Agreed. Actual mouth can be hidden or over exemplified by bite location, as well as intent. Sometimes the intent of a dog defines him as a fighting dog or a killing dog. Some of the great finishers would throat check a dog and it takes little to "no mouth" to end one in quick fashion based solely on bite location. A winning head dog may very well do little damage in the chest of another. It is a lot like real estate, it is all about Location, Location, Location.

Determining mouth is difficult if the grade is based on the damage inflicted. Sort of like a lot of animal bites in humans. They bite and we jerk our hand out. Did the majority of the damage come from the bite or from the jerk? A lot say the jerk. Same with the dogs. A good jaw and neck muscle can take hold and go into a shaking flurry. Upon release the damage can be superficial to the skin or deep into the muscle. Did he bite into the deep tissue or did he bite and shake his way in? No real way to tell.

One of the reasons I have so much respect for the bitten dog continuing is once upon a time we were walking a dog and it got away. He went under a fence and hit a goat like a ton of bricks. Bit him right in the spinal area. After much explaining we had to buy the goat. We put him down and cut him up for the dogs. Upon skinning him the teeth marks in and around the spine were deep into tissue and seemed to round themselves out under the skin. The inside damage was far more severe than the outside damage. If you ever seen a deer shot thru the shoulder and see what lead shot does it is very similar. So for a dog to be bitten and continue is an amazing feat in itself. And this dog was a dog I did not consider a freak mouth dog. He bit hard but his forte was staying in the area for lengths of time not just bone crushing bites. EWO