? about dog doing something

[Short_Stack]

what does it mean when a dog bites another dog on the lip? like i have seen a Jack russel terrier bite a lab on the lip and hang there? thanks in advanced

 

[Renee750il]

It can be a dominance behaviour, or just a pain-in-the-tail behaviour. Our girls do it to each other when they're playing - and it's funny to watch because they have sooooo much lip to bite!

 

[dogsrmylife86]

it's not a dominance thing. in the wild, young pups would push on the corners of the adults' mouth, signalling the grown up dog to regurgitate their breakfast (food that had been recently hunted.) normally pups would do this and that's how the older pups would be fed. dogs now a days have the same instincts but they are sometimes vaugue and distorted, like the jack russel did by hanging there. sometimes this behavior may go on to adult hood a little bit but will most likely fade out. some older dogs just nip and bite at each other because they're playing, they also will bite the legs and "private" areas in a form of play. my male and female dogs both do this "play" thing.

allison

 

[Renee750il]

Dogs will also bite at each others' mouths as a form of one-upmanship (dominance). It's been interesting to watch my three with this behaviour, although neither one of the girls dares to do it to Bimmer - that's one challenge neither one of them cares to make - big as they are they don't want to irritate him and be quite so close to those big teeth of his.

 

[Saje]

I think it's a dominance thing. That's how packs of dogs (wolves...) bring down prey in the wild. They attack the sensitive, vulnerable parts. A dog will get the deer/elk.. by the nose/mouth area, another one the hindquarters and one of them goes for the jugular. You can see that a lot if you watch the animal planet or national geographic or other wildlife shows.

I think for a dog, it's just a natural instinct to win a fight - play or not.

saje