Dog's teeth are chattering

[laughingllama75]

one of my dogs does it almost daily, and he is 14. Does it when he smells other dogs on my clothes or new animal in the barn smell. he does it for about 3 minutes....or until I tell him to stop. he wags his tail the whole time, but still annoying. LOL.

 

[Inkheart]

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X2! Exactly what i was thinking!

 

[TLWR]

My greyhound chatters when she's excited or just plain happy and enjoying something. She does it quite a bit.
I don't think our dobe has ever chattered so far.
My other greyhound would chatter very rarely and he was just super duper excited about something.

 

[alessadry]

My dog stopped doing this, but yesterday, he started again. He's getting older so thought to look what it may mean. In the past may dogs did this when there's anticipation or when they are a bit stressed about something. Apparently though, there are other reasons why dogs may chatter their teeth. https://dogdiscoveries.com/teeth-chattering-in-dogs/

 

[CoryE]

Hi there!

Teeth chattering on dogs is perfectly normal on average. You can read all about it in this article here: https://goldenretrieverlove.com/why-do-dogs-chatter-their-teeth/. Additionally, dogs have that unique organ in their noses that allows them to 'taste' scents. Your dog might be keen on that smell you are describing. Either way, if he is calm and has an overall happy disposition, there's really nothing to worry about.

 

[Miriam_b]

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Sounds to me like the chattering is an expression of nerves and excitement. Dogs often have muscles tensed in their jaws when excited or nervous. Its one of the more obvious things you can see in their expression when trying to read a dog. Many dogs "smile" for the same reason, its an excited/nervous mouth movement. Usually starts with a dog that has a lot of submissive behaviors and is very bonded to their owner.

A dog that licks a scent or smells another dog and drools while its teeth chatter is called "chatter-jaw" and its a way of garnering information via the Jacobsen's organ in the roof of the mouth. This organ goes directly to the brain and is the fastest and most accurate way for a dog to dicipher a scent. Male dogs will often do this with another dogs urine -- hoping the dog is female and in season!

My dog does this after smelling our chickens. If they're in the coop, he will always run over to see them, sometimes jump up near where they are along the wall. If they are out roaming, he approaches them slowly and smells them incessantly. When he starts chomping his jaws, it makes me nervous that he wants to eat them... so I make him come inside. He's never bitten or nipped at them. Some of the chickens let him sniff them. Some of the chickens get annoyed or are scared... so, does he want to eat the chickens??