Biting when overstimulated- question?

[Laurelin]

Ok so just to clarify NO I don't think it is a good thing. No, I'm not trying to be badass or anything (lol)

I'm just curious because of something I saw recently posted elsewhere that biting while overstimulated/excited was a herding breed thing. I am just curious to know who all has had this issue they have to work through with their dogs. I am just mainly curious if it really is a 'herding breed thing' or if it's common in other breed types too.

So have you had to work through it with your dogs?

Hank is a definite yes and it is something we are constantly working on. Breed unknown. Definitely terrier and probably herder. I don't really know.

My only other dog that has been has been Trey and his was heel nipping vs launching at my arms like Hank likes to do. Trey was a sheltie.

ETA: Basically brought because of a photo I saw that essentially just said along the lines of 'oh herders doing herdy things' but it got me thinking...

 

[houlahoops]

YES!

For Pippa this has been a huge problem and although the lightbulb came on about two weeks ago, we continue to work on it.

 

[sassafras]

Oh heck yea with Toast. I haven't had any other dogs who do this, and none of them have been herders.

 

[Picklepaige]

Finn does it when he gets overstimulated. People laughing is what really sets him off. He's never drawn blood or anything, but he will grab your arm and bite fairly hard, in addition to grabbing clothing.

Since it's pretty much solely just when people are laughing (he doesn't do it while we're playing or anything) it's not a big deal to me and I just let him do it; he will calm down if I hold him still for a bit. I can see how it would be annoying if it were a frequent thing.

I have no idea what breeds he has in him.

 

[amberdyan]

Hugo is a herder mix and he's really mouthy. It's the one thing my SO doesn't like about him. When he's really excited and on and doesn't have a quick and fast outlet, he's chomping on my arms. He's never even come close to drawing blood or even actually hurting me, but it's annoying. I tried withdrawing attention but that made it worse because he still didn't have an outlet for what he was feeling. What has worked for us so far is lots of pop up games, and using the flirt pole with the skinee (how do you even spell that?) so that he's crazy drivey moments are directed away from my body, lol. It mostly only happens when there's a lot going on and he wants an outlet.

He's the first herder I've owned, but I hear it a lot from some of the herder disc dog people I hang out with too.

 

[Elrohwen]

Watson did this all the freaking time, so I'm going to say no, not necessarily a herding breed thing. Just a young, mouthy dog thing. Especially those with a lack of emotional control. I remember crying on more than one occasion because he just would not stop or let up for such a long time.

He really doesn't hurt me anymore, so I'm willing to believe that his sporting dog nature has given him a softer mouth, but he was ripping clothing well past a year old. There was a very long time where he went nuts at a certain point on walks and just nipped like crazy. He's still a mouthy beast but even when it's too hard he rarely bruises now, and mostly stops when it's clear I'm not into it, but he's 2.5 so I guess he's matured. He still likes to grab my hand gently when he's excited or doing a swing finish in heeling for whatever reason.

 

[stardogs]

Snipe, Kestrel, and Ziva are all herding breed/mixes and this has not been an issue with them in general. Snipe has made contact when incredibly jacked once, Ziva has never thought of doing such a thing, ever. Kestrel was very mouthy as a pup, but as an adult he will still occasionally flea bite from excitement.

However, this is a continuous work in progress for Aeri and I. Control Unleashed work was very helpful, as is changing how I interact with her (I must slow down and be calm when she isn't - this has taken lots of practice) and working on replacement behaviors. Her preferred overarousal behavior is pinching my left arm with her little front teeth. Triggers are frustration and confusion generally.

This weekend we had our most pleasant flyball tournament to date thanks to the work we've done:

Yes, that's my dog waiting to run in 3rd position at a flyball tournament, doing a relaxed down stay on her mat. I was very proud!

 

[Beanie]

Georgie is the worst because my mom doesn't work with her on it, so she will try and take your finger off, and she has done some serious damage to my fingers before. She also jumps in the air and bites my mom on the back, legs, or butt - she has never done that with me.

Payton OTOH is really good because we've worked so hard, but thresholds are still a thing, so... it happens. He has chomped me good a few times. Usually it's not my fingers, he goes for something a bit more, um, substantial. He's gotten my wrist, my calf, and my thigh before.

Pepper has started to bite but it's not overstimulation, I have literally no idea what is going on with her. It started after I put this supposed calming collar on her. =P But she bit me twice a couple weeks ago and then she bit my mom a few days ago, I saw it happen. My mom has said she's bitten her before but she never told me about it and I've never seen it. Pepper is Pepper and I have zero clue what her malfunction is.

Auggie has never even tried to grab wool or nip when he is in the pen with sheep. Oddly he is the one with the worst bite inhibition while playing. =P He did develop a thing where he liked to run up and bite me on the back of the knee, but I think he thought it was a weird game, not over-stimulation... or he was just being a jerk...


I don't think it's solely a herder thing but I do think maybe people let herders get away with it more? Like oh LOL he bit the back of my leg HE'S HERDING ME LOL. Whereas with other breeds the biting isn't really acceptable so people work to stop it pretty quickly. A lot of my clients have puppies and our response is mostly to treat it as "puppy biting" regardless of breed so I'm not sure I can give an accurate sample from that. I'm trying to think of any of my older clients and I'm not sure. I've had a few that would chomp as redirection from reactivity but I don't personally think of that as the same thing... that group involves two pit mixes and a goldendoodle.

 

[pinkspore]

I've always said that Brisbane's biting reflex is wired to his spine somewhere before his brain. He's gotten a lot better with time and medication, but I've spent nearly a decade working on it. It's been a few years since he got excited enough to bite my thighs while running with me.

We switched from agility to obedience when he was around a year old because his structure and tendency to bite obstacles made it highly likely he would hurt himself. Tunnels are not for biting. Tires are not for biting. Teeters are not for biting. Tables are not for biting godammit.

Stuck in mud? Bite the mud. Mailman coming down the street? Bite the couch. Can't find the ball? Bite the Chuckit.

 

[MicksMom]

Watson did this all the freaking time, so I'm going to say no, not necessarily a herding breed thing. Just a young, mouthy dog thing. Especially those with a lack of emotional control...

I've chalked it up to it being a retriever/sporting dog thing. Caleb doesn't actually bite, except for doing what we call "corn on the cob" on his fore legs, but he has to have something in his mouth.

 

[Slick]

Nope. Not a problem for Leo at all.

He will now mouth during rough housing play, but I actively taught him how to play bitey-hand with me. He wouldn't have done it on his own. And even still, when we play it is 100% controlled with open mouth, and he has never bit me even when very riled up.

The most excitement contact he does is that he will sometimes nose-jab me in the back of the knee when he is super excited about us going somewhere. But that is with completely closed mouth.

Now, I only got him at 6 months, so it is possible that he was more of a mouthy herder prior and his previous owner did a really good job redirecting it. But honestly, he just has never been a super mouth motivated dog. He likes to chew his occasional bully stick or antler, but I never ever ever have to be worried about chewing something he shouldn't.

 

[Elrohwen]

I've chalked it up to it being a retriever/sporting dog thing. Caleb doesn't actually bite, except for doing what we call "corn on the cob" on his fore legs, but he has to have something in his mouth.

Yeah, I think people assuming bitey is a herder thing, and they are going to follow you around nipping your heels, but sporting dogs can be super mouthy.

I did have a chessie breeder tell me her dogs won't tug, because they have naturally soft mouths and won't bite down hard. I just said "Oh, I guess Watson didn't get that gene". :rofl1: Though the fact that he never made me bleed after teething makes me think he is fairly soft mouthed when compared with some of the stories I've heard.

 

[SpringerLover]

Bailey and Buzz were born with naturally soft mouths. I didn't have to do anything to encourage it. But both were very mouthy puppies. To this day, at 15 years old, Bailey will still put my hands in her mouth without hurting me.

One of my favorite Buzz stories is when he caught a vole but it kept escaping his mouth. Every part of him said "don't bite down" and so the vole kept escaping from his mouth.

 

[Laurelin]

Hank bites heels on dogs but mainly goes for arms and has even gotten my shoulder with his teeth. He is much harder mouthed than Trey was and will leave bruises and rip clothes and has busted my knuckles a few times (but mostly missed tugs there). He is definitely not soft mouthed (or really soft anything lol).

Trey would go for heels almost exclusively and just when running. Hank leaps and snaps at arms and t-shirts when over excited. His default natural behavior when rowdy (like at the end of doing some agility stuff) or frustrated is to leap and bite. My shelties other than Trey were not bitey or nippy at all.

I want to hear from terrier folk.

 

[MicksMom]

...I did have a chessie breeder tell me her dogs won't tug, because they have naturally soft mouths and won't bite down hard...

I don't know about that statement. Caleb will play tug, yet he will also carry a raw egg or glass ornament from the Christmas tree without breaking it. I think he'd need a soft mouth to do that.

 

[GoingNowhere]

I'm going to go with the young excitable dog thing (or older dog who has not been trained). My friend's landlord has a husky who is just awful about nipping when she is excited and I've walked non-herding mixes at shelters in the past who were pretty bad about it.

I'd imagine that herders (and retrievers) tend to be pretty excitable as young dogs, so you end up with a lot of dogs from those groups with the issue, but in my experience, it is certainly not limited to just those groups.

 

[StompinT]

I am in the "young excitable dog" camp. Heck, my shih tzu did this when very excited as a young dog.

My Bouvier would love to do this. I worked very hard from about 10-14 weeks to stop it, and it has.

 

[JacksonsMom]

Hank bites heels on dogs but mainly goes for arms and has even gotten my shoulder with his teeth. He is much harder mouthed than Trey was and will leave bruises and rip clothes and has busted my knuckles a few times (but mostly missed tugs there). He is definitely not soft mouthed (or really soft anything lol).

Trey would go for heels almost exclusively and just when running. Hank leaps and snaps at arms and t-shirts when over excited. His default natural behavior when rowdy (like at the end of doing some agility stuff) or frustrated is to leap and bite. My shelties other than Trey were not bitey or nippy at all.

I want to hear from terrier folk.

Jackson has never been very mouthy. Even as a pup, he hardly bit anything, never chased my heels, etc. Wasn't mouthy in play. Not a huge fan of tug.

Lola, cockapoo pup, is super mouthy! When she gets overstimulated or overexcited, she does go for biting a lot. Thank god her baby teeth keep falling out, those suckers hurt. She also often bites my furry boots when I'm walking around or grabs onto pant legs. She's fairly easy to stop, you usually just have to pick her up and calm her down for a second, but once she gets going, omg, she gets sooo bitey and just won't.stop. She chases the kids while they play too and grabs at their pant legs.

 

[Jadex]

Ryker does this ALL THE TIME. He's gotten a lot better as he gets older, but he was horrid as a puppy. Just this afternoon I was taking pictures of him running around in the snow and he latched onto my arm and dragged me down into the snow. He's gotten better at not hurting me, but sometimes he will still leave a good mark.

I think it's just a mouthy young dog thing.

 

[meepitsmeagan]

I feel like dogs either bred to move/herd things, or use use their mouth in order to achieve their instinct (such as retrieve) are more prone to having this be an issue; however, I do not feel it is universal to just them. I think any individual dog/puppy can have overarousal bitey problems. My $0.02.