Does She Bite?

I am not unfamiliar with biting dogs.  My parents had a cairn terrier who had a few issues, and would snap and bite if you did something he considered idiotic, such as touch him when he was in bed for the night, or pick him up for any reason whatsoever, or say "sorry" after bumping into him (he didn't so much mind the bump, but the apology drove him crazy).  I was walking him once shortly after he had bitten my two year-old niece on her earlobe, and two young girls approached me and asked what kids used to ask the owner of a dog, instead of what they ask now, which is "can I pet your dog?":  the girls asked, "Does your dog bite?"  And after a moment of consideration, I replied, "yes, yes he does."  And then they ran off screaming, with their hands in the air.

Dorothy does not bite.

Oh yeah?  Come closer with that camera and let's test your hypothesis:

I did joke with my nieces this summer, telling them that Dorothy doesn't bite, but on occasion she will pinch with her teeth.  But she would never even nip a child, let alone bite, although she does enjoy a good rough-housing with her favorite fellow.  And when she is in rough-house mode, her jaws are strong!  Which is why this came into my apartment:

It's an old glove which allows the wearer to wrestle with Dorothy with impunity.

Dorothy's real weapons, it seems to me, are what I term her "meathooks" -- i.e. her front arms.  They are muscular and leaden and in the morning if she is trying to wake me up so that I can attend to her breakfast, she will plunk a meathook on one side of my face, and plunk one on the other, and then lick my face while using the meathooks to hold me in place.   I suppose there are ruder awakenings, although the strength in those arms can seem rather startling, especially when it is 6:00 a.m. and I am groggy.

Bite?  This widdle ting?

I should add, too, that any misplaced nip nowadays is much more benign now that Dorothy has her adult teeth in.  Those needle-y baby teeth were deadly--definitely the ginsu knives of the teeth world.  I was very glad to see the end of them!