[Steve Babcock]

I have taken a 7 mo. pup back, to help the owners with a house training problem. She has yet to have an accident here. ( 2 days) But, what I have noticed is, when she comes up to you. She looks like she is biting with her head held high. Her teeth are clanging and they make a clicking sound. If there are any animal behaviorists out there, I would like some suggestions on what is causing this.
Thanks, Steve

 

[Julie R.]

Is she smiling? I've had a few smilers that would clack their teeth and literally peel their lips back baring all their teeth. It was pretty unnerving to people that didn't know it was a smile. You can usually tell the smile from an aggressive show of teeth by the body language.

 

[JoAnn Stancer]

It sounds like smiling to me also. Guess she is really happy to see you.

 

[Steve Babcock]

Julie, That is a better description. She is happy when she does it. Do you think this is a personality thing?

 

[Julie R.]

Yep and I think a smiling dog is hilarious. They will do it when they are happy to see you and really peel the lips back so much it makes them sneeze and move the head up and down clacking the teeth together. They will also really smile when you have to scold them for something.

Here is a photo of two of my old CBRs that were such grinning fools you could get them to smile on command. You can see in the sequence how the one in front is moving her head up and down. If it was a video you'd be able to hear the clacking teeth.

 

[Judy Chute]

:lol: :lol: ...so cute... Well, my, "Ranger" chatters his teeth when the girls are around..and in an interesting state. I guess you could call that a state of happiness, too!!

 

[FOM]

I raised a puppy for Aussie (an RTFer in Australia) that liked to clatter his teeth - he did this mostly when he was excited. I'm not 100% sure or not if he out grew it, but I never worried about it, I just figured he was excited and it was a nervous behavior associated with excess energy.

Hopefully Aussie will see this thread and reply...

FOM

 

[Julie R.]

It's different than chattering teeth--Puffin chatters when she's excited, like hunting or waiting in a holding blind and I've seen males chatter their teeth around females in heat. The smilers in that picture clacked their teeth in more of a snapping motion, in fact we called the lighter one of the two in that photo the snapper. And they would raise their heads up and down while smiling and snapping their teeth and sometimes sneeze, too. It's really hilarious if you've ever seen one that does this. Puffin also smiles, but it's not as pronounced and she doesnt clack her teeth.

 

[moscowitz]

I call it chessie smile. Both my chssies do it and they even do it when we say chaessie smile.

 

[Mark Littlejohn]

My BLM is a pee licker. Chatters while savoring apparently.