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Clicking Teeth


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I have a weird question. Does anyone's dog, click their teeth when around other dogs. My 6month puppy has started clicking her teeth at other dogs. I first thought she was snapping at them, but an instuctor in the puppy class said that was a herding characteristic of border collies. He said she was just trying to gather them up. My last border collie didn't do that, and it seemed to me more like it was a situation she was uncomfortable with. She doesn't like overly exhubernt dogs and this one was so excited to see her. Maybe she was just telling them to calm down. Weirder things have happened

 

Thanks

Beth G

Alabama

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My experience with "clicking teeth" has always been with dogs around bitches in heat. I suppose it could be any kind of overstimulation that would make a dog do this. I think there is a proper name for it, I can't remember.

 

I really don't think its a BC/Herding breed thing. Just a dog thing.

 

My 2 cents

Jennifer

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Go to Patricia McConnell's blog: http://www.theotherendoftheleash.com/

 

and scroll down for the entries for Oct. 26 and Oct. 10. These discuss tooth clacking/chattering, muzzle punches, and air snaps (and the emotions that seem to prompt such behaviors).

 

Bottom line: many behaviors can be prompted by very different triggers. But it's still interesting to see what others infer.

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I've seen it under three different situations that I can think of:

 

1. Our males will do it when they sniff out a good smelling female

 

2. I've seen a couple of dogs do it when they were anticipating working sheep

 

3. Vicki does it when she is nervous about thunderstorms.

 

I'm leaning more toward it being related to tension and excitement as oppose to a herding dog thing.

 

Deb

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I'm leaning more toward it being related to tension and excitement as oppose to a herding dog thing.

 

Oh dear....twice in one year I agree with Deb :rolleyes:

 

I've seen a few border collies do it and a few other breeds as well. Excitement/Tension really the same thing in many cases. I call it "clacking" when it's intermittent unlike the "chattering" the males do with a bitch in heat around.

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Funny how we say the same things with different words.

 

I was going to say it's more like chattering for my dogs. And yes it's tension or excitement related.

 

If Mick is attracted to a female he does more a puffing clacking thing. Yes there's a name for the male puffing/chattering and female in heat behavior. He's bringing the fermones into his nasal cavities. Can't remember it either.

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My dog does the chattering when smelling certain type of dog pee :D And yes, he's done it even after our male Bichon neigbour has peed - so there... where there's love, the gender doesn't matter :rolleyes: but I love him anyway :D He's never actually done it to a dog, not has he ever mounted a dog. He does have a "no licking" command, but chattering is something he cannot help.

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doubt it. I'm also counting agreements with you on one hand...and journey is way more hard headed than I am :rolleyes::D

 

 

Shall we tame it down and make it all warm and fuzzy by hunting topics we all agree on? But then we all have to be sure that we post when we agree not just voice our agreement by not posting. Could make for some long threads with nothing said but concurrance...how boring :D

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My BC does big teeth snaps when he plays with my other dog. It is a play behavior for him. He has done it since he was 9 weeks old. It's always accompanied by play bows, pouncing, and zooming around for a game of chase. He also does the teeth chattering (which is different than the snaps) when he sees sheep. This is more of an excitement reaction.

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Poke clicked his teeth this morning at DH, but it wasn't a chattering.

 

This:

stress and tension of some kind causes it.

 

... sounds more like what Poke does. Poke does this when he really wants to control something or someone and knows he is not allowed. In this case DH and I were headed to work this morning, and Poke snapped his teeth while looking at DH to show his displeasure that DH was taking us away. (Apparently it was DH's fault that we had to go to work today. :rolleyes:) Poke really wanted to nip DH like he wishes he could control everything that moves, but he knows better than to nip anyone.

 

When Poke does this he is always very anxious. It reminds me of what Val Kilmer does in Top Gun when he snaps his teeth.

 

 

ETA: Come to think of it, Sita did this last night when I corrected her for trying take the remote out of my hand while I was walking. (Sita's new game is to leap at whatever is in your hand, from behind you, while you walk and try and get you to fumble it so she can take it.) It seemed to be the equivelent of a toddler stamping their feet and giving you a nasty face when she did it.

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I had a pitty mix client who would do this when she was getting overaroused. It was a very reliable signal to tone things down or end the session or you'd get pinched for your troubles.

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Thanks everyone. I am leaning toward the stress and tension trigger. She hasn't (yet) done this at the neighborhood dog park, only in a new situation with a new and bigger dog. I got the impression it was a back off, you're in my face and thats way too close.

 

Beth

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