To rehome puppy?

[MarsBars123]

Our 6 month old puppy bit our friends 6 year old daughter today.

We were having a meal and gave him his food afterwards. She walked behind him while he was eating and he spun around and bit her, he didn't draw blood but her hand was red.

I am in total shock, he has never done anything like this before, should we rehome him straight away? I'm really confused.

bubble my gp dog was terrified of rolled up news papers for that reason.

Bloody cruel I think, if you can't teach a dog without hitting it you shouldn't have one

Interesting how all your rescue dogs are so fearful and nervous.

Mine had been left in a garage, fed only bread crusts (she still loves the damn things). I got her when she was approximately four months old, on the way to the pound.

She is absolute fine, normal and well-adjusted now. Only remnant of her past life is her enduring love for bread crusts.

Perhaps some of you might have messed up your already messed up dogs with over solicitous care and helicopter dog-parenting? Most anxious dogs I have met, have needy owners. Fact.

I've never had to hit my dog and he's never bitten either.

My nervous, fearful rescue dog has become one of the most fearless, tireless lead dogs I've ever encountered. Put him in harness and put some pressure on him and he revels in it. I'm only sorry I haven't got more time to compete him this year because he's becoming something very special.

I don't smack with newspapers, fanny about with their food while they're eating or let them off the lead (except in the fenced training facility or my own fenced land). I LOATHE off-lead dogs bothering dog #2 and will be one of those stompy dog owners shouting at you to call your dog away. I am overbearingly concerned with their training, health, welfare and am a self-confessed helicopter dog owner dog nerd. Yet I've managed to turn around two rescue dogs now and instil heaps of confidence in a quivering shrieking pancake of a dog who was three years old before I got hold of him.

My 'over solicitious' care is being repaid tenfold in my wonderful dogs. I am needy for needy dogs. I like to steadily set them right. :)

Nothing more to add to OP than has already been said. Lots of good advice and nonsense in equal measure on this thread.

Smacking a puppy on the bottom with a rolled up magazine for biting is hardly pet abuse

My stomach turned reading that. Do you parent your kids the same way?

You are hitting an animal. There'd be uproar if that animal decided to hurt you back, and it'd be put down.

Please don't continue to try to give advice because what you're doing is dangerous.

Do some dog owners not let their dogs off the lead then? Why not ?

flat I'm scared of ladybirds, no idea why no one ever tortured me with one. I'm pretty sure my gp rescue dog wasn't tortured with a hot air balloon eather. Some people and animals just don't like certain things.

Bubblegum You can try to justify abusing your dog all you like but stop giving shitty, dangerous advice. An inexperienced dog owner could get seriously hurt if they tried your 'tip'.

Well said crashdoll

At what point did anyone say that their rescue dogs were fearful and nervous now

My first rescue was beaten and half starved. He was kept in the darkness for a year. Every time someone called his name he shook and cried.
He was kicked, hit with a chain and tormented.
He was unsocialised, untrained and petrified of dogs and people.
My second rescue bit the owners daughter. Because she used her as a toy horse for 3 months. Until the dog got an ear infection.
He growled at the daughter. The parent hit him with a shoe. The dog bit.
He hasn't bit again.

You are deliberately ignoring any of the good that proper training does. And you haven't answered any questions about the training of your dogs as they are so unfocused. Do they focus enough to understand instructions? Or is that why you hit them?
Do they have good recall? Or are they not focused enough and just run about and sit under the table waiting for you to give them your leftover food?

And bubblegum by hitting your dog for giving a warning nip, you are making the dog more likely to not give a warning nip because they are too scared. They will just go straight to biting

And that is also professional advice. From a professional who actually knows something, not from a tv "trainer" like CM

MarsBars123 mine never goes off the lead because he is an 40 kilo ex racer, adopted after track injury with an incredibly high prey drive and a top speed of 45mph. I wouldn't see him for dust. His breeding and training (until 3yo, when we adopted him) was to chase and to go as fast as he can, with no regard for recall.

He is allowed off in secure fields to run all he likes. I muzzle him then though as he could and would catch anything small and furry (cat, squirrel, whatever) and kill it. The muzzle doesn't bother him. He's worn one most days of his life since puppyhood. I am unconvinced that he wouldn't go for a small dog when he's on one either.

He's adapted well to home life, but given the very, very restricted nature of his early years, (run, eat, sleep, repeat) everything is new to him at 4 years old. His socialisation will happen gradually, not with a couple of classes.

The dogs I know that are always on lead have issues either because they've been attacked/mistreated, or due to illness. I don't think people choose to keep their dogs on lead for fun. As a matter of courtesy, I keep my boisterous spaniel away from dogs being walked on lead.

Oh, sorry I didn't notice your question amongst all the frothing.

My dogs are focused when we go swimming. They are great at spotting the stick in the water and fetching it back.

They love under the table morsels. Oh, very focused then. On their best behaviour, sitting on their bums, although puppy loses the plot sometimes and falls asleep while waiting.

They are also good at recall as we live in cattle country and we need to keep them safe.

Other than that, nah, I don't give bombard them with clickers and instructions and other stuff to make them 'focus' on me. Not that needy.

Tap on the bum is after two ignored warnings. Last used it when in cafe over summer having morning coffee. Saw friend walking up in white linen trousers. Knew from pup's expression that he was getting ready to give her a full paw hug. He was off-leash, as always, but managed to reach him on the bum with the baguette. It was a delicate operation, keeping my breakfast and friend's whites intact.

In general, don't need to discipline much at all. Dogs are mostly well-behaved and listen. Puppy sometimes comes upstairs when he shouldn't, but if that is our biggest complaint, I guess we are all ok.

And so I go back to my point which is if your dog was focused and trained you wouldn't need to give 2 warnings and a smack.
If I see someone I don't want my dog to run up and jump on, I tell them to wait. One word. And they wait.

Personally I think if your dog is under the table waiting for you to feed it scraps of your plate, you've got an issue but clearly you are ok with that.

But basic training means you don't have to give warnings and smacks. Because the dog is unfocused it does what the hell it wants until you smack it.

I'm really struggling to see why you find it so abhorrent to teach the dog to do as you say, yet you seem to find hitting it ok?

It's basically getting the dog to listen to your command-which is what basic training is, but you choose to achieve this by giving 2 clearly ineffective "warnings" and then hitting it.

And you seem to think that makes your way better than people who actually bother to instill basic training commands and do t have to warn and hit.

And that makes your dog better behaved and less stressed.

Am I the only person that thinks that makes no sense at all?

My first rescue was beaten and half starved. He was kept in the darkness for a year. Every time someone called his name he shook and cried.
He was kicked, hit with a chain and tormented.
He was unsocialised, untrained and petrified of dogs and people.
My second rescue bit the owners daughter. Because she used her as a toy horse for 3 months. Until the dog got an ear infection.
He growled at the daughter. The parent hit him with a shoe. The dog bit.
He hasn't bit again.
Those are heartbreaking stories, Tantrums. I'm so glad they are safe now in a loving environment. to you and all others who give these dogs a second chance at a happy life.

It's amazing some of the horror stories I hear from the rescues I foster for.

I always say its a good job I don't have a bigger house otherwise id have about 17 dogs by now!

But yes, they are an awful lot happier now. And I'm so proud that the little dog is actually starting to remember all the stuff we taught him which apparently flew out of his ears when he hit adolescence

It's lovely to know that there's people out there who take proper care of the animals that other people don't want.

Like I said, my dogs are well behaved. Puppies learn by being kept free. I don't leash mine. Yup, he is a pup and he will test boundaries. That is perfectly ok.

I have no problems with them eating human food, which we give them. They don't steal food. I have left cheese and crackers on the coffee table umpteen times, and the dogs ignore it. They know food comes from us and are perfectly content to wait till they get it.

I love feeding them by hand, as they are so delicate about taking it carefully. And if I close in my palm, they just wait contently till I open my palm. No stress at all. They will have their food happily in any place, with any one, with any number of interruptions. Food is just not an issue.

My dogs are well adjusted and are relaxed around people, food and other animals (puppy sometimes gets overexcited, but that
is normal).

Like I said, I rarely need to correct them at all. They are just happy content dogs.

It's just such a shame there are so many dogs that are mistreated and dumped into rescues.
Once they get to be older dogs, especially ones that have bitten once or have serious issues, not many people want them.
It makes me sick tbh, people who get dogs without thinking it through.

But you just said you do need to correct them.
You said you gave them 2 warnings and then smack.

They aren't well behaved if they ignore you.
And being free might be great for you but what about other people and other dogs who have to deal with your unleashed, excitable, dogs that are unfocused and ignore you until you smack them?

Well done to you and little dog - definitely something to be proud of .