odd behavior????

my bitch Split aces has a very strange habit! when she is frustrated and being held back on lead or on her chain she starts grinding her teeth profusely! She has done this since I got her at 7wks of age. i have tried distracting her and have tried holding her mouth firmly shut with a firm no each time she would grind her teeth but to no avail!!
when she does it I can feel her lead vibrate! even a nylon horse lead i commonly use for her.

has anyone else experienced this odd behavior or heard of a dog sooo fired up that he/she would do this?
I'm afraid she will ruin her teeth!!!

 

Do you have a nylabone or other safe dental chew that she could/would redirect this behavior on while she is in her chain space? When she is on her lead, I would give it a sharp jerk and say NO! when she does it.

Reward her with attention for relaxed behavior in both instances and with consistancy (and i mean like 3000 repetitions LOL!), she should stop. JMO

 

trust me I have been dealing with this darn near 4 yrs now and the sharp jerk works momentarily, all my dogs get nylabones and when she's got her sights on another dog or whatever it is theres no redirecting her!!!

 

Pleease don't ever think i don't appreciate info and or advice for that is how we help eachother and learn! any help on this is appreciated!!

 

I got a pm to check out this thread and it is interesting. Does she grind her teeth on the chain or just grinds them? You said it is brought on by stress or frustration? Or does she do it other times too?

 

excitement, frustration, firing up, any time she is on any kind of lead. it doesn't matter if it's a harness, fixed collar, choke chain, pinch collar, or martingale collar even. she just does it even when calm! but only while on a lead.
It's creepy!!!

 

Has anyone here ever come accross this type of behavior?

 

Not me. . .but i do have a nail biter.

I would say put a horse bit in her mouth lol. . .but idk. . .

 

hahaha!!! she bites her nails too!

 

that's actually what it reminds me of, a horse with a spinning bit(the sound at least)

 

If I can get my husband to help I will try to get a vieo clip of her doing it.

 

Now, thats funny!

 

What you can do is put her on a leash and work on the behavior there and hopefully it will translate to the chain. If you have her on a prong and you correct her and she turns to bite the leash you jerk up and tell her "NO" pull her off her front feet and let her hang there till she lets go. Praise her and set her up again. Soon she will realize this behavior is no longer acceptable.

You see neurotic behaviors like this start to develop when they are young and if they are not corrected then they can be really hard to fix as an adult. It is possible but you will have to work at it.
The other thing is maybe work her more, I do not know how you exercise her but many time frustration means the dog is not getting worked enough. Along with correction exercise will help too.

In extreme cases I can see using things like an e collar but that should only be done by someone who knows what they are correcting, and can set it at the appropriate level.
If you really want to fix this it is possible it will just take work.

Is she bitting the leash and chain or just grinding her teeth? I am a little confused when I reread your post.

 

Video would be helpful

 

she doesn't bite the leash or chain, she just grinds her teeth like people do when asleep. She never turns to bite when corrected so that has never been a problem, she only grabs the lead to tug when invited so that's not a problem either. she does works her jaws back and forth.

 

it will have to be tonight when he gets home from work if possible.

 

I have two females from the same litter that both do this. Whenever they get fired up over the site of another dog, especially each other, they grind their teeth. Some dogs snarl, scream or growl, they grind.....and salivate a little, lol. I do correct it because I don't want them ruining their teeth, and they will stop when corrected, but next time they think they're within lunging distance of another dog, they do it again.

 

mine does it even when calm!! I have a job interview I gotta get ready for, I will be back on later, any ideas will be greatly appreciated, thanks!!!

 

It sounds like anxiety....

 

I agree with performance kennels. When a behavior is allowed to continue for a long time it becomes an ingrained neurotic habit that is difficult to break. The teeth grinding is a way for her to release her frustrations at not being able to get to the other dog. I think an e-collar could work at breaking the brain pattern long enough to redirect her attention and teach a different behavior but again it should be done by a professional. Other than that maybe try to desensitize her by working with her at a distance from other dogs, where she doesnt react to them, and training new behaviors. Then slowly working closer to another dog and reinforcing the new behaviors. Visualizing what you want the dog to do plus rewarding good behavior goes a long way.