Baring Teeth w/o Noise

Ivy

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#1
So the other day i'm at home relaxing (or trying to at least, lol) on the couch. Tynan is laying on the floor against the couch close to my head and Lincoln is right beside him on the floor too. Tynan is not bothering him or anything (sometimes he can be a pest) but this time all he wanted was to sleep beside him with his face nuzzled at Lincoln's back end. I look over and all I see is Lincoln looking at Tynan (while Tynan's asleep) showing his teeth. There was no noise coming from Lincoln, none that I could hear at least, just teeth flashing. I simply woke Tynan up and got him to move. He had no idea what just happened and moved and went back to sleep.
What could that mean? I didn't like what I saw but don't really know what to think of it.
My little guys never displayed anything like that before. Whenever the little guys get annoyed or something they just walk away and go somewhere else in the house or give a warning sign that the other dog will understand, not the way Lincoln did while Tynan's eyes were closed.
 

Dekka

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#2
dekka shows her teeth with no noise fairly often.

As to why this is happening.. likely he just didn't want Tynan so close for what ever reason. Showing teeth with no noise is less of a threat than teeth with noise. Neither tend to concern me much as long as the dogs are well socialized in 'dog' and are 'friends'
 

Beanie

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#3
Yeah, in my experience it has been more of a pre-warning to growling with teeth showing. Kota and Happy both have showed teeth to Auggie without making noise, and if Auggie didn't leave them alone, they would eventually add the growling to it. Agree with Dekka, I wouldn't be unduly concerned about it.
 

Ivy

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#4
I'm concerned because Lincoln has never been very good at understanding 'dog' and if he's trying to give another dog a warning, how's that going to work if their eyes are closed?
 

Dekka

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#5
Actually what Lincoln did shows a pretty decent 'dog' response. Eyes closed or know, dogs don't pay attention to such things. If he was really annoyed he possibly would have growled. Which then would let Tynan know to open his eyes and see what was going on.

Baring teeth is the equivalent of a human giving someone a strong 'look' or glare.
 

Maxy24

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#6
I wouldn't be concerned about it, if the teeth baring had been ignored I'm sure he would have growled to get the massage across or grumpily gotten up and moved. I look at it like the disapproving look a mother gives her child when he is doing something wrong. The child either gets it and listens or mom starts scolding with words.
 

Bailey08

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#7
My brother has a dog that does this. One of his dogs likes to clean the faces of his other two (they're all girls), and when one of her targets has had enough, she invariably shows teeth. She's the quintessential b!tch of the group, but it's kind of funny. This happens several times a day. (The rest of us wonder why irritated dog doesn't just step away, but she apparently prefers to snark about it, lol.)

ETA: these two dogs have literally never been in a fight (and have been living together for 8+ years). I'm not sure that the teeth barer has even ever growled at the groomer, certainly never around me.
 
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mrose_s

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#8
Buster uses it a lot. He's not a very vocal dog so he just flashes his snarl at Quinn when she needs to stop/move/get out. He uses it on its own most of the time or prior to snapping at her or grabbing her nose or quickly rushing at her.
It doesn't sound very nice written down and he is a bit grumpy but he only does it when she won't calm down and is bouncing on everyone or annoying the cat. Or occasonally if he's in a bad mood he'll just use it to keep her out of his way.
 

Romy

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#9
Strider will do it if Kaia gets overly boisterous and jumps on him repeatedly. She's a big heavy girl and forgets. After a second she's like "whoops! sorry!", washes his face with a few licks and they are back to wrestling minus her jumping on him.
 

ACooper

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#10
Agree with everyone else, I wouldn't be too concerned with it as is.

Phoebe shows Orson her teeth daily............but of course Orson never heeds the warning, so she always has to add the snark to it. You think she would have learned in the last 4 years to go directly to the snark, but she always gives him the benefit of the doubt for some reason :rolleyes: Also, in over 4 years she has never once bitten him, even if he doesn't stop after adding the snark. IMO, she's adding the snark for OUR benefit because she knows when I hear it, I make Orson knock it off, LOL......I call it her 'tattling'
 

smkie

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#11
I think it is just a visual bug off kind of thing. THe beginning of a warning.
 

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