What Bite Back Means

What "Bite Back" Means to Us

Two words. That's it.

No long explanation. No fine print. Just two words that hit somewhere deep, somewhere primal, somewhere past the part of you that overthinks everything.

Bite Back.

You don't have to say it out loud. You don't have to explain it to anyone. It's the clench of your jaw when life gets hard. It's the moment you decide quietly, fiercely, without ceremony that whatever is happening to you right now is not the end of your story.

That's what it means to us. And if you're reading this, there's a good chance you already know exactly what we're talking about.

It's Not "Bite." It's "Bite Back."

We know what you might think when you first hear it. It sounds aggressive. It sounds like anger.

But there's an important difference between "bite" and "bite back."

"Bite" is aggression. It's going out looking for a fight.

"Bite Back" is something else entirely. It's a response. It's what happens when life comes at you hard and something inside you refuses to fold. It's not about hurting anyone or anything. It's about showing life, and yourself, that you are tougher than what you're up against.

When things get tough, show them that you are tougher. That's the whole thing.

Where It Came From

When we started Bait Dogs Apparel, I was going through some hard things personally. I needed an outlet for the pain, the frustration, the anger. I needed something to pour myself into that could pull me out of the tough spot I was in.

This brand was that outlet.

I didn't start Bait Dogs to get rich. I started it because I had something to say to people who were struggling, and I needed to say it loud enough that someone might actually hear it. I am not about to become a victim to things that happen to me. I am going to happen. I am going to shape the world and be the good that I want to see in it.

That was the energy behind every decision we made when we were building this. And "Bite Back" was the phrase that said all of it in two words.

My dad heard it and loved it. He still tells me it should be a bigger part of our marketing. Hearing that from him means more than I can put into words. Building something your parents are proud of hits differently than anything else.

What It Actually Looks Like

Biting back doesn't always look like a movie moment. It's not always standing up after a knockout punch with the crowd going wild.

Sometimes it's just getting out of bed when you don't want to.

Having a tough day ahead of you and facing it anyway. Showing up to the thing you said you would show up to. Sitting down to work on your goals after a long day when every part of you just wants to do nothing.

I have days like that too. Days where I want to lay around and do absolutely nothing. On those days, I have to give myself a pep talk. I think about where I want to be, and why I started in the first place. I remember that I want people to hear this message and feel inspired. I believe we can change the world with it. And when I remember that, I want to get back at it.

Even the person who built the brand still has to choose to bite back some days. That's the point. It's not a personality type you're born with. It's a decision you make over and over again.

The Voice in Your Head

Here's the part nobody talks about enough.

The hardest battle most of us will ever fight is the one happening inside our own heads. That little voice that says you're not good enough, that it won't work out, that you should probably just quit before you embarrass yourself.

Biting back applies to that voice too.

Sometimes you have to stand up inside yourself and tell that voice to shut up. Not politely. Not gently. Just: shut up. You are not in charge here anymore.

They are not the immovable object. You are the unstoppable force.

It's For Everyone

When we started, I thought of Bite Back as a gym phrase. It made sense, the gym is where I go when life gets hard. It's where I fight my battles.

But over time I realized that was just my version of it.

Think of it this way. I am an artist, and my particular field of art is the gym. "Bite Back" is the art. The gym is just the clay I work with. Other artists might work in watercolor, or sculpture, or music, or writing, or business. Just because the gym is what inspired me doesn't mean it's what will inspire everyone.

Bite Back is for anyone fighting through the hardships of life with guts and grit. It doesn't matter what your gym is. What matters is that you show up for it.

A Code to Live By

If you live by "Bite Back," here's what that actually looks like day to day:

Don't let hard things talk you out of what you want. It is never easy achieving a dream. There is always going to be something in the way. Always. If you are willing to keep going and give it everything you have, you have what it takes.

It doesn't promise you will win every time. It just says you try. And trying, an honest, full-effort try is the whole thing.

Think about Rocky in Rocky III. Clubber Lang is dropping haymakers on him, beating him down, doing everything he can to break him. And Rocky yells back: "You ain't so bad, you ain't so bad, you ain't nothing."

That's it. That's Bite Back. Staring down the thing that's trying to beat you and reminding yourself — and it — that it doesn't get to win.

I wish I could yell that at my problems sometimes. Maybe I do, quietly, in my own way. Maybe you do too.

If You're Going Through It Right Now

If you found this post at a hard moment, and I think a lot of people will, I want to say something directly to you.

I know this is hard. I know it hurts. I know it doesn't seem like it's going to work out. I know there's a part of you, maybe even a big part of you, that is scared. Scared it won't happen. Scared to dream too big.

I am screaming to you: do it anyway.

Nothing is lost in trying. You still have fight left in you. Give it a shot, an honest shot, and if it doesn't work, at least you'll know you gave it everything you had.

If you didn't want it, you wouldn't have started. And if you weren't going to start, you wouldn't have thought of it. The fact that you're still thinking about it means something. Listen to that.

What We Hope You Take From This

We built Bait Dogs around what we call aggressive positivity. It's not toxic optimism that pretends everything is fine. It's not anger for the sake of anger. It's the decision to face life's challenges head on, with everything you've got, and refuse to be defined by the hard things that happen to you.

"Bite Back" is a phrase I wish I could have told myself when I was younger. Everyone goes through hard things. Everyone. And I think this is a phrase that finds people at the right time, but one they'll wish they had found sooner.

If it found you today, good. You're right on time.

We are the underdogs. We don't stay down, we bite back.