In my life of being around dogs (caring for, training, showing), I have 
learned that many dogs wear their teeth down by obsessive chewing. I've seen 
dogs chew toys, bones, sticks, rocks, tree trunks, boards, plastic, wire 
crates, and chain link fencing. The more obsessive they are with the 
chewing, the more the teeth are worn down. This, of course, is outside of 
the normal wearing that progresses with age. And, of course, as already 
mentioned, some dogs have stronger teeth than others. Having worked for 
veterinarians over the past few years, I believe I can safely say that a vet 
would not intentially remove the points from a dogs fang teeth. These teeth, 
as all other teeth in the mouth, are necessary for normal eating functions 
and to help keep the tongue in the mouth. (Have you ever seen an elderly dog 
with no teeth? Ever notice their tongue is always hanging out?) Vets will 
only remove or alter teeth due to severe damage, decay, or gum disease. 
Additionally, if there are not enough teeth in the lower mouth, the lower 
mandible (jaw bone) will start to deteriorate and reabsorb into the body.

As for noise sensitivity, in my many years of training dogs, I have found 
that some dogs are more sensitive to loud noises than others. BCs, being a 
breed bred to be super alert to their surroundings, can be especially noise 
reactive. My female BC, Phoebe, that I adopted from rescue has some sound 
phobias to sneezing, sometimes yawning, and hates thunderstorms to the point 
she has to be given tranquilizers during really bad storms that last too 
long. In working her for Agility, we have had to work on overcoming her fear 
of the teeter banging as it comes down and other obstacles being dropped in 
other areas of the building.  In talking with other BC people involved with 
the working lines of the breed, it seems that the females are more reactive 
than the males to sound and movement. Not quite sure why that would be, but 
the more people I talk with, the more people I have tell me that they have a 
female that reacts the way mine does, while their male could care less and 
is content to lay at their feet, waiting to be told what to do.

Until Later,
Happy Training & Safe Journey,

Jill M. Erisman
BlueStone K-9 Services
Charmed One "Phoebe"
Meridian's Blue Ace, CD, HC  "Ace" (RIP)
Razi Brina vom Zwilling Bach, CD, CGC  "Brina" (RIP)

Be part of the solution, not just part of the discussion about the solution.