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Wednesday 19 May 2010

What does a neck nibble mean?

I have two dogs, a German Shepherd bitch Sasha and a Lurcher dog Jake. When we get ready to go out for a walk, Sasha always nibbles on Jake’s neck. Jake clearly agrees with this as he’ll stand exactly under her nose, practically offering his neck to nibble on and will reposition himself to make himself “available” if I push Sasha out of the way. I find it mildly irritating as it makes it more difficult to disentangle the dogs to get their leads on. Also, last time Sasha unintentionally caught Jake’s skin and hurt him (which he very loudly objected to). Sasha used to do the very same thing with her previous canine companion, a Greyhound dog, who also stood there insisting on his neck being nibbled at. She didn’t do it to the castrated male greyhound we also used to have. It clearly means something to them, but what? Does anybody know?
Many thanks and best regards,
Dominique (in Manchester)

Dear Dominique
Thank you for your post. Without seeing this behaviour it sounds like low intensity rallying behaviour. Wolves when preparing to go hunting will often muzzle hold, yap and howl to work everyone up before setting out. If your dog only does this when going for a walk I’d suggest it is a form of this. Alternatively if your dog is a little nervous it could be a way of calming herself down, a bit like sucking on a blanket for human children. Jake offering his neck is also a normal behaviour as lower ranking wolves are often seen grooming and nuzzling high ranking wolves. The turning of the head to expose the neck can show a confident higher ranking wolf as they are confident to allow this to happen. It is observed in the wild a lot. I’d suggest this is all normal behaviour even if it is a little annoying. Bear in mind a full rally is very boisterous so your dog’s behaviour could be so much worse; I hope that consoles you to this miner irritation.

Toni Shelbourne
Education Officer & Senior Wolf Handler
UK Wolf Conservation Trust

www.ukwolf.org

Karen Wild, Canine Behavious Counsellor, says...
Without seeing the actual behaviour it is hard to interpret - I often ask my clients to video their dogs to help me see. However I would say that if the nibbling appears only at these times we would need to look at the chain of events building up to, during and immediately after the walk. Is Sasha excited, or maybe a little stressed? Often a stressed or aroused dog will lick and chew and often will direct this to the nearest dog or human. Perhaps you could try providing Sasha with something else - very tasty - to nibble on whilst getting both dogs ready. This would give her something to do with her mouth rather than nibble on the other dog. At the same time I would look for other body signals such as licking lips, yawning, shaking herself as if wet, and so on. These are signs that she may be a little anxious and can be helped enormously with some desensitisation work. I have seen dogs becoming agitated before walks, usually because the dog pulls on the lead or dislikes its harness and so on. It might even be worth checking with your vet to ensure she is not in any physical pain, or any other conditions that may cause her to feel stressed. Sometimes it could simply be plain old excitement, so more control at these times is essential. A nice, calmly and thoroughly taught sit stay will mean that Jake is not likely to get a neck pinch again! It also means that going for a walk will be a pleasant and safely predictable event, for everyone concerned.

1 comment:

  1. You don't say how old Sasha is or if she has had a litter, but clearly this is a well established habit. One thing which did come to mind is that this may well be a "two way" pay off. Firstly Sasha may be smelling/tasting something on the skin of these entire dogs, perhaps pheremones?
    The act of licking may also be soothing and comforting to her, with the release of endorphins, thus reinforcing the habit? Also, it strikes me that the neck is a vulnerable area and in the wild exposing that would be to be vulnerable, so Jake must either be getting something positive from it, or has come to accept this from Sasha who is higher in the pecking order being the oldest dog? It could also be that the licking replicates that of the Dam and is comforting in a sense to Jake.
    It might be possible to change your pre walk routine so the dogs know that unless they are sitting calmly and separately the walk does not proceed. If this is done consistently they will soon get the message!

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