A nervous dog in a stressful situation will bite out of fear, a assertive dog will bite to put another in its place or defend what they perceive as theirs; a dog trained in protection will bite and hold on command, a hunting dog will bite a target to kill and a retriever will bite to complete its command and return the target to his/her human.
Definitely. And dogs can warning bite just to get someone to back off when they haven't listened to the signals. And it sounds like Chilli is a bit of a resource-guarder, especially if you can't put your hand near her face while she's eating, or take the food out of her mouth (it's a socialising thing, and can be vitally necessary for a dog's health - i.e. when grabbing something dangerous out of a dog's mouth before it has reliably learned the 'drop!' commaned).
I wouldn't say resource-guarding is necessarily 'typical' dog behaviour. Not all dogs naturally display it, for a lotf of reasons. But, that being said, it is quite common, and you handled what could have been a dangerous situation very well, imho. Some resource-guarders get so problematic with their behaviour they cannot be reliably fed while someone is in the same room with them (i.e. they will seriously and violently attack someone who is holding their ood and trying to give it to them).
I like the idea of asking 'is your dog okay with me saying hello?' I tend to ask 'is your dog friendly?' which - at least locally here - has the implication of 'does your dog accept overtures from strangers?' And if they say no, it's fine. I have seen a few dog training websites talk about teaching *people* how to introduce themselves to dogs as much as teaching dogs how to be with people, and I think it's fantastic. Advice from not leaning over a dogs head or body when you meet them (especially new dogs), and not approaching them from the front, and a lot of other things that take into account their basic language and make sure everything is as safe as possible. :)
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Definitely. And dogs can warning bite just to get someone to back off when they haven't listened to the signals. And it sounds like Chilli is a bit of a resource-guarder, especially if you can't put your hand near her face while she's eating, or take the food out of her mouth (it's a socialising thing, and can be vitally necessary for a dog's health - i.e. when grabbing something dangerous out of a dog's mouth before it has reliably learned the 'drop!' commaned).
I wouldn't say resource-guarding is necessarily 'typical' dog behaviour. Not all dogs naturally display it, for a lotf of reasons. But, that being said, it is quite common, and you handled what could have been a dangerous situation very well, imho. Some resource-guarders get so problematic with their behaviour they cannot be reliably fed while someone is in the same room with them (i.e. they will seriously and violently attack someone who is holding their ood and trying to give it to them).
I like the idea of asking 'is your dog okay with me saying hello?' I tend to ask 'is your dog friendly?' which - at least locally here - has the implication of 'does your dog accept overtures from strangers?' And if they say no, it's fine. I have seen a few dog training websites talk about teaching *people* how to introduce themselves to dogs as much as teaching dogs how to be with people, and I think it's fantastic. Advice from not leaning over a dogs head or body when you meet them (especially new dogs), and not approaching them from the front, and a lot of other things that take into account their basic language and make sure everything is as safe as possible. :)