Ben 'bites' in different situations - if we try to stop him doing something he wants to ie. guarding something nasty he has found on a walk , he rumbles and shows his teeth as a warning before lunging at us (did you see the little dog on underdog with the cheese?) that is exactly how Ben would respond in that situation, then I would yell at him for being 'agresssive', and try to stop the behaviour, the biting at agility is different so i treat it differenly - perhaps I shouldn't??? that seems to me to be over excited, grabbing and nipping, however it hursts, bruises and on occasion breaks the skin - but that is the only situation he does that, he will also go into a play bow as if its rough and tumble play does that make sense? I
Jan - I know you've been through some of these issues with Billy - our boys 
you've gotta love them but they do work us hard 
I never guessed dog ownership would be like this, but I wouldn't change it for the world!! I like the sound of a behaviour course -but one look at Ben and I'd get kicked off 
Bens mum
You'll have a few lightbulb moments when reading "The Culture Clash" - and you'll learn how to deal with the food/resource guarding from that book too.
I've got plenty of issues with Paddy which ebb and flow too so I really identify with your "90% of the time" comment! I guess the consistent rule you've got to have (although enforced/reinforced in different ways, depending on the situation and context) is that biting is never acceptable. If it's a food/resource guarding response - Jean Donaldson's book will explain the behaviour and the slow but steady and positive solution for training that out of Ben's repertoire. When it's excitement - again, it's not acceptable for him to lay teeth on you, but it's a different cause for him so you deal with it differently. With Paddy, if he growls, then someone gets in his face with a telling off, they will escalate it, no submissive behaviours, just more rumbling sounding meaner. He doesn't do this with me but he does with someone who gets in his face (then again, I don't shout at him - curse the little sod under my breath quite often, but try to avoid shouting!
).
One thing I'd raise - and I can't say, through my own inexperience and also because I haven't seen Ben - but "play bowing" isn't always an invitation to play. Sometimes it's used as a stage in escalating aggression, albeit rarely. Sounds like Ben's context is an invitation to play but try watching out for it next time with this in mind. I've spotted Paddy doing this a couple of times with someone who shouts at him - they assume it's a play bow, part of being submissive/defusing the situation - but I can see it's a stage in getting close to saying "sod off" with a growl, so I intervene.
Good luck and keep us posted!
Denise
