Nervous Bite - Page 1

I often heard people commenting on dog bites during training as calm bite or nervous bite, what is the definition of nervous bite? How do you tell when a dog bite is nervous or full of confidence? 

Normally when someone says a dog has a Calm Bite they're meaning that it's a Full Grip where the dog is Calm and doesn't chew or mouth the sleeve...

A Nervous Bite is one where the dog is showing signs of not being confident...Such as a Bite/Grip that is chewy...Where the dog keeps moving his grip...But it can also be shown by other means...such as watching the dog's eyes...When a dog is nervous when biting his eyes will be moving and showing signs of stress...

~Bob~

Thanks, Bob. So I guess the best person to judge if the bite is a nervous bite will be the helper.

full calm bite is result of balance of drives and doesnot allways mean the dog is confident, I do helperwork for quite a few softer/weaker dogs that still have full calm grip

rebiting can also be result of trying to get fuller bite, fight or other reasons than lack of confidence

there are few more colours between black and white

My dog growls during the drive, when taking stick hits. Is that a sign of confidence? Her body language suggests she's PO'd at the helper!  (Her grip is firm and full.)

She just started protection this spring (and so did I) so we're still figuring out the ropes!

Not all helpers have experience in telling what a dog is doing and how to work with it...

Duke is also right in that a balanced dog is what you look for and want...And as a helper/trainer you're always trying to help balanced out the dog...

Nerves are shown in different ways...You can't see the nerves...but what you see is how a nervous dog shows them...It's how they react to different stimulus...

The questions was...What is a Nervous Bite... ... ...Answer this: What is a nervous person...How do they show it...People want to make dogs so complicated and the truth is they aren't...People are complicated... ... ...But nerves are nerves...They make people or dogs do different things in different ways...

~Bob~

Sunsilver: A lot of times Growling (when working) is a case of Insecurity...but not always...Sometimes it's a case where the dog's drives are reacting to the stimulus...

Sometimes when training with your dog doing Protection Work...while you have your dog on leash...Why does YOUR dog turn around and bite you...The dog is "loading" and just finds the closet place to release it...

A young dog needs to learn how to channel their drives...It's a learning process...Keep training and Keep learning what and how your dog reacts to things...

~Bob~

She's also bitten our trainer several times, when he's given her a hard correction for not focusing on him during the heel. Once she even drew blood (just a scratch, though).

I was really shocked the first tme it happened. When I asked him why she'd do that, he said "It's her nasty side coming out."

My response was; "I didn't know she HAD a nasty side!" 

He doesn't try to do the heel with her any more... 

He originally told me he didn't think she'd be able to do schutzhund/IPO. I think he's changed his mind....

Oh, BTW, she's 7 years old.

Sunsilver,

There are other ways to get a dog's attention turned to the decoy during the escort than to hit the dog with the stick/whip. Specially during the teaching phase. 

dogs that bite handler after correction is looked at by many as strong or hard dog, I dont like it, can be nervy of drivey dog also that bites back after out, ive seen many dog that have no problem engaging owner, but not to couragious on the helper , basic fight or flight behaviour, when they cant handle pressure from handler, and on the line, they cannot flight, so all is left is fight