# Baring teeth/behavior



## JaC12 (Apr 14, 2021)

Just curious if anyone else has had any experience with their V baring teeth on random occasions. for example, my family came over tonight, brothers, sisters, kids etc. more people in our home than she is probably used to being in our house and my brother, whom she has only met a few times and hasn't seen in a long time came in the door and said hello! to our V and she was excited like she usually is and when my brother got down and was going to play with her she yelped/barked and bared her teeth in some manner. we were all kind of surprised by this and wasn't sure why she did that. for the rest of the night when my brother got closer to her she did the same thing. She didnt growl or anything but just scrunched up her mouth/nose and showed her teeth a little. Any one else experience this before? Maybe she was overwhelmed with the situation and felt anxious? didn't have a ton of exercise throughout the day, (we live in a cold climate where getting her outside for more than few minutes is hard in the winter) just want to understand why that happens


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

By what your description, it sounds fear based.
How much socialization has she had up to this point in her life?


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## JaC12 (Apr 14, 2021)

i mean i don't know what is considered a lot of socialization vs a little but i would say she has had a lot of socialization, family, friends, we have also sent her to a doggy daycare a lot, especially as a younger puppy, so she has definitely been around other dogs/peoole. is it just something that my brother did or was it just an unfamiliar face?


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## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

It’s really hard to say exactly what made her feel uncomfortable with your brother. Not all, but some dogs go through a last fear stage around two years old. I don’t push my dogs to face something that scares them. I find a comfortable distance from it, and they approach it on their own terms.


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## gunnr (Aug 14, 2009)

It sounds to me as if she were very stressed and acted out, unsure of what was happening, and beyond her ability to cope. For some reason, we let cats just run away and hide under the same circumstance, but insist that dogs have to "deal with it".
I had the same thing happen with Gunnr many years ago. A friend, whom Gunnr had known for years, was going to house sit for us. Gunnr wouldn't let him in the house! She was having nothing to do with him, and she was actually pretty darn intimidating. In the end, my friend and I put her in his truck, and he took her to the dump, which Gunnr always loved "dump runs", and ran some other errands with him. That "reset" bridged the gap with them, and after that Gunnr was fine.
Point being here is, try and find a neutral activity she enjoys, in a non-threatening environment, and let them "reset" their relationship.


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