# Odd Dog Behavior



## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

One of my dogs, Alice, is the obvious dominant dog between her and my pitbull. She's a mix of herding breeds, so she's always overly concerned with what Duke (the pitbull) is doing and if he's doing something wrong. When he's doing something and I've asked him to stop, she'll do the corncob nibble on the side of his face which almost reminds me of rat power grooming. This is the only time she does the behavior, so I know why she does it, but I was wondering if anyone else has encountered a dog that does this to other dogs with the same intentions (putting the other dog in his place). It's almost as if she's disciplining Duke for doing something he's not supposed to. It doesn't hurt him and it's not a real bite, so I've never really attempted to intervene since I figured it's just part of their dog pack dynamic.


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## Mitsy (Apr 8, 2013)

Sense she has a herding breed in her, it can be a instinct she has, Herding dogs nip at the cattle or live stock to herd it back and get it to go where it needs to go, or stop it. I'd say she has taken to you saying no to Duke as she has to herd in some way.


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

That's pretty much the conclusion I came to. I just can't find any info anywhere of other dogs doing this in the way that she does it.


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## Mitsy (Apr 8, 2013)

I don't think you really will find anything about how exactly she does it, I'm currently taking a Vet Administrative course. I was reading about herding breeds, and really all it says about their herding behaviors with the nipping side of it that some nip at heals and faces, it doesn't really say how they do it, I think that depends on the dog.


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## Sowa (Jan 24, 2015)

My lab does it to my cat. She gets excited and nibbles on him. I think she's just playing


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## PaigeRose (Apr 12, 2013)

Herding breeds just do that. They're hard wired to nip sheep/cattle/children/whatever theyre herding when they are misbehaving and out of line so that could be it. 

Although my border collie mix has zero herding instinct, I have spent a lot of time with my coworkers Australian shepherd and hes VERY mouthy. To the point where if he gets excited and youre just talking to him he snaps and bites the air. He's not doing it in a malicious manor but its just how they get out their excitement.


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## kksrats (Jul 25, 2014)

I'm just thankful that she doesn't do it to people or dogs outside of our house. Then again, since I think she takes cue from me telling Duke "no" it'd be a little unlikely for her to do it to a person since I don't typically go around disciplining other people  She's such a great dog; too smart for her own good and highly obedient, just has a few quirky ticks lol


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## Pop Alexandra (Aug 14, 2017)

You could try some training videos. I think Wolf Methodology had some interesting things on this topic.


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