage it properly and will even play back a bit. But what doesn't hurt when it involves biting a coated arm or gloved hand in the winter is a real problem in warm weather. And when she's off leash Beth combines the playbiting with jumping and getting pretty rowdy -- it absolutely wouldn't be safe around children, for example.

 

I would ABSOLUTELY discourage this in a foster. What if the dog play-bit the wrong person in his adoptive home (hurt or frightened a child, say) and got returned because of it??

[Guest PiagetsMom]

My feeling is there's a difference between a foster pup and a pup in their permanent home. What you might see as a cute, or even endearing habit, might not be appreciated or tolerated in their permanent home. I guess I kind of feel about this the same way I understand furniture privelidges to be in foster homes.......not necessarily encouraged, as not all potential adopters want to extend furniture priveledges to the pups in their homes.

 

 

Neither of my pups have ever been mouthy, but my son's dog was. She has a very pushy, dominant personality to begin with, so we always discouraged it.

Edited February 25, 2010 by PiagetsMom

[silverfish]

My own personal feeling is that if we are to keep dogs as pets, we need to allow them to express natural behaviours - this is actually mandated in our ethical farming guidelines here in the UK, so why should our pets be less privileged?

 

Having said that, you do need to teach a young (or inexperienced) dog when he is causing pain, even a very small amount of pain, because yes, they do get excited and can get carried away. In addition to this, yes, there is a difference between a foster home and a permanent home, because you do need to look forward a little bit to what a prospective adopter might or might not be able to handle.

 

So, my advice would be to allow play which involves mouthing, because that's how dogs play and it teaches them quite a lot about trusting humans and interacting with us, BUT, should his teeth do more than gently graze your skin, let out a yelp, just like a pup, and back off for a moment. If he does it twice in a row, stop the game. He will quickly learn to judge the pressure which is allowable for our fragile human skin, if you're consistent and if he loves the game enough. If he doesn't love the game enough, he'll probably simply stop playing with you that way.

 

But anyone who wishes to discourage play biting, air snapping and 'nitting' should be very careful not to punish a dog for expressing a natural canine behaviour and be sensitive about how they do it.

[Guest gecko_foot]

I'm curious whether people allow their greys to play nibble, snap at their hair, be generally mouthy, etc. Our foster does this when he gets excited about playing or going on a walk, and I don't mind as it doesn't really hurt, but I can see how it would maybe be frightening or potentially painful if he did it to a child. We don't have any of the human variety but his future home might, and I wondered if you all thought this is something we should work on, or if it's a behavior that is okay. Thoughts??

 

I allow mouthing only when I ask for it (i.e. when I instigate the play). Any other time, it's met with the voice of God.

[Guest Spencers_Greyt]

As a foster you should work on training him not to do that behavior along with not allowing him on furniture or human beds. Potential adopters might not like those behaviors.

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

I not only allow it, I encourage it.

[carronstar]

My girl does it and it makes me laugh. I allow it with me and in her home. The only downside for us is that she can't be a therapy dog. My last girl was and she loved it. We were approved to do in home visits with the homebound ill and elderly 1 week before she died suddenly. My plan was to certify Aquitaine and continue the therapy work. However, I don't want Aquitaine to change her natural behavior so therapy work will have to wait.

 

Meanwhile, she nibbles away at me and every so often she actually kisses my ***!

[silverfish]

My girl does it and it makes me laugh. I allow it with me and in her home. The only downside for us is that she can't be a therapy dog. My last girl was and she loved it. We were approved to do in home visits with the homebound ill and elderly 1 week before she died suddenly. My plan was to certify Aquitaine and continue the therapy work. However, I don't want Aquitaine to change her natural behavior so therapy work will have to wait.

 

 

Why can't she be a therapy dog?

 

Renie was a very successful PAT dog, and she was a champion air snapper and play mouther, but only at home. She never, ever attempted to do it while she was working. She knew the difference, and it's my belief that most adult, settled dogs only do this with humans they totally trust and accept as part of their 'pack'.

 

So sorry to hear you lost your therapy dog. I was devastated when I lost Renie. I think it brings you very close, to work with a dog like that.

[Guest isntitgreyt]

I don't let my fosters do it ever and my girls have really not done it. If I initiate it I wouldn't mind but I also have kids so it's not something I'd want my dogs doing with them either.

Edited February 26, 2010 by isntitgreyt

[DunesMom]

Dune air-snapped and happy snapped and nitted for the whole 11 years we had together, and not once did he ever do it with anyone other than me and then DH.

 

Kipper does it with me and a bit with DH, but has never done it with anyone else.

 

I think it's their way of communicating happy with their people, and it's very different from rowdy biting or warning snapping, so I encourage it. I wouldn't worry about it being dangerous; that's a totally different type of snapping, and dogs definitely know the difference, even if people don't.

[Guest fatesrelease]

Discourage is my point of view. Sarah has never tried the whole play biting thing thankfully, but the dog could think it was all in fun and bite too hard and really hurt someone. What if you invited someone over that didn't know if this play biting habit and your dog wasn't familiar with the person and someone got hurt? I'd hate for a dog to be put to sleep over it.

[silverfish]

Discourage is my point of view. Sarah has never tried the whole play biting thing thankfully, but the dog could think it was all in fun and bite too hard and really hurt someone. What if you invited someone over that didn't know if this play biting habit and your dog wasn't familiar with the person and someone got hurt? I'd hate for a dog to be put to sleep over it.

 

I do understand this point of view, but there is a world of difference between play biting and actually intending to hurt.

 

I'll say two things which I think are very important to bear in mind - and this is just my opinion, after all.

 

1 - Adult dogs who 'play bite' generally do so only with trusted family members. I've never, ever known one of my dogs to attempt this with anyone outside the family - or indeed, outside the home with one of the family. Puppies are a different matter of course, but that brings me on to ...

 

2 - Bite inhibition is one of the most important things for a dog to learn. Most learn it playing with siblings, but, of course, our human skin is more easily damaged than dog skin and most humans don't understand dog play very well. So it's up to us (in this case, up to the foster family) to teach the dog appropriate bite inhibition with people, and - again, IMHO - the best way to do this is to initiate play, and let them learn through 'play biting'.

 

It all has to be balanced up, of course, with how skillful the person is who teaches the dog, how experienced they are with greyhounds, how rough or gentle the dog is and whether the person's skill is up to teaching that particular dog, and also what the adoption society wishes them to do. Some adoption groups may prefer to leave it to the adopter. Knowing how unfamiliar people can be with dog body language, if it were up to me, I'd make sure the dog knew good bite inhibition before he was handed over. To me, that would go a long way towards preventing misunderstandings and injury.

[Guest Bang_o_rama]

Just to share because it's a cute story: I was in a vet's waiting room years ago and was playing with a Norwegian Elkhound puppy. The vet came and called the family in-they called the pup, and the pup looked at me, gently grasped my arm and started to tug me so I could come along. The family of the dog seemed mortified, but I thought it was extremely funny.

 

This is the sort of "mouthy" behavior I am used to and I'd personally never want to discourage it via a blanket prohibition.

 

~D~

[Guest LindsaySF]

Because this is a foster dog, I would discourage the behavior. If it were your personal dog it would be your choice.

[Saharasmom]

My feeling on this is you need to TOTALLY discourage it.

 

I agree 100%. My big fear is that an excited dog could nip at a stranger in fun, and then be labeled dangerous by Animal Control.

 

When we first adopted her, Sahara would bite my & DH's fingers when she was excited. A few times it hurt! We started saying "Eh!" and crossing our arms when she did it, and she stopped pretty quick.

[Guest Gemma]

We never allow Peyton or fosters to use their mouths on us. As soon as they do, all fun stops.

[Guest SillyIzzysMom]

our most shy dog, millie, will sometimes mouth at my hands. Only when she's on her back, on the sofa, she'll make a whispery "harrarrarrarrr. . ." and open her mouth and kind of pretend to take my arm/hand in her mouth. It's darling and very puppy-like and so unlike her normally. It took months before she would take treats from my hands or let me put a kiss on her sweet black "kissy-spot" on her head. So I treasure our silly puppy moments. . .

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